Army Chemical Review presents professional information about Chemical Corps functions related to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, smoke, flame, and civil support operations.
Issue link: https://chemical.epubxp.com/i/141522
of CBRN materials; prevent their theft or illicit transfer by terrorists and criminal syndicates; and preclude terrorists from gaining the know-how to develop WMD. Countries already assist their allies in the safe destruction of stockpiles and surplus munitions, conventional weapons, and land mines. Security cooperation allows advice, training, and other multilateral assistance available to partners seeking to secure, reduce, or destroy stockpiles of these materials to remain within the limits of available resources. Compared to a monocultural environment, the multinational security environment calls for additional leadership competencies—especially when it comes to interpersonal communication, problem solving, and decisionmaking. National cultural differences between different international troops are barriers to a successful coalition mission command. Senior leaders must implement a system that functions throughout the different cultures in order to effciently work toward the desired goal. One of the most important factors in determining the success of such a system is good interpersonal interaction between leaders at all levels and from all nationalities. There are several reasons for this. First, the structure, goals, and orders issued must be correctly interpreted and understood by each member of the force. In addition, no one should be offended by the way in which people interact with one another. Furthermore, general commitment, trust, and motivation should be presupposed. Misunderstandings regarding general structures, roles, and duties are likely to cause the greatest number of problems. An adequate, sensitive, cross-cultural interaction is important between people from very different continents and between troops from similar Western societies. The management of cross-cultural differences is crucial to the success of the engagement. Value Added for Nonproliferation Efforts Partnerships can foster the development of allied capabilities to impede or stop the traffcking of WMD, related materials, and means of delivery. This type of security cooperation could bring military capabilities to bear to aid in the— y Detection, identifcation, monitoring, surveillance, and tracking of WMD acquisition and development activities. y Performance of information operations aimed at discouraging, disabling, and denying the proliferation of WMD. y Conduct of information exchange and intelligence fusion among allies and partners to produce actionable intelligence for nonproliferation activities. Partnerships can also be used to develop and promote common operational standards, concepts, doctrine, and tactics and to encourage or facilitate relevant training and exercises. Security cooperation can also serve to enhance international outreach to foster related partner capabilities and enhance the global response to WMD proliferation. Individual cross-cultural competencies are the basis for adequate command and leadership behavior in this international security setting. A combination of cultural knowledge, mindfulness (the ability to pay attention to cross-cultural cues Summer 2013 in a refective and creative way), and behavioral skills leads to effective cultural understanding. Although cross-cultural competencies are important for leadership in monocultural and intercultural environments, international cross-cultural environments are more complex and, therefore, require a different approach with regard to certain aspects of leadership. To be cross-culturally competent, leaders must be able to describe and explain their own culture, the foreign culture, and the cross-cultural interaction. They must have a polycentric view, a tolerance for ambiguity, the aptitude for cross-cultural training, and some knowledge of the foreign language. These competencies allow for improvements in the communication between, and interaction among, people of different cultures. Value of Nonmilitary Partnerships Nonmilitary partnerships and alliances can yield valuable strategies and resources that could contribute to efforts to prevent WMD proliferation. For instance, through its expertise in ocean shipping, an alliance might gain situational awareness regarding potential proliferation transit routes. Upon request from a nation, alliances could offer access to civil expertise to assist in the planning and decisionmaking process. In addition, civil experts might offer advice on other relevant topics such as national border control, port security, and sensitive-material protection. Differing situations will likely infuence personal behavior in cross-cultural interaction settings. There are specifc characteristics involved in each situation; therefore, a situational assessment should be conducted. Leaders must often act under ambiguous situations, so situational assessments are regularly based on fragmentary information. Under such conditions, there seems to be a tendency to fall back on proven behaviors and problem-solving strategies. But these behaviors and strategies are frequently based on monocultural experiences in different environments and may, therefore, be inappropriate for the situation at hand. The interpretation of a specifc situation is strongly infuenced by the cultural background of the problem solver. And the more dangerous the situation, the more infuential the problem solver's cultural background— since his or her behavior will be less controlled and based more on basic cultural patterns. Therefore, a leader's adoption of new cultural patterns of behavior and new problem-solving strategies based on accurate situational assessments is the key to making sound decisions. Monitoring and Analysis of Global Trends in Research and Development CBRN security partnerships can play a crucial role in monitoring and analyzing global trends in research and development and can continue to encourage scientifc study and innovation. Security partners might consider intensifying outreach efforts toward scientists, universities, think tanks, and similar national and international entities and fostering publicprivate partnerships. Because cross-cultural interactions are at the heart of international CBRN interventions, the organizations involved in these interventions must foster an open, polycentric approach with regard to interpersonal interactions and problem 45