Academic Year (AY) 20-21 Top Level School (TLS) Selection Board Announcement

1.  Purpose.  To announce the eligibility criteria and publish the available Top Level Schools (TLS) and Fellowships during AY 20-21.  Per the references, the TLS board will meet on or about 3 Dec 19 for approximately three weeks to select officers to attend the schools and fellowships listed in paragraphs 4 and 5.  The board will consist of general officers and colonels.  A sufficient number of primaries and alternates will be selected to fill the requirements from the eligible population.<br>
2.  Eligibility<br>
2.a.  Eligibility Criteria:<br>
2.a.1.  Lieutenant colonels and lieutenant colonels (sel) who have 24 months TOS (CONUS and OCONUS) by 31 Jul 20.  For officers who are selected to attend or are attending the Special Education Program, this TOS requirement applies to their utilization tour.<br>
2.a.2.  Officers selected by the CY19/FY21 Colonel Promotion Board who have not yet attended TLS.  The only TOS requirement for colonels (sel) are Joint and Acquisition assignment restrictions.<br>
2.a.3. Officers serving in Joint and Acquisition tours are eligible for selection at 24 months TOS (by 31 Jul 20).  These officers should contact their monitor with questions regarding eligibility.<br>
2.a.4. Lieutenant colonels currently in command of an organization identified in the Command Screening Program who have completed a command tour by 31 Jul 20. Again, officers should contact their monitor with questions regarding eligibility.<br>
2.b.  Ineligibility Criteria:<br>
2.b.1.  Officers selected to colonel on the CY18/FY20 or eaarlier Colonel Selection Boards except for Senior CMC Fellowships and specific Executive Level Foreign PME location.<br>
2.b.2.  Lieutenant colonels passed for promotion to colonel on the CY19/FY21 or earlier Colonel Selection Boards.<br>
2.b.3.  Lieutenant colonels at or having attended TLS.<br>
2.b.4.  Majors in zone for lieutenant colonel on the FY21 board.<br>
2.b.5.  Restricted-Limited duty officers.<br>
2.b.6.  Officers attending or selected to attend Intermediate Level School (ILS) or Advanced ILS follow on schools:  School of Advanced Warfighting (SAW), School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS), School of Advanced Air and Space Studies (SAASS), or Maritime Advanced Warfighting School (MAWS).<br>
2.b.7.  Officers with approved retirements or resignations.<br>
3. Remove by Request (RBR).  The RBR process has changed.  Officers who are eligible and do not desire to screen must submit an AA form endorsed by the first Marine in their fitness report routing chain.  If there is no Marine in the fitrep routing chain, use the Senior Marine Representative or administrative reviewer.  The form must be attached to their online questionnaire.  See paragraph 7.a for more information.<br>
4.  Department of Defense (DoD) schools to which selections will be made on the AY 20-21 TLS board are listed below.  Schools, quotas, and convening dates are subject to change.  Officers who complete one of the following DoD schools will obtain JPME Phase II credit.<br>
COURSE TITLE                                QUOTA  CONVENES  GRAD<br>
Adv. Strategic Leadership Study Program     1      Jun 20    Jun 21<br>
(Note 1)<br>
Air War College                             8      Jul 20    Jun 21<br>
Army War College                            14     Jul 20    Jun 21<br>
College of Naval Warfare                    16     Jul 20    Jun 21<br>
College of International Security Affairs   1      Jul 20    Jun 21<br>
Eisenhower School (Note 2)                  13     Jul 20    Jun 21<br>
College of Information and Cyberspace (CIC) 3      Jul 20    Jun 21<br>
Joint Advanced Warfighting School           3      Jul 20    Jun 21<br>
(Note 3)<br>
Marine Corps War College                    11     Jul 20    Jun 21<br>
National War College                        12     Jul 20    Jun 21<br>
(Note 1) Followed by 1 year assignment at Ft Leavenworth as a seminar leader.<br>
(Note 2) Two students with an acquisition background (PMOS 8059/61) will be identified to participate in the acquisition curriculum.<br>
(Note 3) Followed by immediate assignment to designated billets on the Joint Duty Assignment List (JDAL) as detailed in the annual NDU Size and Composition Plan.<br>
