GSOF Symposium Europe in Brno [Day 2 & 3 Recap]

This blog is part 4 in a series about GSOF Symposium Europe, our 7^th annual such event. It took place from 24-26 OCT 2023 in Brno, Czech Republic.

To see other blogs in this series, click here. 

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25 Nations in Brno

Many people asked us WHO was here at the Symposium. If you know SOF, you know that it’s a community that is protective of their identities, and rightfully so. That need to protect identities has only increased in recent years, due to technological advancements and increased global tensions.

Therefore, most military members at this event were not in uniform, but they were certainly there. We had over 225 military and government attendees representing 25 Nations, including delegations from:

Get more info about the whole breakdown in the chart below:

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Day 2 – The Future of the SOF Narrative

Wednesday, 25 OCT was the first full day of GSOF Symposium Europe. Historically, this is the most active and engaged day of the week, and that held true this year.

Emphasizing the Importance of IT

Despite what was the toughest year we’ve ever had in terms of last-minute speaker cancellations, the GSOF and Czech teams worked hard to pull together a kick-ass symposium agenda.

The day kicked off with some welcome remarks from the day’s excellent Master of Ceremonies, Mr. Matt Karres of L3Harris, a Strategic Partner of the Global SOF Foundation. 

Mr. Karres welcomed our first Keynote Speaker, Colonel Miroslav HOFÍREK, the Director of Special Operations Forces for the Czech Republic. He spoke about the Czech Republic’s national security interests, ongoing anthropogenic changes such as overpopulation and climate change, and the importance of plausible deniability.

The first panel of the week focused on “Fortifying Special Forces Operations with Intelligence and Cyber Capabilities” and the fifth SOF Truth–that most special operations require non-SOF support.

Panelist Mr. Joe Tragakis, the USSOCOM CIO, shared a great metaphor: “IT is like the Offensive Line of a [American] football team. They don’t get a lot of credit or attention, but all good football teams have good O Lines.” 

Much of the discussion centered around lessons learned from the past, and how we must apply those to unity in the future. 

Lieutenant General Tony Fletcher, Commander of the Allied Special Operations Forces Command, said, “It is essential that SOF define and refine what their contribution to the force is in the future operating environment, then the supporting elements build to that.”

This is an appropriate time to mention that our GSOF team also incorporated technology throughout the day. Attendees could participate in Q&A via Slido, a simple web-based app that allows us to receive and moderate questions easily and quickly.

This is also the first time we used Wordly—a translation app that will turn what is being said on the stage to one of any 33 available languages. We were really happy with the amount of use these tools got over the course of the week, and the doors that this opens for more of our international audience to participate in sessions.

Reflecting on the SOF Leaders and the SOF Narrative

After a networking break in the Exhibition Hall, the next panel focused on “Legislation as a Pathway to National Security Reform.”

If you think that sounds like a conversation that might be a little dry, know that our panel included the one and only Mr. Stu BRADIN, GSOF President and CEO. 

He was joined on stage for this lively conversation by Dr. Rob DE WIJK, Founder – The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, and Colonel Otakar FOLTÝN, Deputy Chief, Presidential Military Office – Czech Republic.

Mr. Bradin said that “Nations need to decide what they want their SOF to do, what capabilities and missions they should have…then align their policy with that.”

Much of the conversation focused on not just what policy should say, but the importance of informing and educating policymakers and their constituents to get the path forward right.

Colonel Foltýn said that to do that, “we must realize that we need young people with IT, cyber, and information operations skills in order to win wars of the future.”

Following the panel was a huge highlight of the whole week: a virtual session with ADM (Ret) William H. McRaven! As one attendee said, “it felt like having an intimate dinner” with this legend of the SOF community. Although, not that intimate… the room was packed for this session!

Much of what Admiral McRaven said focused on the importance of SOF and its value proposition to the global defense…and that leaders need to LEAD to emphasize that. 

“Today’s SOF leaders have to do the following:

• Articulate the value proposition of SOF in current near peer competition and future operating environment;
• Show what SOF can do for the conventional forces and how they can make each other better;
• Leverage conventional leaders that have SOF experience; 
• Make a financial case for why SOF is valuable; 
• Build relationships…because you never know where people will end up!” 

He emphasized that not every leader is capable of taking on challenges like that. “Every single day you come to work, you have something to prove. If you come in and think your hard days are behind you, then you’re not the right leader.”

Thank you for the sage wisdom, Sir, you gave us much to reflect on!

The final two sessions of the day featured Dr. Sandor Fabian, Chair of Integration and Engagement at the Irregular Warfare Center, and Dr. Ike Wilson III, respectively. 

Dr. Fabian led the audience through a Flow Drill, which is an interactive session that aims to leverage and harvest the ideas and observations of our diverse audience. It can be tough to get people out of their shells in front of a large and notoriously “silent” crowd, but Dr. Fabian pulled some interesting insights and input from the audience.

Dr. Wilson was, unfortunately, one of our speakers who had to cancel his in-person attendance due to COVID, but he was generous enough to send along a video of his session so that we could still enjoy his presentation on “What Winning (Can) Look Like: Utility of Special Operations in Compound Security Competition.”

Engagement on the Floor

Meanwhile, outside of the theater, our team incorporated a variety of opportunities for engagement on the Exhibition Hall floor:

Capabilities Accelerator Theatre: This theater allowed both government and industry speakers to share how they are working to support innovation in defense. Topics of focus ranged from Innovation in Acquisition in Czech Republic, Italy, and NATO SOFCOM to Social Media Intelligence Platforms to a Voice Analytic Platform.  

