April 18th through the 20th the Peacekeeping and Stabil-
ity Operations Institute (PKSOI) hosted its 12th annual
Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Training and
Education Workshop (PSOTEW) at the U.S. Army War
College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. This year’s
workshop provided a forum for trainers, educators, plan-
ners and practitioners from U.S. and international gov-
ernmental and non-governmental organizations, military
organizations, military and civilian peace and stability
training centers, and academic institutions to share current
challenges and best practices toward improving civilian and
military teaming efforts in the realm of peace and stability
operations training and education.
The theme of this year’s workshop was “The Struggle for
Legitimate Governance.” The goal of the workshop was to
facilitate dialogue on collaboration opportunities and ex-
pand networking opportunities across shared communities
of interest. 114 representatives from over 50 organizations
across the Peacekeeping and Stability Operations (PSO)
training and education Community of Practice attended
the workshop. This year’s event featured 5 separate work-
groups that included Protection of Civilians, Operation-
alizing the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda, Humani-
tarian Assistance in a Complex Environment, Civil Affairs’
Role in Stability, and Operationalizing Governance.
PKSOI Director COL Michael Rauhut provided the
opening remarks for the workshop, which included an
update from the 2017 PSOTEW. The remainder of the
morning was dedicated to two plenary addresses and ended
with a keynote address. During the first plenary address,
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Stabiliza-
tion and Humanitarian Assistance, Mr. Mark Swayne gave
an update on the state of the current Stability Policy for
the Department of Defense. Mr. Swayne’s address gave the
audience a current look at ongoing government policies
and views on PSO with emphasis on the Department of
Defense Instruction (DODI) 3000.5 on Stabilization, and
2
PKSOI Director COL Michael Rauhut provided the
opening remarks for the workshop, that included an
update from the 2017 PSOTEW.
the recently released USG Stabilization Assistance Review
(SAR). Mr. Swayne’s address was followed by an update on
an ongoing initiative by the Office of the Under Secretary
of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (OUSD P&R),
which was represented by Mr. Andy Kostrub. Mr. Kostrub
provided the group with an informative brief on their
draft DODI, Training for Integrated Operations, which is
seeking to streamline policies making it easier for the DoD
to train with its external partners (Interagency, nongov-
ernmental organizations (NGO), International Organiza-
tions). PSOTEW participants were able to influence this
draft document during the question and answer session.
The morning session was capped off with a keynote address
by Dr. Sarah Sewall. Dr. Sewall’s comments come from her
vast experience as a distinguished scholar of PSO, but also
from her time in holding senior positions in both the De-
partments’ of State and Defense shaping PSO policy. Her
comments were the perfect stage setter for the participants
to break into their separate work groups and address their
specific problem sets.