Download or read book A Comprehensive Approach to Improving U S Security Force Assistance Efforts written by Theresa R. Baginski and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Current operations, demands of persistent conflict, and enduring U.S. national security interests underscore the immediate and continuing need to improve U.S. Security Force Assistance (SFA) efforts. The frequency and importance of such activities throughout U.S. history demonstrate that the current requirements are not anomalies. Since September 11, 2001, the United States has been challenged to accomplish key national security goals due to a lack of capability and capacity to effectively advise, utilize, and partner with foreign security forces. To meet this challenge, this paper offers recommendations that build upon recent initiatives within the Department of Defense (DoD) to create a comprehensive approach to improve U.S. SFA. At the heart of the recommendations is a DoD-level organizational approach to institutionalize SFA activities effectively and to facilitate interagency and multinational unity of effort. We intend to adapt current DoD processes that encourage the ad hoc approach and implement a single DoD-level integrating organization.
Download or read book A Comprehensive Approach to Improving U S Security Force Assistance Efforts written by Theresa Baginski and published by Strategic Studies Institute. This book was released on 2009 with total page 58 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Current operations, demands of persistent conflict, and enduring U.S. national security interests underscore the immediate and continuing need to improve U.S. Security Force Assistance (SFA) efforts. The frequency and importance of such activities throughout U.S. history demonstrate that the current requirements are not anomalies. Since September 11, 2001, the United States has been challenged to accomplish key national security goals due to a lack of capability and capacity to effectively advise, utilize, and partner with foreign security forces. To meet this challenge, this paper offers recommendations that build upon recent initiatives within the Department of Defense (DoD) to create a comprehensive approach to improve U.S. SFA. At the heart of the recommendations is a DoD-level organizational approach to institutionalize SFA activities effectively and to facilitate interagency and multinational unity of effort. We intend to adapt current DoD processes that encourage the ad hoc approach and implement a single DoD-level integrating organization.
Download or read book A Comprehensive Approach to Improving U S Security Force Assistance Efforts written by and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 63 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Current operations, demands of persistent conflict, and enduring U.S. national security interests underscore the immediate and continuing need to improve U.S. Security Force Assistance (SFA) efforts. The frequency and importance of such activities throughout U.S. history demonstrate that the current requirements are not anomalies. Since September 11, 2001, the United States has been challenged to accomplish key national security goals due to a lack of capability and capacity to effectively advise, utilize, and partner with foreign security forces. To meet this challenge, this paper offers recommendations that build upon recent initiatives within the Department of Defense (DoD) to create a comprehensive approach to improve U.S. SFA. At the heart of the recommendations is a DoD-level organizational approach to institutionalize SFA activities effectively and to facilitate interagency and multinational unity of effort. We intend to adapt current DoD processes that encourage the ad hoc approach and implement a single DoD-level integrating organization.
Download or read book A Comprehensive Approach to Improving U S Security Force Assistance Efforts written by Theresa R. Baginski and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 58 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Current operations, demands of persistent conflict, and enduring U.S. national security interests underscore the immediate and continuing need to improve U.S. Security Force Assistance (SFA) efforts. The frequency and importance of such activities throughout U.S. history demonstrate that the current requirements are not anomalies. Since September 11, 2001, the United States has been challenged to accomplish key national security goals due to a lack of capability and capacity to effectively advise, utilize, and partner with foreign security forces. To meet this challenge, this paper offers recommendations that build upon recent initiatives within the Department of Defense (DoD) to create a comprehensive approach to improve U.S. SFA. At the heart of the recommendations is a DoD-level organizational approach to institutionalize SFA activities effectively and to facilitate interagency and multinational unity of effort. We intend to adapt current DoD processes that encourage the ad hoc approach and implement a single DoD-level integrating organization.
