ACADEMIC YEAR 2023-2024 TOP LEVEL SCHOOL SELECTION BOARD ANNOUNCEMENT

MARADMINS : 440/22

R 291512Z AUG 22 MARADMIN 440/22 MSGID/GENADMIN/CMC WASHINGTON DC MRA MM// SUBJ/ACADEMIC YEAR 2023-2024 TOP LEVEL SCHOOL SELECTION BOARD ANNOUNCEMENT// REF/A/MSGID: DOC/MM/YMD: 20190530// REF/B/MSGID: DOC/CMC/YMD: 20210510// REF/C/MSGID: DOC/CMC/YMD: 20080125// REF/D/MSGID: MSG/CMC/YMD: 20081211// REF/E/MSGID: DOC/CMC/YMD: 20200825// NARR/REF A IS MCO 1524.1, MARINE CORPS GRADUATE EDUCATION PROGRAM. REF B IS MCO 1300.8 CH-1, MARINE CORPS PERSONNEL ASSIGNMENT POLICY. REF C IS MCO 1553.4B, PROFESSIONAL MILITARY EDUCATION. REF D IS MARADMIN 703/08, OFFICER PROFESSIONAL MILITARY EDUCATION SUMMARY. REF E IS MARADMIN 491/20, REMOVAL OF PHOTOGRAPHS FROM CONSIDERATION BY BOARDS AND SELECTION PROCESSES PERTAINING TO ASSIGNMENT, TRAINING, EDUCATION, AND COMMAND.// POC/MICHAEL D. SCOTTO/MAJ/MMOA-3/703-784-9284/EMAIL: MICHAEL.D.SCOTTO@USMC.MIL// GENTEXT/REMARKS/1. Purpose. This message announces the available Top Level Schools (TLS) and fellowships during Academic Year (AY) 2023-2024, the eligible officer population for selection, and the established timeline through execution of the TLS selection board. 1.a. Major timeline milestones are: Date Milestone Note Release of this message TLS questionnaire open 1 29 September 2022 Completed questionnaire due 2 29 September 2022 Remove by request (RBR) due 3 18 October 2022 TLS Board convenes 4 15 November 2022 TLS results released 5 Note 1: Refer to paragraph 3 of this message for additional details regarding eligibility criteria. The eligibility roster is posted on the following website, under “Board Documents”: https:(slash)(slash)www.manpower.usmc.mil/webcenter/portal/OA3REP/pages_toplevelschoolboard. Note 2: Eligible officers must complete questionnaires by 2359 EST on 29 September 2022. Refer to paragraph 5 of this message for additional details regarding the submission of the questionnaire. Note 3: If an officer is eligible for the TLS Selection Board but desires not to be considered, refer to paragraph 3.d of this message for the RBR requirements. Note 4: Manpower & Reserve Affairs (M&RA) convenes the TLS Selection Board on or about 18 October 2022 to select officers to attend the schools and fellowships. Refer to paragraph 4 of this message for additional details regarding the available schools and fellowships. Note 5: M&RA releases the results of the TLS Selection Board on or about 15 November 2022. 2. Background. 2.a. TLS is the premier Professional Military Education (PME) opportunity provided to lieutenant colonels and colonels. The purpose of the TLS Selection Board is to select the best and most fully qualified lieutenant colonel selects through colonels to resident education programs and special duty assignments available within the Marine Corps, to include: Department of Defense (DoD) schools, Foreign Professional Military Education (FPME), and Commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC) Fellowships. 2.b. The Marine Corps Graduate Education Program Order, ref. (a), establishes the policies and procedures governing the TLS Selection Board, to include the eligibility process, board selection and slating, and requirements for participation and completion of these programs. Officers are encouraged to review the order, found at: https:(slash)(slash)www.marines.mil/portals/1/Publications/MCO%201524.1.pdf?ver=2019-06-03-083458-743. 2.c. Requisite language training may result in the actual course attendance occurring in another AY. Refer to appropriate notes to determine if this applies to the desired course. 3. Eligibility. 3.a. Eligibility criteria. 3.a.1. Lieutenant colonels and lieutenant colonels (select) who will have 24 months time-on-station (TOS) by 31 July 2023 or are otherwise scheduled to complete their prescribed tour control factor (TCF) in Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23). 3.a.2. Lieutenant colonels currently in command of an organization identified in the Command Screening Program who are scheduled to complete their command tour in FY23. 