Simons Center Announces Winner of 2013 Writing Competition

The Simons Center for Interagency Cooperation has selected Army Major Jeffrey S. Han as the winner of its Interagency Writing Competition for 2013.  Han’s Team of Rivals: Building Civil-Military Synergy in the Interagency was the winning entry of the Simons Center’s second annual competition, which ran from December 2012 through March 2013.

Han will receive $2,000, an engraved plaque, a certificate of recognition and publication in one of the Simons Center publications series.

“Han argues persuasively for greater interagency training, education, and experience for national security professionals involved in shaping and implementing U.S. foreign policy,” said retired Maj. Gen. Ray Barrett, Simons Center Deputy Director. “Using his own experiences as a civil affairs officer working with the U.S. embassy in Sri Lanka, he advances the proposition that not only is there an imperative for greater civilian-military interagency training, but that it needs to occur much earlier in one’s career.”

A panel of Simons Center judges selected Han’s manuscript based on its originality, substance of argument, style and contribution to advancing the understanding and practice of interagency cooperation at the operational and tactical levels of effort. This year’s topic was:

Achieving civil-military unity of effort in conflict prevention
and/or humanitarian assistance/ disaster response operations

Han is an Army Civil Affairs officer currently serving as a company commander in the Army’s 95th Civil Affairs Brigade (Airborne), at Fort Bragg, N.C.

The Simons Center annual interagency writing competition is open to the public. For more information contact the Simons Center at editor@TheSimonsCenter.org or by calling 913-682-7244. The Simons Center is a major program of the CGSC Foundation, Inc. Information about the Simons Center’s mission, organization, and publications is available at www.TheSimonsCenter.org.