Centre of Excellence for Operations in Confined and Shallow Waters

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

Mission and task
As a hub of knowledge, COE CSW develops or provides contributions to doctrines, concepts and procedures. Part of the business is the conduction of experiments and analyses, the provision of competence for NATO initiatives, projects, exercises and operations. Furthermore COE CSW works on a range of projects related to operations in CSW that are initiated by specific ‘Requests for Support’.

Work environment
Since the NATO COEs are set up as think tanks, they do not focus only on the military, but also co-operate closely with other governmental as well as non-governmental organizations, maritime-oriented institutions, academics, and economy. Among the partners of the COE CSW are:


 * The Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM) sited 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 (CMRE) in La Spezia, Italy
 * The Bundeswehr Technical Centre for Ships and Naval Weapons (WTD 71) in Eckernförde, Germany
 * The Sea Surveillance Cooperation Baltic Sea (SUCBAS)
 * The Institute for Security Policy Kiel (ISPK) in Kiel, Germany
 * Defence industry and maritime commerce

Participants
Germany acts as 'Framework Nation' for COE CSW providing the infrastructure, basic services, financial contributions and core staff personnel as well as a number of "Subject Matter Experts". Upon the foundation of COE CSW, 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.

Structure
The supervisory board of COE CSW is the ‘Steering Committee’ composed of a chairman (allocated by the Framework Nation but, without a vote) and a representative of each participating nation (each having one vote). The Steering Committee monitors the work progress and approves the annual report and budget. The COE CSW is led by a Director with the rank of Rear admiral (lh) 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. According to the memorandum of understanding between NATO and the participants, the COE CSW is structured in three branches:


 * Development and External Relations (DER)
 * Subject Matter Experts (SME)
 * Analysis and Implementation (AI)

Additionally, three supporting sections complete the structure:


 * Financial Control
 * Information Technology
 * Administrative Support

The staff of Flotilla 1 assists with administrative issues such as security and logistics. In 2011 the COE CSW adopted a Matrix Structure aiming at expanding the capacities to execute the programme of work. For this purpose the branches have been superimposed by a Project Organization, pooling and allocating the available expertise for different assignments.

Work
The work of the COE CSW is usually initiated through a Request for Support by a NATO entity or a participating nation. 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. Furthermore the COE CSW plans and conducts work related events like conferences and workshops.

Literature

 * Jan Wiedemann: COE CSW celebrates fifth anniversary; in: NAVAL FORCES III/2014 p. 90 f.
 * Hans-Joachim Stricker: 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.
 * Fritz-Rudolf Weber: Centre of Excellence for Operations in Confined and Shallow Waters - Think Tank für die NATO; in: Marineforum 1/2-2010 p. 11 ff.
 * Hans Georg Buss, Stefan Riewesell: Maritime C-IED and Harbour Protection: A Joint Effort; in: The Transformer Fall 2013 Vol 9 Issue 2 p. 18