5.  Foreign senior service colleges and fellowships to which selections will be made are listed below.  Officers interested in a foreign, non-English speaking service school must take the Defense Language Aptitude Battery (DLAB) and have it included in their record or have an established DLPT score on record for the target language.  Minimum DLAB scores to attend language training are 100 and 110 for level IV languages (e.g., Japanese, Mandarin, etc.).  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.<br>
COURSE TITLE                                QUOTA  CONVENES  GRAD<br>
Inter-American Defense College (Ft McNair)  1      Jul 21    Jun 22<br>
    (Note 4)<br>
Israeli National Defense College (Note 5)   1      Jun 20    Jul 21<br>
Australian National Defence College         1      Jan 21    Dec 21<br>
Japanese National Institute for Defense     1      Aug 22    Jun 23<br>
    (Note 6)<br>
NATO Defense College (Rome, Italy)<br>
    1st Session                             1      Sep 20    Feb 21<br>
    2nd Session                             1      Feb 21    Jul 21<br>
Dept of Homeland Security (Wash DC)         1      Jul 20    Jun 21<br>
Dept of Justice (Wash DC, Note 7)           1      Jul 20    Jun 21<br>
U.S. Institute of Peace (Wash DC)           1      Jul 20    Jul 21<br>
Dept of State (Wash DC)                     1      Jul 20    Jun 21<br>
Hoover Institution (Stanford)               1      Jul 20    Jun 21<br>
International Security Studies<br>
    Program (Yale)                          1      Jul 20    Jun 21<br>
JFK School of Government (Harvard)          1      Jul 20    Jun 21<br>
Logistics Fellowship (Penn State, Note 8)   1      Jul 20    Jun 21<br>
School of Advanced International<br>
    Studies (Johns Hopkins)                 1      Jul 20    Jun 21<br>
SECDEF Executive Fellowship (Note 9)        2      Jun 20    Jun 21<br>
Security Studies Program (MIT)              1      Jul 20    Jun 21<br>
MIT Tech/Cyber (Lincoln Labs)      1      Jul 20    Jun 21<br>
United States Agency for<br>
    International Development (Wash DC)     1      Jul 20    Jun 21<br>
SECDEF Strategic Thinkers Program (Wash DC) 2      Jul 20    Jun 21<br>
(Note 4) Spanish language training if required (approx. Jan-Jun 21, Wash DC).  JPME I credit upon completion.<br>
(Note 5) No language training required.<br>
(Note 6) Japanese language training (approx. Oct 20-Mar 22).<br>
(Note 7) Only open to PMOS 4402.<br>
(Note 8) Only open to PMOS 0402 and 3002.<br>
(Note 9) Corporation/company/location determined following selection.<br>
6.  Executive (colonel) level Foreign PME students to attend the United Kingdoms Royal College of Defence Studies (Aug 20 - Jun 21) will be independently assigned.  Colonel and Colonel (sel) are also eligible for the Senior CMC Fellows program to attend the Brookings Institution, Atlantic Council, Center for a New American Security, and Center for Strategic and International Studies (Wash DC, Jul 20-Jun 21).  These positions will be selected from those officers who are TLS Graduates and assigned by MMOA.  Officers desiring consideration for these assignments should contact their monitors.<br>
7.  Board Communication and Update Material<br>
7.a.  Questionnaire and Remove by Request (RBR)<br>
7.a.1.  Officers electing to remove their name from consideration must complete the applicable portions of the online questionnaire and submit an AA form, endorsed by the first Marine in their fitness report routing chain, requesting to RBR.  The Senior Marine Representative or administrative reviewer may be used if there is no Marine in the fitrep routing chain.  This form must be attached 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.<br>
7.a.2. All eligible officers must complete the online questionnaire.  The TLS questionnaire is accessed through the max.gov website at https:(slash)(slash)go.max.gov/dod/AY20TLS.  CAC certification is not required to access the site.  Additional material may be uploaded electronically through the questionnaire.  Instructions on how to upload material are included on the questionnaire.<br>
