Centre of Excellence for Operations in Confined and Shallow Waters

The Centre of Excellence for Operations in Confined and Shallow Waters is an international military organization founded to support NATO's transformation program. As part of the NATO Centres of Excellence programme the centre was established in April 2007 and officially accredited by NATO on 26 May 2009. It is co-located with the staff of the German Einsatzflottille 1 in Kiel whose commander is double-hatted as the centre Director.

Mission

Confined and shallow waters are a cramped, congested and contested operational environment characterised by complexity, speed, disguise and a diversity of actors.
The Centre of Excellence contributes to doctrine, concepts and procedures for confined and shallow water activities. It conducts experiments and analyses, and provides competence for NATO initiatives, projects, exercises and operations. Furthermore, the centre works on a range of projects related to confined and shallow water-operations that are initiated by specific 'Requests for Support'.
Work at the centre is usually initiated through a Request for Support by a NATO entity or a participating state. The annual Programme of Work contains various 'Projects', which have a customer and defined product with a clear end date and end state, and a number of 'Activities', which cover the permanent support to NATO Transformation. The CoE also plans and conducts work-related events like conferences and workshops.

Partners

Among the military and civilian partners of the centre are:

The Allied Maritime Command in Northwood, UK
The Combined Joint Operations from the Sea Center of Excellence in Norfolk, USA
The Naval Mine Warfare COE in Ostend, Belgium
The Maritime Security COE in Aksaz, Turkey
The Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation in La Spezia, Italy
The Bundeswehr Technical Centre for Ships and Naval Weapons in Eckernförde, Germany
The Sea Surveillance Cooperation Baltic Sea
The Institute for Security Policy Kiel in Kiel, Germany
Defence industry and maritime commerce

Participants

Germany acts as 'Framework Nation' for the centre. It provides the infrastructure, basic services, financial contributions and core staff personnel as well as a number of "Subject Matter Experts".
Upon the foundation of the centre, Greece, the Netherlands, and Turkey acceded as sponsoring nations providing "Subject Matter Experts" and financial contributions. In 2009 Poland and in 2014 Italy also joined as Sponsoring Nations.
NATO COEs are open for NATO partners in terms of providing Subject Matter Expertise and financial contributions. In 2011, COE CSW welcomed Finland, the first "Contributing Nation" to a NATO COE.
Finally, the United States of America is participating in the COE CSW through the 'Personnel Exchange Program' with the German Navy. From 2011 to 2019, the Republic of Finland supported the COE CSW, being the first Contributing Partner to a NATO COE ever.

Structure

The centre's supervisory board is the 'Steering Committee' composed of a chairman and a representative of each participating nation. The Steering Committee monitors the work progress and approves the annual report and budget.
The centre is led by a Director from the German Navy at the rank of Flotilla Admiral who at the same time is double-hatted as commander of the German Flotilla 1. The Executive Director, a navy captain, is responsible for daily operations. The staff of Flotilla 1 assists with administrative issues such as security and logistics.
In 2015, the centre implemented a new working structure. Consisting of three branches, the structure clearly differentiates between productive work and supporting management functions:

Concept and Doctrine Development - production
Training and Analysis - production
Staff Organisation and External Relations - management

The IT and AS sections are allocated to the Staff Organisation and External Relations branch, the Financial Control section is directly subordinated to the Executive Director.

Literature

Buss, Heinz Georg: COE CSW - Avantgarde im NATO-Transformationsprozess; in: Marineforum 11-2015 p. 4 ff
Buss, Heinz Georg; Riewesell, Stefan: Maritime C-IED and Harbour Protection: A Joint Effort; in: The Transformer Fall 2013 Vol 9 Issue 2 p. 18
Stricker, Hans-Joachim: Centre of Excellence for Operations in Confined and Shallow Waters COE CSW - Das COE als Ausdruck unserer besonderen nationalen Fähigkeiten im Bündnis; in: Marineforum 6-2007 p. 3 f
Weber, Fritz-Rudolf: Centre of Excellence for Operations in Confined and Shallow Waters - Think Tank für die NATO; in: Marineforum 1/2-2010 p. 11 ff
Wiedemann, Jan: COE CSW celebrates fifth anniversary; in: NAVAL FORCES III/2014 p. 90 f
Wilson, Brian: ; in: Harvard Law School National Security Journal; 2015-03-11