Download or read book COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH TO IMPROVING U S SECURITY FORCE ASSISTANCE EFFORTS written by Theresa Baginski and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Enhancing Security Force Assistance written by Marc D. Axelberg and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States has employed military advisors since our founding as a nation. The U.S. military may have captured the lessons learned from throughout its history of association with advisory missions, but mismatches remain in our current Department of Defense (DoD) directives, doctrine, and guidance regarding the execution of Security Force Assistance (SFA) operations -- specifically in relation to the selection, training, and employment of advisors, a key executor of this strategic mission. The U.S. experience in Vietnam and resulting lessons learned (or not learned) from contemporary SFA operations form a basis for improvements for the current identification, preparation, and utilization of advisors serving in overseas contingency operations (OCO). This research project then recommends how the military should select and assess advisors. It further recommends a training program for them and proposes they can be best employed as part of a unified, well-coordinated contingency operation.
Download or read book A Comprehensive Approach to Improving U S Security Force Assistance Efforts written by Lieutenant Theresa Baginski and published by . This book was released on 2011-04-30 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Current operations, demands of persistent conflict, and enduring U.S. national security interests underscore the immediate and continuing need to improve U.S. Security Force Assistance (SFA) efforts. The frequency and importance of such activities throughout U.S. history demonstrate that the current requirements are not anomalies. Since September 11, 2001 (9/11), the United States has been challenged to accomplish key national security goals due to a lack of capability and capacity to effectively advise, utilize, and partner with foreign security forces. To meet this challenge, this Letort Paper recommends the creation of a new organization as a means of overcoming current bureaucratic impediments and providing a coherent focus on SFA challenges. Previous U.S. advisory experience with similar requirements did not result in institutionalized capabilities that would have forestalled major problems. Instead, U.S. SFA efforts have been largely ad hoc ventures. The United States should have had expertise, plans, authorities, and organizational solutions readily at hand to address the full range of partnership activities when the inevitable crises arose. The Department of Defense (DoD) must act now to avoid future SFA difficulties and to ensure that it does not squander the hard-won lessons of recent experience. DoD is long overdue for a comprehensive approach to SFA that supports Geographic Combatant Commanders' (GCC) Theater Campaign Plans (TCP) and contingency operations in a manner that integrates U.S. military assistance activities from ministerial through tactical levels, while providing strong links to complementary interagency and multinational activities. This paper offers recommendations that build upon recent initiatives within DoD to create a comprehensive approach to improve U.S. SFA. At the heart of our recommendations is a DoD-level organizational approach to effectively institutionalize SFA activities and facilitate interagency and multinational unity of effort. We intend to adapt current DoD processes that encourage the ad hoc approach and implement a single DoD-level integrating organization. Expertise in key SFA activities, massed and integrated within a DoD-level organization, offers the best opportunity to improve hitherto disjointed efforts. This single integrator can be successful only with simultaneous change to DoD's authorities and policies. According to the DoD's draft instruction on relationships and responsibilities for SFA, it is defined as: (1) operations, actions, or activities that contribute to unified action to support the development of the capacity and capability of foreign security forces and their supporting institutions; (2) the bolstering of a foreign security force or institution's capabilities or capacity in order to facilitate the achievement of specific operational objectives shared with the USG.2 SFA includes the tasks of organizing, training, equipping, rebuilding and advising (OTERA) foreign security forces and foreign security institutions.3 The problem of improving U.S. SFA has received substantial attention lately. Many good ideas are circulating, and there are various useful solutions in early stages; nonetheless, great shortcomings still plague the general effort. The ad hoc approach to SFA efforts during persistent conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan has been, at best, inefficient and slow. To a degree, the United States has developed effective approaches for specific contingencies, such as in Iraq and Afghanistan; however, the delays in finding effective ways have come at a high price and have postponed, if not compromised, mission success. It would be a mistake to ignore the wisdom gained through several years of painful adaptation; this paper proposes a solution that would prevent such a misstep by leveraging recent experience to prepare and enable future U.S. forces engaged in building partner capacity.
