”Investments in a Safer Future”
A novel project to combat disinformation in civilian and military student environments
The consortium formed of the New Strategy Center, the West University of Timișoara and ”Nicolae Bălcescu” Land Forces Academy from Sibiu organized on Friday, 28 January 2022, the conference to present the results of the project “Investments in a Safer Future”. The project was selected by the NATO Public Diplomacy Division as part of the call for projects titled “Increasing Societal Resilience: Innovative Ways to Counter Disinformation and Hostile Information Activities”, which aims to increase the resilience of the NATO states in the face of disinformation campaigns.
”Investments in a Safer Future” took place in November-December 2021 and brought together cadets from the ”Nicolae Bălcescu” Land Forces Academy in Sibiu and students from several faculties of the West University of Timișoara. The workshop aimed at assessing both the level of knowledge about NATO’s activities and the degree of vulnerability to disinformation campaigns which intend to undermine confidence in democratic values and cohesion at NATO level.
The event was attended by representatives of the Ministry of National Defence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Interior, of the diplomatic corps from Bucharest, of the Multinational Division South-East, as well as of the academia, mass-media and independent experts.
”Investments in a Safer Future is a project with important results for the Romanian Army, as hybrid threats increase, and information-type attacks are an important component of these types of threats. Providing civilian support for the Army and NATO values is becoming crucial in this difficult context” said Brigadier General Eugen Mavriş, Chief of Department for Training and Doctrine, the General Defense Staff.
The conference, held on 28 January, considered a description of the methods used to achieve results in improving young people’s knowledge of NATO activity and how it works, developing a critical apparatus for managing the mass flow of information and identifying false information.
”A valuable example of cooperation between civil and military academia, but also between academia and non-governmental expertise area, the project represents a consistent contribution to increasing societal resilience to information-based attacks in the younger generation sector, and has the capacity to be replicated in several civilian and military teaching institutions”, mentioned Mr. George Scutaru, CEO of the New Strategy Center.
The rector of the West University of Timișora, Mr. Marilen Pirtea, underlined that ”the students at the UVT reacted positively to this initiative and praised the effort of their military colleagues. Our university has every readiness to engage in this kind of projects in future, in partnership with the other members of the consortium and other civilian and military universities. The project has the clear potential to contribute to the education of future political and military leaders, in order to meet the increasing security challenges that Romania and its allies are facing”.
The success of the project relies both on improving the knowledge and perception of NATO, of the need for investments in defense and the role of Romania’s Army in the ally context, but also on understanding the security challenges in the Black Sea region and the malignant influence of the disinformation campaigns that are part of Russia’s arsenal of hybrid techniques.
“For cadets of the Land Forces Academy this was a novel experience and I note their enthusiasm and seriousness. I think they have understood how important it is for the civil area, the people of their generation, to understand the missions of the military, and the values that NATO represents and defends”, said Brigade General Ghiță Bârsan, the rector of the Land Forces Academy.
The initiative is a pilot project that can be implemented as a peer-to-peer educational model, focused on NATO’s political and communication priorities, in line with a strategy tailored for the younger generation. A handbook of good practice was also launched, useful to other organizations and institutions interested to replicate the Investments in a Safer Future project at national or NATO level.
The event was organized in compliance with all the pandemic required measures, including rapid testing of all participants.