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| OVERSEAS SECTION |

ments of his support staff. There is a substantial amount with our international partners on many missions. It’s all
of work required to manage current operations as well as about ensuring the right people know about developments
planning for the future. Recent events in Lebanon highlight at the right time so that good decisions can be made, as
the complexity of the internal security situation as well as situations can and do evolve quickly. Any information we
the interconnectivity to issues both regionally and globally. provide needs to be verified and we need to constantly
Ireland is playing a substantial role in providing stability to monitor the digital space which can have a huge impact
the region through its participation in these two missions. on how information gets out in relation to an incident or a
In addition the DF utilises this operational experience to development in our missions.”
prove capabilities and develop our leadership at all levels in In terms of how the Defence Forces works with its inter-
the organisation, from deployed soldier in the mission area national partners, and how the Overseas Section is instru-
to Staff officer at DFHQ.
In terms of the priorities of the office, Lt Col Hearns is
crystal clear about where they lie. “Our role is to create
the conditions to ensure that Irish troops can operate both
safely and effectively in all the overseas missions where
they are deployed. My primary concern is for the safety
and wellbeing of our people and we need to always ensure
we’re doing enough to help support and protect them.”
In terms of the challenges that the post presents, com-
munication and communicating at the right time to the
right people is one of the biggest challenges: “We have
excellent partners in the Department at the International
Security Defence Policy Branch, with who we are in regular
contact. We also have communications through our own
chain of command and then of course, we have contacts

Captain Gemma Fagan
My role is as Staff Officer in Overseas Section, and like the other personnel serving
here, I work hard to integrate the knowledge I have learned on overseas operations into
how this Section develops and continues to run missions successfully. I was commis-
sioned as part of the 81st Cadet Class in 2006 and since then I have served on Defence
Forces operations in both Kosovo, with KFOR and in the Lebanon with UNIFIL. My
most recent overseas appointment was earlier in 2017, with the United Nations Organi-
sation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) for a
six month period. I worked in Information Operations based in the Force Headquarters
in Goma, which is in the East of the country, close to the border with Rwanda.
Our main objective was to work to persuade leaders of the various armed groups
to cease violence, leave the armed groups and join the Disarmament, Demobilisation,
Repatriation, Reintegration and Resettlement Process. We would have done this by
mass media communication and outreach campaigns. The scale of the country is sim-
ply vast so it is a huge challenge. It was also our job to try to persuade supporters of
the Armed Groups to cease their support for these factions and maintain and improve
the local populations’ confidence in MONUSCO, the National Army and the National Police and assist in minimis-

>INTRODUCING THE WORLD’S MOST SECURE ing civil unrest and calming tense situations through the dissemination of information amongst selected audiences.
Another important role I had on that mission was that I was the Force Deputy Gender and Child Protection Officer. My
role was to conduct induction training for all new MONUSCO Staff Officers, Military Observers and the Contingents on
INDUSTRY STANDARD SERVERS Gender and Conflict Related Sexual Violence. Coming back to the Defence Forces after such a mission it is rewarding
to be able to capitalise on the knowledge gained by plugging into a Section like this and using what I have learned
Protect your data like it’s nobody’s business. Because it isn’t. Experience unique and how we can use this knowledge to improve how we prepare and run missions. It was also good to be able to
go to the UN School in the Curragh to brief personnel who were due to deploy to the mission in the Congo about my
protection from server silicon to software – so you’ll never have to compromise. experiences there. This is an exceptionally busy office but it’s a great dovetail of skills and unique experience where I
It’s all part of the new generation compute experience from HPE. am learning a lot, while helping deliver results in terms of our missions.” ¾

Learn more at hpe.com/security

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