Security assistance and security cooperation are interrelated missions that rely on military staffs in U.S. embassies in partner countries. In countries threatened by insecurity or instability, actions may be required that are not easily accomplished under current systems. This report examines three options for improving current approaches to security assistance and cooperation. They range from changes in current practices to options requiring new policies, procedures, organizations, or authorities.
The United States conducts a wide range of security cooperation missions and initiatives that can serve as key enablers of U.S. foreign policy efforts to assist and influence other countries. For a relatively small investment, security cooperation programs can play an important role by shaping the security environment and laying the groundwork for future stability operations with allies and partners. Security cooperation, in the form of noncombat military-to-military activities, includes "normal" peacetime activities, such as building the long-term institutional and operational capabilities and capacity of key partners and allies, establishing and deepening relationships between the United States and partner militaries, and securing access to critical areas overseas. Security cooperation also can include conducting quasi-operational efforts, such as helping U.S. partners and allies manage their own internal defense. However, current national security challenges both create significant demands for U.S. security cooperation programs and deplete the resources needed to carry out these missions. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are occupying the regular, reserve, National Guard, and Special Forces trainers and advisors who would normally be called on to train and advise military counterparts. Furthermore, U.S. allies, who often complement the efforts of U.S. advisors and trainers, are also stretched thin by their own deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. In an effort to find ways to improve security cooperation planning, coordination, and execution, the U.S. Army's Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans asked RAND Arroyo Center to conduct an assessment of key facets of U.S. security cooperation -- specifically, the missions, capabilities, and structure needed in the security assistance organizations (SAOs) that coordinate the military aspects of U.S. foreign relations, including security cooperation activities, at U.S. Missions around the world.
Security cooperation programs are international activities that shape the geostrategic environment, so International Relations theory should guide program design efforts. The Realist, Constructivist, and Liberal schools of theory all offer perspectives on shaping interstate relations that can be applied to support national security objectives and expand strategic options. Three key actors in the Defense Department; the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Geographic Combatant Command, and the Country Team, are best qualified to inform program design. Each should represent one of the three schools of International Relations theory in security cooperation program design to prevent redundancy, guarantee diversity, and increase the overall likelihood of success in peaceful interstate military relations.
In the realm of security cooperation--peacetime activities undertaken by the U.S. armed services with other armed forces and countries--the U.S. Army's current planning process is exceedingly complex and difficult to coordinate, control, and measure. This monograph seeks to help the U.S. Army improve its ability to assess future demand for resources devoted to security cooperation and to evaluate the impact of these demands upon the resources available to the Army.
"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.
The military engagement team (MET) conducts security cooperation engagements with regional military partners in the designated Army Service component command (ASCC) area of responsibility (AOR). These engagements develop relationships and enhance partner capabilities and interoperability, thereby supporting regional stability and security. The purpose is to expand the ASCC's access and influence in the AOR. The MET utilizes its extensive military and civilian skills to promote conditions for cooperation, regional security, and regional stability one engagement and one relationship at a time.The MET is guided by country plans and coordinated efforts involving the ASCC; regionally aligned forces (RAF); and country desk officers (CDOs), military assistance programs, and the Offices of Military Cooperation within the U.S. Embassy. These programs all fall under the umbrella of international military affairs (IMA). The MET succeeds when it enhances the relationships between the ASCC and regional military partners, increases partner nations' interoperability and capability, and contributes to regional security and stability. There is currently one permanent MET assigned to United States Army Central Command (ARCENT) and stationed in Kuwait. The ARCENT MET is active in the Middle East and Central Asia.
Security force assistance (SFA) is a central pillar of the counterinsurgency campaign being waged by U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan. This monograph analyzes SFA efforts in Afghanistan over time, documents U.S. and international approaches to building the Afghan force from 2001 to 2009, and provides observations and recommendations that emerged from extensive fieldwork in Afghanistan in 2009 and their implications for the U.S. Army.
