Working For A Better World

Ron Sargent retired from the U.S. Army in 2018 after more than three decades of active duty service. Over the last 18 years of his career, he served in several assignments focused primarily on the Southeast Asia region. The highlights of those years include postings as: Defense Cooperation Chief at the U.S. Embassy in Timor-Leste; Military Professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies; Deputy Director of the NATO Training Mission’s Security Assistance Office in Kabul; Southeast Asia and Oceania Division Chief at the U.S. Pacific Command Joint Intelligence Operations Center; and the Army Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Malaysia. He was also an exchange officer with the Malaysian Armed Forces.

His professional efforts centered on infantry and logistics operations; assistance to a former guerrilla force as it transitioned to become a professional, conventional military; negotiations between a government and armed opposition entities; bilateral and multilateral training initiatives; counterterrorism operations involving U.S. and partner- nation special operations forces; intelligence operations; humanitarian assistance to affected populations; and extensive engagement with senior political leaders, the international diplomatic community, NGOs, and international/regional organizations. He has also designed and executed training on policy themes ranging from security cooperation, comprehensive crisis management, humanitarian assistance, and security responses to terrorism.

Ron speaks Malaysian and Indonesian and possesses a postgraduate diploma in Strategic and Defence Studies from the University of Malaya; a MA in International Affairs/Southeast Asian Studies from Ohio University; a MS in National Security Strategy from the U.S. National Defense University; and a Doctorate in Education (Ed.D) from Vanderbilt University.

Natacha has spent over twenty years working on and in countries emerging from conflict, supporting the implementation of peace agreements and the reform of security sector institutions. She supported early reconstruction efforts as a member of the World Bank Resident Mission in Timor-Leste during the post-consultation transition to full independence. While serving on the Secretariat of the World Bank administered Multi- country Demobilization and Reintegration Program (Africa – Great Lakes), she was involved in the design, implementation and monitoring of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programs. As a United Nations Security Sector Reform (SSR) Officer, she provided technical inputs to cease-fire negotiations (Burundi) and advised on governance aspects of security institutions reform and development (Burundi, Timor- Leste, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia). She also contributed to the policy dialogue on donor assistance to SSR in countries emerging from conflict.

Natacha’s current work draws on her previous experience and on the evolution of associated policies and practices to fuel the development of capacity in donor institutions engaged in SSR in fragile and transitional environments. She designed SSR practitioner-centered training material, facilitated courses and contributed to the development of governance related guidance for the International Security Sector Advisory Team of the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF-ISSAT). This led her to collaborate with the Advising Support Program of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), and for two years, she was the Program’s lead instructor (08/2014-06/2016), designing and conducting executive level courses, contributing in particular to the pre-deployment training of the Ministry of Defense Advisors (MoDA) of the US Department of Defense.

Natacha currently serves as the MoDA program’s Strategic Advisor Course lead instructor. She speaks French, English and Portuguese fluently, some Indonesian/ Malaysian, and holds graduate degrees from the University of Montpellier, France.