Download or read book Improving Security Force Assistance Capability in the Army s Advise and Assist Brigade written by Major Brennan, Brennan Cook, US Army and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2012-10-01 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The U.S. Army's renewed emphasis on developing organizations to conduct Security Force Assistance (SFA), particularly the Advise and Assist Brigades, is indicative of both increased operational requirements in Iraq and Afghanistan and renewed interest in developing defense capacity in allied and partner nations. With over 255,000 soldiers deployed worldwide in 2009, the Army needs to develop a more effective conventional SFA apparatus to train indigenous forces to manage their own internal security requirements. By properly selecting, training, and utilizing quality conventional force personnel to fulfill SFA requirements, the Army can meet its current operational commitments while improving its ability to respond to emerging needs. Previous attempts by the French in Algeria and the U.S. Army in Vietnam and Korea to incorporate advisory missions into conventional operations highlight the need for developing highly skilled advisors capable of managing SFA tasks within Full Spectrum Operations. Current selection, training, and utilization models used by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Operational Mentor and Liaison Team (OMLT) program, the U.S. Marine Corps' Training and Advisor Group (MCTAG), and the U.S. Army's transition teams provide comparative analysis tools for developing a way forward. What is missing from each of these programs is a centralized identification and selection process, robust yet efficient training regimen, and a utilization mechanism to ensure highly skilled and trained advisors are serving where the Army needs them most, at the brigade. Historical precedents and current training programs suggest that though the U.S. Army has vastly improved its conventional advisory efforts since the Korean War, it still requires a new approach to Security Force Assistance. The 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review reemphasized the importance of assisting partners and allies with their own internal defense. By creating a functional area for advisors, the Army could better enable Advise and Assist Brigades to manage Full Spectrum Operations by providing the commander with advisors specifically selected, trained, and educated for SFA missions. The U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps will bear the brunt of providing such assistance, and the advisor functional area program could better prepare brigade-sized units for conducting those operations in both combat and non-combat environments.
Download or read book A Comprehensive Approach to Improving U S Security Force Assistance SFA Efforts Covering DoD Programs to Train Advise and Assist Foreign Partners Security Establishments written by Department of Defense and published by . This book was released on 2018-04-04 with total page 33 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Letort Paper analyzes the topic of Security Force Assistance (SFA) and provides some specific recommendations designed to improve U.S. performance. SFA may be a new term, but the activities themselves are familiar ones related to how the Department of Defense (DoD) works to train, advise, and assist foreign partners' security establishments to accomplish common objectives. The United States has demonstrated serious SFA deficiencies in recent years. As Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has noted, the United States is likely to remain actively and broadly engaged in SFA for many years to come. The need for comprehensive improvement encompasses DoD military and civilian efforts and requires thoughtful integration with broader whole of government approaches. Current operations, demands of persistent conflict, and enduring U.S. national security interests underscore the immediate and continuing need to improve U.S. Security Force Assistance (SFA) efforts. The frequency and importance of such activities throughout U.S. history demonstrate that the current requirements are not anomalies. Since September 11, 2001, the United States has been challenged to accomplish key national security goals due to a lack of capability and capacity to effectively advise, utilize, and partner with foreign security forces. To meet this challenge, this paper offers recommendations that build upon recent initiatives within the Department of Defense (DoD) to create a comprehensive approach to improve U.S. SFA. At the heart of the recommendations is a DoD-level organizational approach to institutionalize SFA activities effectively and to facilitate interagency and multinational unity of effort. We intend to adapt current DoD processes that encourage the ad hoc approach and implement a single DoD-level integrating organization.
Download or read book Security Force Assistance in Afghanistan written by Terrence K. Kelly and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2011-08-08 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book American Advisors written by Lieutenant Colonel Joshua J., Lieutenant Joshua Potter, US Army and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2013-12 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This manuscript describes how US military advisors prepare for and conduct operations in war. Through two separate year-long combat tours as a military advisor in Iraq, the author brings true vignettes into modern military strategy and operational art. Further, the author provides multiple perspectives in command relationships. Through years of personal experience, direct interviews, and Warfighting knowledge, the author challenges conventionally accepted truths and establishes a new standard for understanding the impact of American advisors on the modern battleground.