3.a.3. Lieutenant colonels, colonels (select), and colonels who are TLS graduates are only eligible for those senior CMC fellowships and Executive Level Education found in paragraph 4.c. 3.a.4. The eligibility roster is posted on the following website: https:(slash)(slash)www.manpower.usmc.mil/webcenter/portal/OA3REP/pages_toplevelschoolboard. 3.b. Ineligibility criteria. 3.b.1. Officers selected to colonel on the CY21/FY23 or earlier Colonel Promotion Boards are ineligible for all programs with the exception of Senior CMC Fellowships and Executive Level Foreign PME list in para 4.c below. 3.b.2. Lieutenant colonels in the above zone for promotion. 3.b.3. Majors in zone for lieutenant colonel on the CY22/FY24 board. 3.b.4. Limited duty officers. 3.b.5. Officers attending or selected to attend Intermediate Level School (ILS) or Advanced ILS schools which require a follow on utilization tour. These programs include, but are not limited to: Naval Postgraduate School, School of Advanced Warfighting (SAW), School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS), School of Advanced Air and Space Studies (SAASS), and Maritime Advanced Warfighting School (MAWS). 3.b.6. Officers with an approved voluntary separation or retirement date. 3.c. Officers are directed to contact their primary military occupational specialty (PMOS) monitor with questions regarding eligibility. 3.d. Remove by request. Eligible officers desiring to remove their name from consideration must submit an administrative action (AA) form, endorsed by the first Marine in their fitness report routing chain, requesting to RBR. If there is no Marine in the officer’s fitness report routing chain, the officer may use the senior Marine representative or administrative reviewer. Refer to paragraph 5.d for the procedures to submit the endorsed AA form to MMOA. 4. Allocations. Note that all course convene/graduate dates are in MMM YY format. 4.a. The AY23-24 TLS Board will select officers to attend the DoD schools listed below. (Read in five columns.) Schools, quotas, and convening dates are subject to change. Officers who complete one of the following DoD schools will obtain joint PME (JPME) phase II credit. Course Title/School Quota Convenes Graduates Note Advanced Strategic Leadership Studies Program (Fort Leavenworth, KS) 1 Jun 23 Jun 24 6 Air War College (AWC) (Montgomery, AL) 8 Jul 23 Jun 24 Army War College (USAWC) (Carlisle, PA) 14 Jul 23 Jun 24 College of Naval Warfare (CNW) (Newport, RI) 16 Jul 23 Jun 24 College of Information and Cyberspace (CIC) (Washington, DC) 2 Jul 23 Jun 24 College of International Security Affairs (CISA) (Washington, DC) 1 Jul 23 Jun 24 Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy (Washington, DC) 13 Jul 23 Jun 24 7 Joint Advanced Warfighting School (JAWS) (Norfolk, VA) 3 Jul 23 Jun 24 8 Marine Corps War College (MCWAR) (Quantico, VA) 11 Jul 23 Jun 24 National War College (NWC) (Washington, DC) 14 Jul 23 Jun 24 Note 6: Graduates of this program will complete a mandatory one year assignment at Fort Leavenworth as a seminar leader. Note 7: Two students with an acquisition background (PMOS 8059/61) will be identified to participate in the acquisition curriculum. Note 8: Graduates of this program will complete a mandatory utilization assignment to designated billets on the joint duty assignment list. 4.b. The TLS Selection Board will select officers for assignment to the foreign senior service colleges and fellowships listed below. Officers interested in a foreign, non-English speaking service school must take the defense language aptitude battery (DLAB) and have the score included in their record or have an established defense language proficiency test (DLPT) score on record for the target language. The minimum DLAB score required to attend language training is 100. However, programs taught in level IV languages (e.g. Japanese, Mandarin, etc.) require a DLAB score of 110 or higher. Officers completing a foreign PME assignment receive service TLS credit and JPME phase I credit except as noted. Fellowships