"Institutionalization of WPS principles enhances our operational effectiveness..."

Women, Peace and Security

U.S. Northern Command's (USNORTHCOM) Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Program is part of an international effort to promote the meaningful contributions of women in the defense and security sectors at home and around the world. USNORTHCOM seeks to institutionalize WPS across USNORTHCOM missions and functions to improve operational effectiveness, promote opportunities for the meaningful participation of women in decision-making across the command, and ensure safety, security and human rights for all.

OUR APPROACH (PDF)

Our Program
Our Framework
WPS History
WPS Today
WPS Resources

Our Program

USNORTHCOM’s WPS approach is anchored in two decades of practice, in U.S. national law, U.S. strategy, and DoD and USNORTHCOM commander’s implementation guidance. WPS is founded upon abundant evidence showing that women’s safety and security is directly linked to a country’s stability, and that persistent barriers to women’s advancement in defense undermines organizational effectiveness and national security. WPS provides unique opportunities, both throughout USNORTHCOM and with our partners, to reinforce women’s empowerment, meaningful participation in decision-making, protection from violence, and access to resources. It is both a values-based approach, and also a practical one. When USNORTHCOM and our partners advance the principles of WPS, we not only strengthen our security and defense institutions and interoperability, evidence shows it also leads to more stable and resilient societies.

Our Strategic Framework

Implementation of the WPS program is a USNORTHCOM priority. WPS at USNORTHCOM is guided by the following WPS mission, vision and end states which are implemented internally within the command and externally with partner nation militaries.

Mission – USNORTHCOM integrates WPS principles into its strategies, plans and operations to better defend the homeland, strengthen partnerships, and provide flexible response to civil authorities.

Vision – Institutionalization of WPS principles enhances the operational effectiveness of USNORTHCOM and our partner militaries.

End States

Exemplify a diverse, resilient, flexible organization
Ensure the safety, security, and human rights of women/girls, especially during conflict and crisis

History of WPS

In 2000, the United Nations (UN) Security Council adopted UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, the first resolution to address the disproportionate and unique effects of armed conflict on women and girls.

In 2011, the United States published the first U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, in accordance with Executive Order 13595.

In 2017, the president signed into law the Women, Peace and Security Act (Public Law 115-68), making this the first legislation of its kind in the world to acknowledge the multifaceted roles of women throughout the conflict spectrum and call on the U.S. government to promote the meaningful participation and protection of women globally.

In June 2019, the U.S. government released the U.S. Strategy on Women, Peace and Security, making the U.S. the first country in the world with both a comprehensive law and whole-of-government strategy on WPS. The strategy compelled the Department of Defense (DoD), Department of State, and Department of Homeland Security to develop WPS implementation plans.

The requisite DoD Women, peace, and Security Strategic Framework and Implementation Plan was signed June 2020.

A graphic illustrating the history of WPS implementation.

WPS Today

Although Women, Peace, and Security is two decades old, as a government and a military, our understanding of the scope and value to our organizations and operational effectiveness of gender integration into everything we do, continues to expand and evolve.

Data, analysis and new tools for understanding the value of addressing (and the detrimental impact of ignoring) gender dynamics are being developed and tested across our defense and security efforts. For example, practical lessons on the value of applying gender analysis and perspective in operations were gained in stabilization operations, such as in the form of female or mixed-gender engagement teams in Afghanistan and Iraq, and in peacekeeping operations such as in Haiti. UN data shows that increasing female representation within a peacekeeping formation to 30 percent or higher had a civilizing effect on peacekeeping forces and helped mitigate instances of sexual and gender-based violence perpetrated by peacekeeping troops.

Today, in the era of emerging, diverse, and often concurrent security threats – such as cyberattacks, violent extremism, terrorism, climate change, natural disasters, global pandemics, and strategic competition – it is necessary to harness the strengths and perspectives of our entire population to successfully address these challenges and mitigate their effects.

No military commander would ever choose to make a decision with only 50 percent of the information. WPS is about the force multiplying effect of women and the ability to employ the full scope of our human capital to address the complex challenges of today, and those of tomorrow

WPS Resources

Non-Governmental Organizations
North Atlantic Treaty Organization -
UN Women -
United Nations Peacemaker -
UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs -
United States Institute of Peace -
International Peace Institute -
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom -
Working Group on Women, Peace and Security -
The WomanStats Project -

WPS News

May 5, 2023

WHINSEC conducts WPS symposium

WHINSEC conducts its sixth-annual Women, Peace, and Security symposium.

