DR. MG HAYK KOTANJIAN OF ARMENIA NAMED MARSHALL CENTER GRADUATE OF THE MONTH FOR MAY 2008
armradio.am
13.06.2008 15:24
Dr. MG Hayk Kotanjian of the Republic of Armenia is Marshall Center
Graduate of the Month for May 2008. Dr. MG Kotanjian is the Commandant
of the Institute for National Strategic Studies of the Armenian
Ministry of Defense, and Advisor on Defense Security Policy to the
Minister of Defense.
Dr. MG Kotanjian attended Senior Executive Seminar (SES) 1998-2 as a
colonel, while Chief of the External Relations and Military Cooperation
Department of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia. After attending
the Marshall Center, Dr. MG Kotanjian was charged with establishing
the first Armenian Defense Office to the U.S. Department of Defense,
and he served as the first Defense, Army, Air Force and Naval Attaché
of the Republic of Armenia to the United States of America from 1998
to 2002. Dr. MG Kotanjian was decorated with the U.S. Legion of Merit
for his attaché service in Washington.
In 2003 he enrolled as a Counterterrorism Fellow at the School for
National Security Executive Education, National Defense University,
in Washington, D.C., graduating in 2004. During that time he also
completed the NATO Staff Officer Orientation Course. Earlier in 2001
he participated in the Defense Analysis Program of the RAND Graduate
School in Washington.
During his studies in Washington, Dr. MG Kotanjian developed the
concept to establish the first defense and security think tank in the
Armenian defense system, which was later founded as the Drastamat
Kanayan Institute for National Strategic Studies of the Armenian
Ministry of Defense. Dr. MG Kotanjian was appointed as the first
Commandant of the institute. In 2006-2007 he was also appointed by
decree of the President of Armenia as the Secretary of the National
Security Strategy (NSS) Elaboration Interagency Commission. In
addition, Dr. MG Kotanjian was the Academic Supervisor of the NSS
Interagency Elaboration Project.
Dr. MG Kotanjian participated in the Istanbul NATO Summit in parallel
with Armenia’s official application to the NATO Individual Partnership
Action Plan. His monograph, "Developing Armenia’s National Security
Strategy within the Context of the South Caucasus Regional Security
Architecture," was written and defended while at the National Defense
University in Washington. Armenia’s National Security Strategy and
Military Doctrine are approved by the President of the Republic
of Armenia.
Dr. MG Kotanjian is a founding member of the Marshall Center Alumni
Association in Armenia. In 2007 at the Association’s annual meeting,
together with then-Deputy Director of the Marshall Center, MG
(ret.) Dr. Horst Schmalfeld, Dr. MG Kotanjian was a keynote speaker
and presented an academic report, "Armenian-American Methodological
Cooperation in Interagency Elaboration of Armenia’s First National
Security Strategy."
Dr. MG Kotanjian has held the diplomatic rank of Minister
Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary, from which rank he is
presently retired.
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