{"id":96770,"date":"2024-01-21T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-22T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=96770"},"modified":"2024-01-23T09:22:33","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T09:22:33","slug":"guard-chief-hokanson-talks-security-cooperation-in-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=96770","title":{"rendered":"Guard Chief Hokanson talks security cooperation in Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief, National Guard Bureau, meets with Lt. Gen. Sean Clancy, the Irish Defence Forces chief of staff, Dublin, Ireland, Jan. 16, 2024.
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DUBLIN \u2014 The National Guard\u2019s top general met with Irish Defence Forces and government leaders last week to discuss the potential for security cooperation engagements between the Republic of Ireland and the Guard.<\/p>\n

Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief, National Guard Bureau, told officials the 100-nation-strong Defense Department National Guard State Partnership Program is one of America\u2019s most cost-effective security cooperation tools, benefitting both the U.S. and partner nations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we work with like-minded partners, together we make the world a safer place for the advancement of our shared values,\u201d Hokanson said.<\/p>\n

Last July, Jacqui McCrum, secretary general of Ireland\u2019s Department of Defence, met with Hokanson during the Guard\u2019s SPP 30th anniversary event in Maryland to learn more about the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the best things the Guard brings to partner nations is continuity and familiarity,\u201d Hokanson told McCrum at the Irish Defence Department headquarters. \u201cWe have Guardsmen who live and serve in the same state and unit for their entire careers, so they often work with their international counterparts for long periods of time and develop lasting relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. relations with Ireland have long been based on common ancestral ties and shared values. Some 30 million Americans claim Irish heritage. The two nations share strong economic, educational and cultural ties.<\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s policy of military neutrality has long driven its independent foreign policy and is characterized by non-membership of military alliances or common or mutual defense arrangements. Ireland is one of five non-NATO European Union nations, though it does participate in NATO\u2019s Partnership for Peace and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council.<\/p>\n

Amid Moscow\u2019s unprovoked attack on Ukraine, Europe\u2019s security prospects have dimmed. This new reality has affected how historically neutral countries view security cooperation with the United States and other allies.<\/p>\n

“We have seen blatant and brutal disregard by Russia of international law and Europe’s collective security architecture \u2026 and our traditional policy of military neutrality does not inure us from the need to respond to this new reality,” Miche\u00e1l Martin, Ireland\u2019s T\u00e1naiste and minister of foreign affairs and defense, said when he announced the establishment of an Irish Consultative Forum on International Security Policy last April.<\/p>\n

The T\u00e1naiste is Ireland\u2019s deputy head of government, appointed by the president with the advice of the Taoiseach, Ireland\u2019s prime minister.<\/p>\n

“We need to have a serious and an honest conversation about the international security policy options available,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n

Hokanson sees the State Partnership Program as one such possibility. Established in 1993 to help former Soviet states emerge from behind the Iron Curtain, the program now boasts partner nations on every continent but Antarctica, paired with the National Guard of every state, territory and the District of Columbia.<\/p>\n

Through the SPP, Guardsmen collectively conduct about 1,000 engagements per year, both stateside and abroad.<\/p>\n

In July 2022, non-NATO and neutral Austria formally joined the State Partnership Program and was paired with the Vermont Guard, establishing an affiliation that U.S. Ambassador to Austria Victoria Kennedy called a \u201chuge success\u201d based on \u201ccommon security interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

When meeting with Peter Burke, Ireland\u2019s minister of state for European affairs and defense, Hokanson explained that the State Partnership Program is not one-size-fits-all, but scalable and tailorable to meet partner-nation needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can be as much, or as little as you want it to be,\u201d the CNGB told Burke.<\/p>\n

Emergency and disaster response are areas of potential Guard engagement with Ireland. Cyber defense is another. In 2021, Ireland\u2019s publicly funded health care system suffered a major ransomware cyberattack that prompted the government to reexamine the way it handles these threats.<\/p>\n

Hokanson pointed to the Guard\u2019s cyber capabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the best cyber units in our Defense Department exist in the National Guard,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are cyber units in 42 states that can help civil authorities. One reason they are so good is because many of them bring civilian-acquired skills to their military jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lt. Gen. Sean Clancy, Irish Defence Forces chief of staff, told Hokanson the force is working to refine its culture and overhaul its structure. He also expressed a need for Ireland\u2019s forces to be more postured for defense and collective security and said there are challenges with reserve integration \u2014 all areas where the CNGB sees the Guard as a suitable partner.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the second-largest U.S. military organization after the Army, we continually look at force structure to ensure we are seamlessly compatible with the Army and the Air Force,\u201d Hokanson said. \u201cThe Guard now has eight Army divisions and 90 Air Force wings \u2014 both the products of continual force design.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the SPP starts at the military-to-military level, whole-of-society relationships often bloom. Economic and policy exchanges, trade apprenticeship opportunities and university collaboration have developed through other partnerships.<\/p>\n

For more National Guard news<\/a><\/p>\n

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National Guard X (Twitter<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief, National Guard Bureau, meets with Lt. Gen. Sean Clancy, the Irish Defence Forces chief of staff, Dublin, Ireland, Jan. 16, 2024. (Photo Credit: U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Zach Sheely) VIEW ORIGINAL DUBLIN \u2014 The National Guard\u2019s top general met with Irish Defence Forces and government leaders last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":96772,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96770"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96773,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96770\/revisions\/96773"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/96772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}