grant service TLS PME credit only. 4.b.1. Foreign Professional Military Education. (Read in five columns.) Additional details regarding FPME are located at the following website: https:(slash)(slash)www.usmcu.edu/Academic-Programs/CMC-Fellows-Strategists-Foreign-PME-Olmsted-Scholars/Foreign-Professional-Military-Education/ Course Title/School Quota Convenes Graduates Note Inter-American Defense College (Ft McNair) 1 Jul 24 Jun 25 9 Israeli National Defense College (Tel Aviv, Israel) 1 Jun 23 Jul 24 10 Japanese National Institute for Defense Studies (Tokyo, Japan) 1 Sep 24 Jun 25 11 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Defense College (Rome, Italy) 1st Session 1 Sep 23 Feb 24 10 2nd Session 1 Feb 24 Jul 24 10 Note 9: Spanish or Portuguese language training at DLI-Washington approx. Jan - Jun 2024. Note 10: No language training required. Note 11: 63-week Japanese language training at DLI-Monterey, Mar 2023-Jul 2024. Course Sept 2024 - Jun 2025. 4.b.2. CMC Fellowships. (Read in five columns.) Additional details regarding CMC Fellowships are located at the following website: https:(slash)(slash)www.usmcu.edu/Academic-Programs/CMC-Fellows-Strategists-Foreign-PME-Olmsted-Scholars/Commandant-of-the-Marine-Corps-Fellowships/ Course Title/School Quota Convenes Graduates Note Department of Homeland Security (DHS) (Washington, DC) 1 Jul 23 Jun 24 Department of State (DOS) (Washington, DC) 1 Jul 23 Jun 24 Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) (Washington, DC) 1 Jul 23 Jun 24 12 Hoover Institution at Stanford University (Stanford, CA) 1 Jul 23 Jun 24 International Security Studies Program at Yale University (New Haven, CT) 1 Jul 23 Jun 24 JFK School of Government at Harvard University (Cambridge, MA) 1 Jul 23 Jun 24 Lincoln Laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA) 1 Jul 23 Jun 24 Logistics Fellowship at Pennsylvania State University (State College, PA) 1 Jul 23 Jun 24 13, 14 School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University (Washington, DC) 1 Jul 23 Jun 24 14 Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) Executive Fellowship (Various Locations) 4 Jul 23 Jun 24 15, 16 SECDEF Strategic Thinkers Program at Johns Hopkins University (Washington, DC) 2 Jul 23 Jun 24 17 Security Studies Program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA) 1 Jul 23 Jun 24 Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership at U.S. Naval Academy (Annapolis, MD) 1 Jul 23 Jun 24 18 United States Agency for International Development (USAID) (Washington, DC) 1 Jul 23 Jun 24 United States Institute of Peace (USIP) (Washington, DC) 1 Jul 23 Jun 24 Note 12: Only open to PMOS 4402. Note 13: Only open to PMOS 0402 and 3002. Note 14: Master’s programs. Note 15: Corporation/company/location determined post board. Note 16: Two quotas are allocated for PMOS 8059/8060 and two quotas are allocated for any PMOS. Note 17: Additional details regarding this program are located on the following website: https:(slash)(slash)www.usmcu.edu/Academic-Programs/SECDEF-Strategic-Thinkers-Program/ Note 18: Graduates of this program will complete a mandatory two year utilization tour as USNA Marine Detachment Chief of Staff or Battalion Officer. 4.c. Executive Level Education (ELE). The following assignments are only available to post-TLS lieutenant colonels and colonels. Manpower Management Officer Assignments (MMOA) branch will independently assign officers to ELE opportunities outside of the TLS board process. Officers eligible for ELE are not listed in the TLS eligibility roster. Details on ELE assignments are located at the CMC Fellowships website identified in paragraph 4.b.2. Those officers desiring consideration for ELE assignments should contact their PMOS monitors. Assignment Quota Report Rotate Note Atlantic Council of the United States (Washington, DC) 1 Jul 23 Jun 24 Brookings Institution (Washington, DC) 1 Jul 23 Jun 24 Center for a New American Security (CNAS) (Washington, DC) 1 Jul 23 Jun 24 Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) (Washington, DC) 1 Jul 23 Jun 24 Council on Foreign Relations (New York, NY) 1 Jul 23 Jun 24 19 India National Defense University (New Delhi, India) 1 Jan 24 Dec 24 20 Note 19: Must be a colonel. CMC nomination. Note 20: Must be a colonel. Foreign PME, no language training required. See FPME website in para 4.b.1 for information. 