Thirty-eight international participants representing twenty-three countries recently graduated the Legal Aspects of Defense Support of Civil Authorities (LADSCA) course presented by the Defense Security Cooperation University’s Defense Institute of International Legal Studies (DIILS).

One of the course highlights was the presentation of the Lt. Col. Vincent Sowa Award of Excellence to a participant. This year’s recipient was Colonel Jossy Kajila from Zambia. The presentation was made by Mr. Benjamin Karpinski, DIILS Education Center Director.

Lt. Col. Vincent Sowa was an alumni of the inaugural Legal Aspects of Defense Support of Civil Authorities (LADSCA) course in 2014 who sadly passed away in 2017. DIILS honors his memory every year during the LADSCA course by presenting an award for the “Master of course concepts; interest in and dedication to the topic of Military-Civilian Support and Cooperation; and concern for fellow course participants.”

For more than 30 years, DIILS, located in Newport, Rhode Island, has been the lead U.S. Department of Defense security cooperation resource for global legal engagement with Partner Nation security sector institutions and personnel. As a component of DSCU, DIILS broad mission is to advance U.S. national security and foreign policy interests by building the capacity of foreign security forces to respond to shared security challenges in a responsible, accountable and legally compliant manner.