May 5, 2023

USNORTHCOM hosts WPS Barrier Analysis Focus Group

In its continuing effort to expand and evolve the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) program, U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) hosted a series of WPS barrier analysis focus groups for command members from Feb. 28 to Mar. 3, 2023, at the North American Aerospace Command and USNORTHCOM headquarters on Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado.

Sept. 30, 2021

Female engagement team continues to evaluate female evacuees needs at Fort Bliss’ Doña Ana Complex

Afghan evacuee women at Fort Bliss’ Doña Ana Complex in New Mexico meet weekly with female leaders to address their concerns and ease their transition into American life.

Partner News

May 10, 2023

Department of the Air Force - Women, Peace and Security

Disclaimer: Partner news external links contained herein are made available for the purpose of peer review and discussion. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of NORAD and USNORTHCOM, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.

WPS Photos

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WPS Video

Video by Jack Bunja

Army Applies Lung-on-a-Chip Technology to COVID-19 Research

U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center

Oct. 21, 2020 | 2:18

Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD -- Military units conduct reconnaissance missions to obtain information – by visual observation or other detection methods – about the activities and resources of an enemy. That is exactly what a team of researchers at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) Chemical Biological Center is doing in the laboratory to better understand how a new kind of enemy, the novel coronavirus, attacks human lung cells.

“The best way to fight the virus is to understand as much as possible about how it interacts with actual lungs cells,” said Tyler Goralski, Ph.D., a Chemical Biological Center research biologist. That requires Goralski and his team of researchers to observe those interactions as directly as possible, and they have come up with a way that is much like how ants can be observed in a glass-sided ant farm. It is the transparent Alveolus Lung-Chip, a new technology developed by Emulate, Inc., a Boston company that recreates true-to-life human biology systems in microenvironments for researchers.

Emulate has been working on microphysiological systems for research for almost a decade. This effort ran in parallel with CBC efforts over the same time period. Now, with U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) funding made available to it through the FY20 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the Center is taking the technical leap of using the Alveolus Lung Chip in its own research. “This project provides another expansion of capabilities at the Center, with 195more physiologically relevant human lung models,” said Kyle Glover, Ph.D., chief of the Center’s Molecular Toxicology Branch.
The result is a dynamic lung tissue microenvironment inside a clear plastic container about the size of a computer thumb drive. It has a top layer of lung tissue that recreates air moving along it, and a bottom layer that mimics blood flow delivering micronutrients inside the tissue. The cassette’s flexible plastic walls mimic the breathing process in lung cells to make the microenvironment as realistic as possible.

With the microenvironment set up, the stage was set to introduce the SARS-CoV-2 virus and watch exactly what it does to these lung tissues in real time.

“In the past, the closest researchers could get to something like this was by introducing a virus into animals and then dissect them. With this, there is no need for animals in performing toxicological research,” said Dan Angelini, Ph.D., a Center research biologist on the team. “For example, we can observe which specific lung cells engaged the virus and allowed it to cross the cell membrane. We can then track the actions of the virus inside the infected cell both recording the virus’ mechanisms of pathogenesis and the timing of the damage it causes.”

The team hopes that in this way it will be able to identify which specific proteins in lung cells act as receptors for the virus and its routes of entry. The team can also determine the exact infectious dose and time the cascade of effects inside the lung tissue when that threshold is met. That knowledge will be the first step toward creating therapeutic and protective measures that can be taken, and ultimately help in the development of preventative medications. As the team compiles this information it will share the data with the entire global medical community, which is now fighting the pandemic.

The Center is able to perform this research not only because it possesses the brain power of this particular research team, it also has state-of-the-art research facilities that can safely house an infectious virus. “We have a biosafety level 3 laboratory, or BSL3, to work with,” said Goralski. “It has engineering controls that allow us to work with microbes which can cause serious and potentially lethal disease through inhalation – which clearly includes the SARS-CoV-2 virus. So it has a negative-pressure air handling system and double sets of self-closing doors to make sure no airborne particles can escape. “Only by having it inside the BSL3 can we take our research to the next step, looking at the virus in its aerosolized state, droplets suspended in air, which is how the virus is most commonly transmitted.”

“We are fortunate to be able to bring everything together here at the Chemical Biological Center,” said Glover. “The Center has some of the best microbiologists and toxicologists in the world, willing to collaborate and find solutions to support the warfighter. In this instance, we are diving into the global battle against the COVID19 pandemic, while also significantly bolstering our capabilities to meet future chemical and biological challenges.”
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The Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) Chemical Biological Center, formerly known as the U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, is the Army’s principal research and development center for chemical and biological defense technology, engineering and field operations. The headquarters of the CCDC Chemical Biological Center is located at the Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.