Joe Hogler

Security cooperation is an important instrument of the U.S. government for advancing national security objectives vis-a-vis allies and partner countries. This report characterizes security cooperation mechanisms for capacity-building, produces a detailed database of the mechanism elements, develops and applies a preliminary means of evaluating select mechanisms, and recommends ways to improve mechanism effectiveness and efficiency.

The U.S. Air Force works to build strong and enduring partnerships with allies and friendly nations, to reinforce their capacity to defend themselves and to work in coalitions, and to ensure U.S. access to foreign territories. This volume evaluates existing Air Force capacity to conduct assessments of its security cooperation programs and describes a framework for improving assessment efforts.

The nature of recent challenges and the types of missions the U.S. Department of Defense has undertaken highlight the need for it to consider ways to help the military prepare to work with other government agencies, international organizations, private and non governmental organizations, and foreign militaries. Current training programs aimed at headquarters staffs need to be revamped to focus on high-priority tasks that are amenable to training.Integrated operations require the U.S. military to work with other government agencies, organizations, and foreign militaries. Current headquarter-staff training needs to be revamped to focus on high-priority tasks.

The U.S. Department of Defense has placed a renewed emphasis on planning for security cooperation with foreign militaries, but it is still in the early stages of developing comprehensive guidance on how to conduct this type of planning. This report presents best practices for U.S. Air Force planners on how to develop, resource, execute, and assess country plans while the official guidance is in development.

The Global Train and Equip "1206" Program is a multiagency security cooperation program that supports U.S.-led capacity-building activities focused on counterterrorism and stability operations with foreign military partners. Interviews with policymakers and subject-matter experts, combined with a survey of program stakeholders, revealed some challenges and best approaches to establishing an assessment framework for 1206 Program projects.

Working with allies to build their defense capacity, acquire access to their territories for potential operations, and strengthen relationships with their air forces is an important U.S. Air Force activity. To determine the value of this activity, the authors outline an assessment framework that planners, strategists, and policymakers can use to see whether Air Force security cooperation activities are achieving the desired effects.

Limited resources, access, and incomplete knowledge of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) threats create a need for working with appropriate partner countries around the world to address these challenging threats. This monograph outlines and then applies a four-step process for developing regional approaches to building partner capacity (BPC) to combat WMD.