DIILS Programs
DIILS is a jointly-staffed institute with Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, and Coast Guard legal officers, as well as a highly experienced civilian legal and support staff. 

Our target audience includes the military personnel and related civilian government officials of nations throughout the world.  The majority of our participants are not lawyers, although we do have some resident courses focused only on lawyers (i.e., the Military Law Development Program and the International Law of Military Operations courses).

A key DIILS strategic goal is to establish lasting, mutually productive relationships with other nations by sharing methods of addressing legal challenges – from the legal aspects of combating terrorism and combating corruption to Defense Institution Building (DIB) in Security Sector Reform (SSR) to the day-to-day challenges of running professional militaries smoothly with civilian oversight in accordance with the Rule of Law.

In forums conducive to in-depth discussion and analysis, DIILS accomplishes its mission through programs in three settings: resident programs at our institute in Newport, Rhode Island (US), mobile programs developed for and delivered in particular countries or regions worldwide, and programs delivered at other US locations, such as Washington, DC, and the United Nations in New York City, NY.  The programs primarily focus on interaction and participation in addressing current international legal concerns.

DIILS Partnerships
Whether working through the Warsaw Initiative to encourage interoperability with NATO Partnership for Peace (PfP) countries, or with the Offices of the Staff Judge Advocates and J5s of the U.S. Combatant Commands (COCOMs) or the Security Cooperation Officers (SCOs) in embassies worldwide, DIILS assembles uniquely-qualified program providers.  DIILS calls upon its more than 150 adjunct faculty to bring currently practicing military and civilian Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) from throughout the US executive, legislative and judicial branches, academia, and, increasingly, international partners.  We regularly include experts from the Departments of Justice and State.

Recent partners have included military instructors from Canada, the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC), England, Ireland, Australia, US Institute of Peace (USIP), Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units (COESPU),  former Ambassadors and Congressmen, U.S. Center for Combating Terrorism, Naval War College, all of the U.S. Armed Services Judge Advocate Corps (including The Army Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School (TJAGLCS), and its Center for Law and Military Operations (CLAMO), Naval Justice School (NJS), U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General’s  School, and the Department of Homeland Security), and numerous academicians and line officers.
DIILS began providing congressionally mandated programs regarding Human Rights and Humanitarian law in more than 44 countries in FY09 under the 1206 program.  We have also facilitated a number of regional Combating Terrorism (CT) programs worldwide.  These regional seminars have been hosted by Slovakia (10 countries); Senegal (11 countries); Macedonia (11 countries), as well as smaller regionals hosted in Cambodia, Czech Republic, Bosnia and Senegal.  With the increasing global interest in transparency under the Rule of Law, interest in our Legal Aspects of Combating Corruption METs and resident courses is surging.  The Conducting Stability and Peacekeeping Operations in accordance with the Rule of Law (PKRL) resident course recently completed its 23rd successful iteration.

Feedback from our faculty and program participants consistently indicates that there is mutual benefit from the intellectual exchange of methods to address current real world rule of law issues.  One example is the Legal Aspects of Combating Terrorism (LCT) Course, where DIILS recently hosted 47 representatives from 27 nations with more than 23 faculty members including DIILS staff, U.S. Combating Terrorism Center staff, a former UK MI-5 officer, DoD Office of General Counsel (OGC) attorneys, U.S. Special Forces line officers, DOJ attorneys, and active and reserve Judge Advocates.  Based upon its success, the LCT two-week course will be held twice annually in 2009, in both March and September, to meet demand for DIILS’ most popular resident course program.

Location(s)

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