JEF Countries’ Hybrid Threats Expert Workshop in Helsinki

Approximately 40 hybrid threat experts from the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) met this week in a workshop in countering hybrid threats in Santahamina in Helsinki, Finland. The purpose of the workshop was to exchange information between participating nations on the broad-spectrum influencing environment. The relevance of the topic has been underlined by the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The Joint Expeditionary Force is a multilateral defence cooperation framework led by the United Kingdom, consisting of ten countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The purpose of the JEF cooperation is to develop the military readiness of the participating countries and, if necessary, to work together in crisis situations.

Preventing and countering hybrid threats and broad-spectrum influencing has been an important part of the JEF cooperation for Finland since the beginning. Hybrid influencing means include political, diplomatic, economic and military means, as well as information and hybrid influencing. Broad-spectrum influencing includes hybrid influencing, but it also contains the open use of military force between the parties.

The JEF Counter-Hybrid Work Shop brings together the military actors of the JEF countries and the researcher networks of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE).  The European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE) is an independent centre, located in Helsinki. Its goal is to strengthen comprehensive security thinking among the 31 participating countries, the European Union and NATO.

“JEF builds on strong relationships that have been developed between the participants through decades of working together. Through a shared understanding of the increasingly complex security challenges we develop the ability to both recognise and operate in an environment with broad-spectrum influencing” says Major General Janne Jaakkola, Chief of Plans and Policy of Defence Command Finland.

“This JEF Counter Hybrid Integration Workshop is more important and relevant than ever before. I am pleased that we are able to bring together experts from across the JEF Nations to discuss and develop our collective counter-hybrid plans and capabilities”, Standing Joint Force Commander, Major General Jim Morris. 

“By training and working together with the JEF countries we will be better prepared to counter hostile broad-spectrum influencing both now and, in the future, and this will also improve our common security” states the Director for Strategy and Defence, Colonel Sönke Marahrens from Hybrid CoE.

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