Marshall Center, Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Source: George C. Marshall Center web site) The need for an institution such as the Marshall Center was identified in the wake of the failed August 1991 coup attempt in Russia. The U.S. European Command's Plans and Policy Directorate began to develop proposals to expand defense and security contacts with the emerging democracies of Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia. The intention was to positively influence the development of security structures appropriate for democratic states. In October 1991, a proposal was developed to use the facilities of the U.S. Army Russian Institute to create a European Center for Security Studies where they could rapidly develop opportunities to work with Central/Eastern European and Eurasian defense establishments. The proposal was submitted to Gen. Colin Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in February, 1992. He endorsed the plan on March 17, 1992. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, Paul Wolfowitz, approved the EUCOM proposal that summer, and the staffs began to develop a charter for the proposed center. Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney signed DOD Directive 5200.34 in November 1992, establishing the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies as an element of the U.S. European Command under the authority, direction, and control of the Commander in Chief, EUCOM. The Marshall Center became a German-American partnership initiative when a Memorandum of Agreement was signed on December 2, 1994, between Headquarters EUCOM and the German Ministry of Defense. The George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies was dedicated on June 5, 1993.