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Events, New Initiatives

CIMSEC High School Scholarship Essay Contest

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The Center for International Maritime Security is pleased to announce our first annual Maritime Security Scholarship Essay Contest. In an effort to further our mission of spreading awareness of security issues impacting the ocean commons, CIMSEC is issuing  a call for papers from secondary school students around the world. It’s time to put on your nautical caps and think, read, and write about maritime security. A broad range of paper topics are encouraged, but should exhibit an awareness and interest in maritime or naval affairs. Submissions will be judged on originality of thought, logic, and ability to demonstrate the importance of the chosen topic to maritime security.

Awards:

  • First Place: “Hipple Essay Prize” – $500 US
  • Second Place – $250 US
  • Honorable Mention – $150 US

Prize winners and other exceptional essays will be published on CIMSEC’s “Next War Blog.”

Eligibility: The contest is open to any Secondary/High School Student, internationally. Submissions should include proof of student status (copy of student ID or transcript) along with the entrant’s full name and address.

Deadline: Contest entries are due no later than 15 January 2015 and the winners will be announced in the early spring.

Submissions: Entries of no more than 1,500 words in length should be emailed in Microsoft Word or .pdf format to rayyagari@cimsec.org.  Submissions will only be accepted in English, but we will be happy to help with light editing for non-native English speaking entries.

Events

Time to Win Some Books!

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Between 28 July and 3 August 2014, Offiziere.ch, the Facebook pages “Sicherheitspolitik” and Army HQ will hold another security policy contest with the support of KOG Schaffhausen, “Seidlers Sicherheitspolitik“, “Aussen- und Sicherheitspolitik“, #carbine and CIMSEC.

“Ipsa scientia potestas est!” – “knowledge (itself) is power!“. This English saying can be traced back to the philosoph Francis Bacon and alludes to the importance of (scientific) knowledge in the age of enlightenment. In another connection, this statement has grown in importance over time. Anyone with superior knowledge, who knows the intentions of others, has a clear advantage. Yet there are different methods of intelligence gathering. The least harmful form of intelligence gathering is also used on websites like the Next War blog or offiziere.ch: OSINT or Open Source Intelligence – the gathering of intelligence from publicly available sources. At the other end of the scale lies the comprehensive monitoring and retention of the communication streams of every citizen (data retention).

sneakycontestpartThis edition of our security policy contest is less about data collection mania and more about strategic intelligence gathering. This can, of course, also be done through the targeted interception of communications data (COMINT), but a variety of gathering methods may also be used. Thus, for example, even aircraft are loaded with high resolution cameras and other sensors. Such “spy aircraft” are still employed today. In 2005 one of these planes, which was probably operating in Iranian airspace, crashed. It could fly at a height of over 21,000 m (70,000 feet), which was originally supposed to protect it from detection and shooting down by air defence missiles.

Questions
• What spy plane is referred to?
• What is the technical term which refers to the gathering of information
from images and/or video recordings?
• In the image on the right, an important part of this aircraft can be seen.
What is it?

The (hopefully correct) answers should be sent to einsatz@offiziere.ch. The preferred prize can also be specified in the e-mail, although we cannot guarantee this.

Prizes
The prizes will be drawn from among the correct entries. They will first be drawn from among the entries for which all three questions have been answered correctly. If nobody manages this (hey! don’t disappoint me!), the draw will be made from the entries that have two correct answers.

2 x “Demokratie und Islam” von Cavuldak, Hidalgo, Hildmann und Zapf (gesponsert von Springer VS).
2 x The Lieutenant Don’t Know: One Marine’s Story of Warfare and Combat Logistics in Afghanistan by Jeffrey Clement.
2 x Jahrbuch Terrorismus 2013/2014 von Stefan Hansen und Joachim Krause.
1 x Die Wehrmacht im Stadtkampf 1939-1942 von Adrian E. Wettstein (gesponsert von Lukas Hegi).
1 x “Shadow Wars: Chasing Conflict in an Era of Peace” by David Axe.
1 x “Life Begins at Incoporation” by Matt Bors.
1 x “Poor Numbers: How We Are Misled by African Development Statistics and What to Do about It” by Morten Jerven.
1 x “Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety ” by Eric Schlosser.
1 x “Schottenfreude: German Words for the Human Condition” by Ben Schott.
1 x Civilian Warriors: The Inside Story of Blackwater and the Unsung Heroes of the War on Terror by Erik Prince (siehe auch “Sea Control 29 – Interview with Erik Prince“).

Events

Time to Win Some Books!

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Between the 17th and 24th of March, Offiziere.ch as well as the Facebook pages “Sicherheitspolitik” and Army HQ will hold another security policy contest with the support of “Seidlers Sicherheitspolitik“, “Aussen- und Sicherheitspolitik“, #carbine, and CIMSEC.

Figure of a giant “aircraft carrier” that was to be built in the Second World War by the British from a rather unusual building material.

This time, our security policy contest will deal with a historical maritime theme.

During the Second World War, Britain’s land-based combat aircraft lacked sufficient range to attack German submarines in the middle of the Atlantic. A British journalist and inventor working for the British Combined Operations Headquarters, who was already known for his unusual ideas, suggested the construction of giant floating landing platforms (“aircraft carrier”) on which planes could land and take off. A prototype was tested on a lake in Canada. The proposed construction material was unusual, but it was available in sufficient quantities and at an unbeatable price. A boat that was also made from this material can be seen in the image below.

rumpelstielzchen-004

Questions
What material was the “aircraft carrier” made of?
What was the project name of this venture?
Who suggested the project to Winston Churchill?

The (hopefully correct) answers should be sent to einsatz@offiziere.ch. The preferred prize can also be specified in the e-mail, although we cannot guarantee this.

Prizes
The prizes will be drawn from among the correct entries. They will first be drawn from among the entries answering all three questions correctly. If nobody manages this (don’t disappoint me!), the draw will be made from the entries that have two correct answers.

2 x “Soldaten, Guerilleros, Terroristen” by Philipp Knesebeck (gesponsert von Springer VS).
1 x “Global Environmental Change” by Achim Maas, Balázs Bodó and Clementine Burnley.
1 x “Life Begins at Incoporation” by Matt Bors.
1 x “Shadow Wars: Chasing Conflict in an Era of Peace” by David Axe
1 x “Vier Tage im November” by Johannes Clair.
1 x “Poor Numbers: How We Are Misled by African Development Statistics and What to Do about It” by Morten Jerven.
1 x “Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety ” by Eric Schlosser.
1 x “Cyber War will not take place” by Thomas Rid.
1 x “New Security Challenges in Asia” by Michael Wills and Robert M. Hathaway.
1 x “Schottenfreude: German Words for the Human Condition” by Ben Schott.
1 x “Europa als sicherheitspolitischer Akteur” by Michael Staack and Dan Krause.