PM/PPA's Security Assistance Team develops military assistance policy and manages security assistance funding through three programs: Foreign Military Financing (FMF), International Military Education and Training (IMET), and Peacekeeping Operations (PKO). The Security Assistance Team, in close cooperation with the Director of Foreign Assistance, regional bureaus, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, and U.S. regional combatant commanders, determines military assistance policy, develops and manages the programs' budgets, provides notifications to Congress, supports determinations made to waive legislative constraints on security assistance funding, distributes funds, and provides program oversight. Additionally, PM/PPA coordinates and implements State Department participation in the new Defense Department authority (section 1206) that provides DoD resources to build the capacity of global partners to respond to urgent and emergent needs and challenges. Beginning in FY 2011, PM/PPA will manage the Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Fund, a program designed specifically to enhance Pakistan’s counterinsurgency (COIN) capability.
Foreign Military Financing is a critical foreign policy tool for promoting U.S. interests around the world by ensuring that coalition partners and friendly foreign governments are equipped and trained to pursue common security objectives and share burdens in joint missions. By providing grants for the acquisition of U.S. military equipment, services, and training, FMF promotes U.S. national security by contributing to regional and global stability, strengthening military support for democratically-elected governments, fighting terrorism around the world, and containing other transnational threats including trafficking in narcotics, weapons and persons.
These grants enable the United States to foster closer military relationships and build stronger multilateral coalitions with key allies and friends by improving their defense capabilities and enhancing interoperability. By increasing demand for U.S. systems, FMF also contributes to a strong U.S. defense industrial base, an important element of U.S. national defense strategy that reduces costs for Department of Defense acquisitions and secures more jobs for American workers. [See Foreign Military Financing Account Summaries.]
The International Military Education and Training program is an instrument of U.S. national security and foreign policy and a key component of U.S. security assistance by providing training on a grant basis to students from allied and friendly nations. In addition to improving defense capabilities and contributing to the professionalization of foreign militaries, IMET facilitates the development of important relationships that have proven useful in providing U.S. access and influence in a critical sector of society that often plays a pivotal role in supporting or transitioning to democratic governments. [See International Military Education and Training Account Summaries.]
In addition to UN missions, the U.S. has a strong interest in supporting peacekeeping activities that are not UN mandated or funded. PKO funding provides support to regional peace support operations for which neighboring countries take primary responsibility. PKO funds are also used to support implementation of peace agreements and enhance the capability of other nations to participate in voluntary peacekeeping, counterterrorism, and humanitarian operations in order to reduce the burden on U.S. military personnel and resources. [See Peacekeeping Operations Account Summaries.]
The NDAA authorized the use of DoD funds to build the capacity of a foreign country's national military forces in order for that country to conduct counterterrorist operations or participate in or support military or stability operations in which U.S. Armed Forces are a participant. Since FY 2006, the State Department and Defense Department have been working to jointly develop and implement programs under 1206 authority.
The Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Fund assists the Government of Pakistan (GOP) in building and maintaining the capability of its security forces to conduct counterinsurgency (COIN) operations in support of U.S. efforts in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and to clear and hold terrain in contested areas throughout the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province (KP) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Improved Pakistani security force capabilities will reduce extremist access to safe havens from which attacks on Pakistan and U.S. and international forces operating in Afghanistan are planned and executed. In addition, better trained and equipped security forces will facilitate GOP efforts in executing a $7.5 billion five-year U.S. civilian assistance strategy designed to restore basic government services in the conflicted ridden areas of the KP and FATA, as well as in other areas vulnerable to extremism.
