Multinational civil-military operations at BRIDEX 2009

A TOTAL of 10 speakers will be presenting their papers at the Brunei International Defence Exhibition (BRIDEX) Conference which is being organised by Jane's Information Group in association with Ministry of Defence (MinDef).

The BRIDEX 2009 Conference is scheduled to be held on August 11 at the new state-of-the-art purpose-built exhibition and conference centre located not far from the Royal Brunei Polo & Riding Club, Jerudong. The Oxford Business Group is the supporting sponsor for the conference.

The one-day conference will consist of a series of keynote addresses, accompanied by panel discussions, on three key areas of relevance to defence forces and national security agencies in the regions fast-changing defence and security environment.

Session Three will feature international and experienced experts in multinational peacekeeping and disaster relief operations.

The speakers are Sudhir Mahara, Director, International Training Programmes, BlueForce LLC, USA; Michael Marx, Senior Civil-Military Coordination Advisor, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN/OCHA), USA; and General Boonsrang Niumpradit, former Supreme Commander, Royal Thai Armed Forces, Thailand.

Sudhir Mahara, Director, International Training Programs, BlueForce LLC, USA

Mahara is a Senior Partner and Director of International Training Programmes at Blue Law International LLP, a global defence, security and legal consultancy.

Mahara has more than 17 years of professional experience spanning the globe in counter insurgency, United Nations peacekeeping operations, conflict analysis and response, rule of law, security sector reform, special operations, civil military operations, and security assessment and planning.

His most recent assignments include supporting and participating in US Department of Defence, US Agency for International Development, US Department of State and UN democracy and governance, rule-of-law, human rights, anticorruption, security sector reform, and police and military training projects and programmes in South Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.

As operations officer at the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) headquarters, Mahara served in the command and control nexus of the UN mission during the 1996 Israel and Lebanon conflict.

Mahara will be presenting "Application of C4I in Integrated Multinational Missions" at the conference.

Michael Marx, Senior Civil-Military Coordination Advisor, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN/OCHA), USA

Marx is the Senior Civil-Military Coordination Advisor for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN/OCHA) at the UN Headquarters in New York.

Prior to this position, he was based in Geneva, Switzerland where he served as the Chief of the Civil-Military Coordination Section (CMCS) in UN/OCHA in Geneva.

Michael joined the UN after more than two decades working within the US government, including serving as the Division Director for the Disaster Response and Mitigation Division in the Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance at the US Agency for International Development (USAID/OFDA).

Marx is also a former US Army Officer, whose tours included Asia, Europe, and Africa.Marx will be presenting a paper titled "Civil Military Co-ordination in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Operations".

General Boonsrang Niumpradit, former Supreme Commander, Royal Thai Armed Forces

Boonsrang attended the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School, Class Six, and Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy, Class 17 in 1965. He then went to Norwich University, USA, and later received a BSc from US Military Academy, an MSc in Mechanical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1972, and PhD in Structural Engineering at Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in 1978.

In 1978 he served as aide-de-camp to Deputy Commander in Chief, Royal Thai Army.

In 1983 he became Commander of the 31st Artillery Battalion, the King's Guard, a Staff Officer to Commander in Chief, Royal Thai Army, in 1986, and a Staff Officer to Deputy Supreme Commander in 1989.

From 1997 to 1999, he was Commandant of Joint Staff College, and from 1999 to 2000 served as Director of National Defence College.

Boonsrang was entrusted by the UN to serve as Force Commander of UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) between 2000 to 2001.

From 2001 to 2002, he was Director of Joint Operations, and later Director General, Office of Policy and Planning, Ministry of Defence from 2002 to 2003, and Chief of Joint Staff from 2003 to 2005.

He was a Deputy Supreme Commander before his appointment to the highest office of the Royal Thai Armed Forces as Supreme Commander on October 2006, until his retirement in September 2008.

Boonsrang will be presenting "Case Studies on Interoperability in Peacekeeping Missions" at the conference.

The Brunei Times