- Defense Institute of International Legal Studies
- DIILS Conducts Two Consecutive Seminars in Sier...
DIILS Conducts Two Consecutive Seminars in Sierra Leone: Military Justice & Border Security May 2007
DIILS was invited to conduct two consecutive weeks of seminars in Sierra Leone on the topics of military justice, and legal aspects of border security. The Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) was interested in the US system as a comparative model to their current British system to provide further basis for military justice reform. During the course of the seminar, the participants developed skills necessary to create and administer a command disciplinary process for minor military offenses. In addition, they became familiar with the essential elements for maintaining good order and discipline through the promotion of positive behavior, all in the context of enhancing respect for the individual rights of the military member. Serving as DIILS instructors were COL Steve Folsom (USMC), CDR Rob Sanders (USN), and LCDR Jeffery Truitt (USN).
Porous borders and issues with unauthorized entry by foreign forces provided the basis for border security training. The training served to relate key legal and related non-legal considerations and criteria for Sierra Leone to evaluate and address when implementing and executing efforts to enhance border security. In addition, the participants understand how their nation's capabilities can be integrated into a cooperative regional and international framework to address these security challenges. DIILS instructors for the Border Security seminar were CAPT Steve Andersen (USCG), MAJ Sam Nazzaro (US Army Reserve), and CPT Steve Janko (US Army).