5. Board communication and updates to official military personnel file (OMPF) material. 5.a. The online questionnaire is the only mechanism for board communication, which all eligible officers shall use to communicate their preferences. Questionnaire responses are provided to the selection board for their consideration. 5.a.1. The TLS questionnaire is accessed through the max.gov website at https:(slash)(slash)go.max.gov/dod/TLS 5.a.2. CAC certificate is not required to access the site. Eligible officers may upload additional material electronically through the questionnaire. Instructions on how to upload material are included on the questionnaire. 5.a.3. The questionnaire will open upon release of this message and will close at 2359 EST on 29 September 2022. 5.a.4. If a known operational commitment will preclude an officer from beginning the academic year (July 2023), officers are directed to disclose such information in the questionnaire. 5.b. Updating OMPF material. Officers should submit material for entry into their OMPF to the following email address: SMB.Manpower.MMRP@usmc.mil. 5.c. Fitness reports. Completed fitness reports must be submitted to MMRP for inclusion into the OMPF via automated performance evaluation system (A-PES). The board will not accept incomplete fitness reports. 5.d. RBR. Officers who wish to remove their name from consideration must complete the applicable portions of the online questionnaire and submit the endorsed AA form via an attachment to the online questionnaire at submission. Failure to attach a properly endorsed AA form will result in the officer being screened for TLS. A template AA form is available on the upload page of the questionnaire. 5.e. Deferrals. Officers selected for TLS by the board who are unable to execute orders are afforded the opportunity to request deferral. If approved, officers may be slated to off-cycle TLS slots based upon availability. 5.f. Declinations. MMOA considers the TLS results Marine administrative message (MARADMIN) as official notification of orders. Officers selected for TLS by the board who subsequently decline the opportunity to attend are required to submit their declination in writing with chain of command endorsement to include the first general officer to CMC via MMOA-3. A declination letter will become part of the officer's OMPF. A declination renders an officer ineligible for screening on future TLS boards. Alternates fleeted up to fill vacated TLS quotas are also required to formally decline via the procedure described above if they decline the opportunity to attend school. 6. Points of contact. Col N. I. Brown, Branch Head, MMOA DSN: 278-9300, Comm: (703) 784-9300 Email: nick.brown@usmc.mil Col R. E. Herrmann, Aviation Col Monitor DSN: 278-9300, Comm: (703) 784-9300 Email: robert.herrmann@usmc.mil Col M. T. James, Ground Col Monitor DSN: 278-9300, Comm: (703) 784-9300 Email: matthew.t.james@usmc.mil LtCol R. F. May, Ground LtCol Cbt Arms Monitor DSN: 278-9279, Comm: (703) 784-9279 Email: robert.may@usmc.mil LtCol J. D. Thornburg, Ground LtCol CSS Monitor DSN: 278-9279, Comm: (703) 784-9279 Email: james.d.thornburg@usmc.mil LtCol K. M. Gall, Ground LtCol Info Monitor DSN: 278-9279, Comm: (703) 784-9279 Email: kurt.gall@usmc.mil LtCol L. W. Hemming, Aviation LtCol Monitor DSN: 278-9267 Comm: (703) 784-9267 Email: lee.hemming@usmc.mil LtCol M. G. Guard, Section Head, MMOA-3 DSN: 278-9284, COMM: (703) 784-9284 Email: mitchell.guard@usmc.mil Mr. M. G. Cooper, CMC Fellowships/Foreign PME, MCU DSN: 378-0696, COMM: (703) 432-0696 Email: michael.cooper@usmcu.edu 7. This message is not applicable to the Marine Corps Reserve. 8. Release authorized by MajGen M. J. Borgschulte, Director, Manpower Management, Manpower and Reserve Affairs.//