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Spotlight on S&T - February 2006

Civilian Scientist Provides Front-line Support in Afghanistan

A civilian scientist is the first Defence Scientist (DS) to be deployed with military troops in Afghanistan, providing direct operational research and analysis support to the CF on the front-line.

Dr. Elizabeth Speed is a scientist with Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC). Her unique one year in-theatre assignment began 13 September 2005, when she was deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan with the Strategic Advisory Team (SAT), or Operation Argus. The SAT's mission is to assist the local government in developing its own human capacity and processes needed to design and implement its own development program.

"Kabul is awash with international organizations, NGOs, contractors, and officials working for various governments," explained Dr. Speed in an e-mail from Afghanistan. "Much of their activities is occurring without the oversight and control of the government and continues to be haphazard, uncoordinated, and sometimes contrary to the interests of the government and local communities. The SAT aims to help the government articulate its own strategic objectives and to develop its supporting plans," she added.

In addition to Dr. Speed, who represents the group's civilian analysis capability, the SAT is comprised of 14 people including military strategic planners, a Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) representative and a public affairs officer. The group works exclusively for the Afghan government and not to any specific Canadian agenda or interests.

Analytical support

Summarizing her role within the group, Dr. Speed said: "I provide analytical support to the SAT's Commanding Officer and planning teams." As such, her work has focused so far on providing inputs to various drafts of a soon-to-be concluded agreement between the Afghan government and the international community and assessing the September 2005 parliamentary and provincial elections in Afghanistan. Another important file is the public administration reform. "I am currently working on a comparative analysis of developing countries' experiences with public administration reform, including success stories and possible lessons for Afghanistan," she said.

The deployment of a civilian DS with a military overseas operation is part of the DRDC's plans to move towards more front-line support to CF operations, according to ADM (S&T) and DRDC CEO Bob Walker. "We want our science workers to intimately understand the real problems that our Forces face," he said shortly after Dr. Speed's deployment was announced.

Travelling with the troops.