GDF’s National Defence Institute to tackle regional threats

Last Updated on Thursday, 5 September 2024, 8:02 by Writer

The National Defence Institute (NDI) of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), which was launched on Wednesday, has been tasked with analysing the threats being posed by gangs across the Caribbean to inform an upcoming regional meeting on crime and security, President Irfaan Ali said.

“I’ve challenged the Institute to do a comprehensive analysis of the gangs in the region and some of the things that the Institute must be able to produce that will impact current work is dealing with gangs’ movements, migration patterns, what attracts them, how are they moving, motivation…,” he said. The President said the NDI would need to examine whether there are weak systems that could be easily infiltrated, access to weapons, and support from other gangs.

He also announced that the NDI would be conducting a SWOT analysis of the region’s response to Hurricane Beryl that on July 1 wreaked havoc in several Caribbean islands especially Grenada’s dependencies of Petit Martinique and Carriacou as well as Mayreau, Union Island, Canouan and Bequia which are the sister islands of St Vincent. “We’ll be sharing this with CARICOM so every CARICOM Head of Government Meeting will see a report from the Institute on how they analyse things. The leaders may use it if they wish but this is some of the intellectual work that the Institute will be doing to help regional thinking,” he said.

Dr Ali said the NDI would be collaborating with the National Defence University, William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies – a United States Department of Defence institution – the Caribbean Community’s Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) and the Caribbean Regional Security System (RSS). “The National Defence University in Washington and the Perry Centre will be the National Defence Institute’s strategic partner and will be our strategic, academic structure,” he said.

The Guyanese leader, who is also a member of the CARICOM Bureau of Heads of Government, said the NDI would assist the region in tackling the “major threat” of gangs. He said the region has not strategically and analytically examined the migration of people including gangs and how they were being armed and supported. He said if the problem of gangs was not tackled, Caribbean nations risked worsening socio-economic conditions. “This is a threat for the region and a threat for us. If we do not, in an analytical way, get to the bottom of this, our small societies will be faced with immense danger. It’s already faced with great danger but immense danger that can destabilise our society and create havoc,” he said. Dr Ali hoped that the NDI would be able to use its gang analysis to position that institution very soon in CARICOM.

He said Guyana was aiming for the NDI to become the premier intelligence, defence, security agency in the region that would train the Caribbean’s strategic thinkers in defence and security.

The President said the NDI would be continuously analysing various threats, producing quarterly regional reviews, risk profiling related to elections, and trade with a strong regional and international focus. The NDI, whose programmes of study would eventually be accredited, would also be offering academic programmes on environmental security, cybersecurity including the misuse of social media and threats by artificial intelligence, and drugs trafficking.

The NDI’s Advisory Board is being chaired by Director of the National Intelligence and Security Agency, Colonel Sheldon Howell and its Director is Professor Randolph Persaud, a presidential advisor, who has studied and written on various aspects of security. The faculty would include former presidents, former generals, former secretaries of State, former members of academia and diplomats.

Mr Howell said the University of Guyana assisted the NDI with formulating a number of courses and the signing of a number of memoranda of understanding with other universities and academic agencies.