Scope, Constraints and Limitations

OR army OR security)” for the period 01 January to 31 March 2020 augmented by a detailed review of press releases by national Ministries of Defence.

3. Case study analysis of large non-European states. This section considers the role of armed forces in the national response to the COVID-19 crisis based on case studies of 3 of the largest armed forces in the world (China, United States, and Russia) and a large South American armed force, Brazil. These case study analyses are based on a GoogleTM search for the first 100 website hits in local languages using the search terms “Country AND covid-19 AND (military OR army OR security)” for the period 01 January to 31 July 2020 augmented by a detailed review of press releases by national Ministries of Defence.

4. Case study analysis of multilateral organisations. This analysis considers the role of the security forces in multilateral organisations (United Nations, European Union and NATO) to the COVID-19. These case study analyses are based on a GoogleTM search for the first 100 website hits in English using the search terms “Organisation AND covid-19 AND (military OR army OR security)” for the period 01 January to 31 July 2020 augmented by a detailed review of press releases by each organisation.

Details of the methodology for the case studies are at Annex A. The phases are outlined as

follows:

1) Detection – the use of a GoogleTM search to detect websites that reported information on armed forces and COVID-19. This included detection of organisational websites including Ministries of

Defence.

2) Collation – the extraction of each link to the website onto an Excel spreadsheet for further analysis.

3) Identification – initial review of the website to identify the subject that linked the armed forces and COVID-19 and producing a short precis.

4) Analysis – this was undertaken in four phases

a) Timeline – ordering the hits by date in order to create a timeline and narrative summary. b) Relevance and completeness – an assessment of the effectiveness of the search string to detect relevant websites. c) Categorisation – assigning a category to the content of the website. d) Synthesis – fusion of quantitative and qualitative information.

Scope, Constraints and Limitations. This project has analysed the military contribution to the national and international response to the COVID-19 crisis from the perspective of military medical support requirements for NATO force planning and operations. It has primarily used English language sources, though some of the case-study analysis has been undertaken by native language speakers. It has used publicly available information or specific information released by ACT to the authors. The team has not analysed classified information nor is any of the report classified. The analysis was conducted on a tight timeline and so it should be regarded as an indicative rather than comprehensive study.

Definitions. The project defines ‘armed forces’ as military forces under the control of a government’s Ministry of Defence. Their role is the defence of the country or alliance partners against external aggressors including forces under direct government control for military operations outside the country borders. This includes armies, navies, air forces, and strategic space or missile forces and personnel employed full-time (Regular or active Duty) and part-time (Reserve). It excludes paramilitary internal security or civil defence forces for internal security that are controlled by other national government ministries (e.g. Ministry of Interior) or regional governments (e.g. US National Guard, unless mobilised under national government control). However, these will be reported where such paramilitary forces have been identified as contributing to the government response.