A Lieutenant Colonel of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) has completed a Master of Arts Degree in Strategic Security Studies and a War College Diploma in International Security and Combating Terrorism from the College of International Security Affairs (CISA) at the National Defence University, Washington, DC.
Lieutenant Colonel Trevor Bowman recently graduated with honours after successfully completing the programme conducted from July 3, 2017 to June 7, 2018. Lieutenant Colonel Bowman received honours for his research paper titled “Lessons from Trinidad and Tobago: Addressing Crime and Preventing the Rise of Radicalism in Guyana.”
The Combating Terrorism Fellowship Programme is the flagship academic programme conducted by CISA, which targets the development of strategic leaders to confront complex national, regional, and global security challenges such as State instability, insurgency, and terrorism.
The Lieutenant Colonel noted that the programme showed a troubling convergence of terrorism and crime, underscoring the importance of a holistic rather than militarised approach in combating security challenges.
For Guyana, he explained, “it is of particular relevance, as our country still wrestles with crime at both the domestic and transnational levels. Moreover, our emerging oil economy will see an influx of foreigners into the country. This dictates that the terrorist threat should never be disregarded.”
Apart from this recent achievement, Lieutenant Colonel Bowman has successfully completed several courses overseas, including the Jungle Warfare and Jumpmaster Courses in Brazil, the Special Operations and Psychological Operations Courses in the USA, and the French Commando Course in both French Guiana and Martinique.
The Lieutenant Colonel is also the only serving GDF officer to complete the All-Arms Commando Course conducted by the British Royal Marines, UK.