Download or read book Security Force Assistance in the Development of Foreign Forces written by Jannick Schröder and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historically, the U.S. military's Special Operations Forces (SOF) have had primary responsibility for training, advising and assisting foreign military forces. Today, although this mission has not been completely relegated to conventional forces, the National Security Strategies of the current and previous administrations direct the U.S. military services to organise, train and equip themselves to carry out these activities on a larger scale with conventional (non-SOF) forces. This responsibility in its broad sense of building the capacity of partner states has been termed security force assistance (SFA). This book presents the distillation of best practices and lessons learned from the contemporary operating environment in Iraq and Afghanistan with regard to security force assistance, and offers recommendations that build upon recent initiatives within the Department of Defense (DoD) to create a comprehensive approach to improve U.S. SFA.
Download or read book Security Force Assistance written by Department of the Army and published by . This book was released on 2009-05-01 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We remain a nation at war in an era of persistent conflict, but we do not stand alone. Our nation has many multinational partners, equally committed to freedom, rule of law and stability. It is clear that we are stronger when we act with partners in today's operating environment. Therefore, security force assistance is no longer an "additional duty." It is now a core competency of our Army. As distinctions separating war and peace blur and challenges to security increase, we must seek to help our multinational partners successfully confront their security challenges. Security force assistance builds our multinational partners' capability to defeat regular, irregular, and hybrid threats prevalent in an era of persistent conflict. The two pillars of security force assistance are the modular brigade and Soldiers acting as advisors. Their tactical efforts build partner capability and improve the security situation. Over time, U.S. forces and partners foreign security forces collectively set the conditions to defeat common threats and ultimately achieve strategic success. This manual addresses common characteristics and considerations for conducting security force assistance and clarifies what units and individual advisors must understand to work "by, with, and through" their counterparts. Since every situation and foreign security force is unique, units and individuals conducting security force assistance must carefully analyze the operational environment, especially the relationships of foreign security forces and their population. Conducting successful security force assistance requires adaptive units led by wellinformed, culturally astute leaders. FM 3-07.1 provides commanders, staffs, and advisors with the common doctrine for achieving this goal. Conducting foreign security assistance requires great skill in building relationships and "leading from behind." We must all increase our understanding of this important mission.
Download or read book The U S Army s Evolving Role in Security Force Assistance Sfa written by U. S. Mlitary and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2019-04-13 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study examines one central issue: How has the U.S. Army improved security force assistance (SFA) design with the implementation of the SFA Brigade (SFAB)? Secondarily, it investigates whether failures at the strategic policy level inhibited the accomplishment of enduring security objectives related to the establishment of the new unit. To address this question, the study will briefly describe concepts of U.S. strategic thought that underlie the policy consensus to conduct SFA activities in fragile regions. This study will evaluate the innovation and adaption of the Army's SFA organizations/doctrine, so as to determine how well it fits into a greater U.S. strategy. It will also critically analyze SFA policy and procedures in order to identify areas for improvement. Two hypotheses are proposed with a research-based evidence chain suggesting both are confirmed. First, this study suggests SFABs are being established to increase the warfighting readiness of the Army, reduce SFA burdens on U.S. special forces, and secure resources to meet enduring security requirements. Second, ad-hoc approaches to SFA by the U.S. Army up to this point were in fact a by-product of disjointed policy, large resource disparities at the departmental level, and an overreliance on military solutions. As such, this study concludes with policy recommendations to rebalance and integrate various security programs that focus on institutional capacity in order to secure gains made by SFA.This compilation includes a reproduction of the 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community.I. Introduction * A. Major Research Question * B. Significance of the Research Question * C. Literature Review * D. Potential Explanations and Hypotheses * E. Research Design * F. Study Overview and Chapter Outline * II. The Strategic Context of Security Force Assistance * A. Introduction * B. How SFA Fits into U.S. Grand Strategy * C. How SFA Fits into U.S. Strategic Guidance * D. SFA and Fragile States * E. Conclusion * III. Security Force Assistance Policy and Plans * A. Introduction * B. Assumptions Made During SFA Planning * C. Constraints Overlooked During SFA Planning * D. Implications of Assumptions and Constraints * E. Critical Analysis of Current SFA Policy * F. Conclusion * IV. The U.S. Army's Role In Security Force Assistance * A. Introduction * B. Innovation and Adaption - The U.S. Army's SFA Growing Pains * C. Innovation and Adaption of SFA Doctrine * D. Innovation and Adaption of SFA Organizations * E. Balancing Operational Requirements to Increase Readiness and Meet Mission * F. Conclusion * V. Conclusion * A. Findings * B. RecommendationsThe U.S. Army has been the primary Military Department (MILDEP) utilized to build foreign militaries and defense institutions in order to establish long term stability, prevent attacks on the homeland, and promote peace in regions thought to be critical to U.S. interests. The U.S. Army has routinely turned to its general-purpose forces (GPF) and brigade combat teams (BCT) to accomplish these missions; this study will investigate conventional military readiness shortfalls and training challenges due in large part to the overutilization of GPF for SFA purposes. To be sure, the U.S. Army's methods at SFA have evolved over time and have been exceedingly ad hoc in nature--arguably leading to unintended policy outcomes and undermining the Army's war-fighting readiness.
