Members of several Botswana Defence Force (BDF) units participated in a security seminar with U.S. soldiers at the BDF headquarters in Gaborone, January 2010.

The event, part of an ongoing military-to-military program managed by the Office of Security Cooperation at the U.S. Embassy, brought together U.S. and Botswanian security specialists from various fields to discuss physical security issues and share ideas and experiences. The event served not only as an opportunity to discuss new developments but also a chance to reconsider existing doctrine, procedures and security measures.

Staff Sergeant Matthew Hosburgh, U.S. Marine Forces Europe, and Petty Officer Christopher Froemming, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), led the physical security seminar.

BDF Warrant Officer II Samuel Machel Ntshabele, a document registrar with 23 years of service, said, “It has been a very good seminar with useful information about archives and records management and safeguarding information. It makes me think about how we need to protect information in the BDF."

"This has been a real eye opener. I will use a lot of what we have discovered in this seminar to improve information security in the BDF,” added BDF Captain Ronny Samakabadi, a 20-year veteran.

Participating in the seminar were security experts from across the BDF, including Ground Forces Command, the BDF Air Arm, and specialty units like the military police and military intelligence.

Using the information shared during the seminar, the BDF participants have already begun to assess their tactics, techniques and procedures and hope to fine tune their methods of protecting personnel, information and installations within the BDF.