There were over 15 presentations of the course of two days–and we look forward to what the future holds for these presenters and their capabilities. 

This is the first time we’ve hosted the accelerator theater on the show floor, and it’s a program we are continuing to build and grow at our events.

1-on-1 Meetings: In the week prior to the event, we worked to set up 1-on-1 meetings between exhibiting industry and government representatives, primarily from partner nations. Over the course of the week, we held 36 pre-planned meetings with representatives from Bulgaria, Colombia, Italy, Slovak Republic, Thailand, Romania, and the US.

Similarly, we are working to institutionalize this opportunity at our events to provide this necessary engagement between industry and government.

Exhibition Hall Reception: The day wouldn’t be complete without an Exhibition Hall Reception! In addition to visiting all of the Exhibitors, we had two special opportunities:

One was a “Wine and Sign” with Mr. Jeffrey Fischer, military veteran and author of the Curt Nover novels. You can learn more about Jeffrey’s books here.

He also had his amazing service dog Zoey with him—we hope you got to meet her! You can learn about the non-profit he is starting called Shelter to Service (and much more) in our recent SOFspot podcast episode with him.

The second feature was the Swing Dixie Olomouc Military Band, graciously provided by our Czech SOF planning partners. They played traditional Czech music that our team thoroughly enjoyed!

Many of us stuck around til long after the 7PM end time, enjoying the remaining wine, conversation, and the tunes of Mr. Fischer’s guitar (a true renaissance man)!

Check out the Day 2 recap video here:

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Day 3 – Ending on a High Note

It’s hard to believe it’s already Thursday, 26 OCT—the final day of GSOF Symposium Europe 2023.

This is always the final chance to get those last introductions, see that final capability, and attend all of the remaining sessions.

From Russia and China, With Love

The first event of the day was the SOF Commanders’ Roundtable, a session that is only open to our military and government attendees.

This lively discussion was led by GSOF VP Dr. Keenan Yoho, along with representatives from Czech SOF. This session gives military and government attendees the opportunity to reflect on the week’s events, share common issues, and plan for future collaboration. 

Back in the General Session theater, we saved some heavy hitters for the final day!

Mr. Michael Grochol, Chief Executive Officer – Iron EagleX, a GSOF Small Business Partner, led the charge as our Master of Ceremonies for the day.

He introduced our first Keynote Speaker for the day and a GSOF fan favorite, Dr. Seth Jones. The focus of his remarks was “Strategic Competition and Irregular Warfare – From Russia and China with Love.”

Dr. Jones discussed how China and Russia are “both getting more and more authoritarian,” but that in order to avoid escalation with a NATO nation, irregular warfare is the main form of conflict.

He said that in Russia we should “expect an increase in covert actions, weaponizing immigrants, disinformation campaigns, generative AI, political interference, and assassinations.” 

China is similar. Tactics include “intimidating Chinese people in the US, disinformation campaigns, economic coercion, the Belton Road initiative…and their IT activities are strong, too.”

But Dr. Jones had plenty of ideas as to how these tactics could be countered, many of which include the use of multinational Special Operations capabilities.

(If you missed out on his session, you can always check out SOFspot Episode #60, which we recorded with Seth back in 2022.)

Current Challenges and Solutions for the Future

The final panel of the week was entitled, “The Role of SOF in Competition, Crisis and Conflict: Situation Reports.”

It was expertly led by Global SOF’s Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mr. Peter Bergen. He is also the Vice President for Global Studies & Fellows at New America, a Professor at Arizona State University, and a Security Analyst at CNN.

Panelists included: 

• Colonel Sean BERG, Deputy Commander – U. S. Special Operations Command Pacific
• Brigadier General Pedro Arnulfo SÁNCHEZ SUÁREZ, Deputy Commander of the Joint Special Operations Command – Colombia

The panel discussed conflicts across the world from the unique perspectives of each speaker, touching specifically on Taiwan, Colombia, Russia, and China. 

The penultimate session was our one and only SOF Slam of the week, presented by Mr. Doug Hill at Real Random. He discussed “Winning the Quantum Conflict,” his unique perspectives on the current state of encryption and how it can be cracked by our adversaries, now and in the future. 

“The impacts of failing to prepare could be catastrophic for national security and prosperity.  The time to prepare is now and the solution already exists…”

The final session of the Symposium was a Fireside Chat with representatives from Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, who left the battlefield to join us in Brno and share their current experiences and lessons learned with our audience. 

A huge thank you to Captain (Ret.) Steve Wisotzki, General Manager of Government, Defense, and Security for Clearspeed, who stepped in to moderate this conversation at the last minute when our original moderator came down with COVID!

Check out the recap of the week’s events in our video below:

Closing Reception:

We always strive to end our events on a high note. This year’s finale took place at the Brno Filharmonie House—Besendi Dum, a beautiful venue in the heart of downtown Brno.

The entertainment was yet another amazing Czech Military Band, graciously provided by our Czech SOF Partners. The singing and dancing of the band leader was entertainment at its peak–and they even appeased us when we chanted for an encore!

It was great to celebrate the end of the week with our attendees, enjoy some Czech food and drinks, and enjoy the beauty of historical Brno. 

A huge thank you from our entire GSOF Team to everyone who enjoyed us for this eventful week!

We also want to thank all of our amazing exhibitors and sponsors who made this event possible.

And of course, we must thank our amazing Czech Ministry of Defense and Czech SOF planning team for all of the work and support they put into this event!

 Thank you so much for joining us, and we hope to see you at our next event… Modern Warfare Week in Ft. Liberty, NC!