Download or read book Forced Shortsightedness written by Erick A. Turasz and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 127 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Security force assistance missions are an important aspect of U.S. foreign policy and a means to protect U.S. national security and strategic interests. The United States has declared the stability and the security of Africa as critical to its interests and therefore provides security assistance to Trans-Saharan under-developed countries as a way to combat terrorism. The lack of applicability of the Department of State's traditional security assistance authorities to help beleaguered African nations has forced the use of temporary Department of Defense authorities, which have the potential to undermine trust between the United States and its under-developed partners. This thesis conducts a qualitative analysis comparing gaps within and between U.S. Code and the National Defense Authorization Act authorities related to security assistance. In doing so, it evaluates who developed the authorities, assesses the purposes for which they were developed, determines their applicability to the present and anticipated strategic environment, and investigates possible implications related to the U.S. military's increased role in security assistance. The Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership provides an example of how these authorities are used to address the threat of terrorism in this region. The thesis introduces organization, balance of power, and policy change theories as a means to elevate discussion of security assistance authorities to the strategic level. The primary audience for this thesis are special operations forces (SOF) operators given that the patchwork of authorities are critical elements to the indirect approaches SOF will utilize in countering violent extremism in under-developed countries. In the end, this thesis asserts that the temporary authorities are inherently strategically shortsighted, as they are cumbersome, in some cases difficult to distinguish between. In addition, their evolution in scope and mandate hinders interagency or whole of government attempts to oversee and implement them. A restructuring of security assistance authorities is needed to establish ownership and to define lines of delineation between civilian and military roles, which ultimately will increase a whole of government approach and enhance security assistance effectiveness to counter the threats from violent extremist organizations and networks."--Abstract.
Download or read book Security Force Assistance written by and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Securing Tyrants Or Fostering Reform written by Seth G. Jones and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2006 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States has provided assistance to the security forces of a number of repressive states that do not share its political ideals. This practice raises several questions, the answers to which have significant policy implications: Has U.S. assistance improved the effectiveness of internal security forces in countering security threats? Has it improved the accountability and human rights records of these forces? What is the relationship between improving security and improving accountability and human rights? This study addresses these questions by examining the results of U.S. assistance to four states: El Salvador, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. U.S. assistance to El Salvador improved the accountability and human rights practices of the Salvadoran police but not their effectiveness as violent crime rates soared. In Uzbekistan, programs focused on counterproliferation, export control, and specific investigatory techniques were effective. But autocracy and repression by Uzbek officials, including security forces, have increased in recent years. Assistance to Afghanistan has somewhat improved the accountability and human rights practices of Afghan security forces. The vast majority of serious human rights abuses in the country are now committed by insurgent groups and warlords. In Pakistan, the U.S. government has not paid significant attention to the implications of its security assistance for the improvement of accountability and human rights, in large part because these goals have not been a focus of that assistance. Overall, these analyses suggest that efforts to improve the effectiveness, human rights, and accountability of internal security forces are more likely to be successful when states are transitioning from repressive to democratic systems. In addition, several factors are critical for success: the duration of assistance, viability of the justice system, and support and buy-in from the local government (including key ministries).