7.a.3.  The questionnaire will open upon release of this message and will close at 2359 EST on 25 Nov 19 to ensure all material is submitted to the board in a timely manner.  For questions concerning questionnaire access or functionality, contact this MARADMINs POC.<br>
7.b.  Update material.  If unable to upload additional material through the questionnaire, all correspondence to the board must originate from or be endorsed by the eligible officer.  All correspondence addressed to the board including enclosures must be sent to the below email prior to  22 November 2019.  SMB Email address is:  smbmanpowerofficerpr@usmc.mil.  Email is strongly preferred.  If physical mail is the only option please contact MMOA-3 prior to sending.<br>
7.c.  Photographs.  Officers have a personal responsibility to ensure their photographs are submitted and received by the board.  To parallel officer promotion board and command screening board requirements, an official photograph is required to be submitted for the TLS board.  Digital photographs are to be electronically filed in the OMPF per references (d) and (e).  Officers who submit digital photographs to the OMPF may confirm receipt of the digital photograph by contacting MMRP and by verifying OMPF inclusion in Marine Online under the "My OMPF" tab.  All photographs must be dated within one year of the convening date of the board.  If electronic transmission of digital photographs is not possible, officers must submit a hard-copy photograph to the board.<br>
7.d.  Fitness reports.  Completed fitness reports must be submitted to MMRP for inclusion into the OMPF via A-PES.  Incomplete fitness reports will not be accepted if forwarded to the board.<br>
7.e.  Deferrals.  Historically, the TLS board has selected a small number of officers who have subsequently been unable to attend school due to operational commitments.  On rare occasions, some officers may be slated to off-cycle TLS slots.  However, off-cycle TLS opportunities are extremely limited.  If a known operational commitment will preclude an officer from beginning the academic year (Jul 20), that information should be identified on the questionnaire.  Additionally, those officers should strongly consider requesting not to screen by removing their name by request (RBR).<br>
7.f.  Declinations.  The TLS results MARADMIN is considered to be 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.  The declination letter will become part of the officers OMPF.  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.<br>
8.  Points of Contact<br>
9. CMC (MMOA) points of contact are:<br>
Col L. W. Suttee, MMOA Branch Head<br>
  DSN:  278-9300, Comm:  (703) 784-9300<br>
  Email:  leland.suttee@usmc.mil<br>
Col M. E. Van Skike, Aviation Col Monitor<br>
  DSN:  278-9300 Comm:  (703) 784-9300<br>
  Email:  mark.vanskike@usmc.mil<br>
Col G. E. Beals, Ground Col Monitor<br>
  DSN:  278-9300, Comm:  (703) 784-9300<br>
  Email:  ginger.beals@usmc.mil<br>
LtCol R. J. McClam, Ground LtCol Cbt Arms Monitor<br>
  DSN:  278-9279 Comm:  (703) 784-9279<br>
  Email:  reginald.mcclam@usmc.mil<br>
Maj R. C. Anness, Deputy Ground Cbt Arms LtCol Monitor<br>
  DSN:  278-9279 Comm:  (703) 784-9279<br>
  Email:  ryan.anness@usmc.mil<br>
LtCol A. M. Ingram, Ground LtCol CSS Monitor<br>
  DSN:  278-9279 Comm:  (703) 784-9279<br>
  Email:  andre.ingram@usmc.mil<br>
Capt P. A. Skehan, Deputy Ground CSS LtCol Monitor<br>
  DSN:  278-9279 Comm:  (703) 784-9279<br>
  Email:  patrick.a.skehan@usmc.mil<br>
LtCol C. T. Purcell, Aviation LtCol Monitor<br>
  DSN:  278-9267 Comm:  (703) 784-9267<br>
  Email:  clark.purcell@usmc.mil<br>
Maj J. J. Onuska, Deputy Aviation LtCol Monitor<br>
  DSN:  278-9267 Comm:  (703) 784-9267<br>
  Email:  joshua.onuska@usmc.mil<br>
LtCol E. V. Holton, Head, MMOA-3 Plans and Programs<br>
  DSN:  278-9284, COMM:  (703) 784-9284<br>
  email:  edward.holton@usmc.mil<br>
Maj J. J. McCaffrey, Plans Officer, MMOA-3<br>
  DSN:  278-9284, COMM:  (703) 784-9284<br>
  email:  joseph.j.mccaffrey@usmc.mil<br>
Mr. M. G. Cooper, CMC Fellowships/Foreign PME MCU<br>
  DSN:  378-0696, COMM:  (703) 432-0696<br>
  email:  michael.cooper@usmcu.edu<br>
10. This MARADMIN is not applicable to the Marine Corps Reserve.<br>
11. Release authorized by MajGen David A. Ottignon, Director, Manpower Management Division.