PM/PPA’s Policy and Planning Team (PPT) engages the Department of Defense (DoD) on global political-military policy issues and coordinates strategic planning between the Departments of State and Defense.
The Policy and Planning Team works closely with the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, Combatant Commands, and the military services on strategic and global policy issues. PPT helps to align defense policy with foreign policy by supporting regular exchanges between senior State and Defense Department officials and with the National Security Council. The team also contributes to interagency cooperation by reaching out to Combatant Commands (COCOMs) and coordinating their support to civilian-led tasks.
The Policy and Planning Team facilitates collaboration on political-military strategy and planning processes between the Departments of State and Defense. In this role, PPT ensures that DoD planning and operations fully consider, and are consonant with, U.S. foreign policy goals and objectives. The team coordinates input into DoD’s Quadrennial Defense Review, Guidance for the Employment of the Force, Theater Campaign Plans, and select contingency plans. The team also manages State Department input into DoD’s global defense posture oversight process. Additionally, PPT assists in the review and staffing of military doctrine and defense planning scenarios by State Department subject matter experts.
The Policy and Planning Team facilitates coordination and cohesion in crosscutting security sector disciplines such as Security Sector Reform (SSR), Maritime Security Sector Reform (MSSR), and counterinsurgency policy. Complex threats facing our partners require that we address the linkages between security, governance, and development, with the objective of assisting partner governments as they provide effective, legitimate, and accountable security for their citizens. PPT led the development for the Department of State of a joint State-DoD-USAID statement on Security Sector Reform to help U.S. practitioners plan and implement support to partner nations as they engage in SSR.
PPT also led the development of the U.S. Government Counterinsurgency Guide. Nine U.S. government agencies and multiple organizations from outside the U.S. government contributed to its drafting. The guide is a primer on counterinsurgency (COIN) theory and principles for senior civilian policy makers and other U.S. government staff, and is intended to demonstrate the relevance of counterinsurgency to a wide range of U.S. government organizations and their portfolios.
A British military officer (currently a Royal Marine) is embedded in PM/PPA to leverage both the UK’s experience with counterinsurgency and counterterrorism, and the numerous areas of mutual political-military interest. A U.S. Coast Guard officer is also embedded in PM/PPA to act as a liaison officer on international maritime security issues and assist in the coordination of policies and programs of mutual interest, to include maritime smuggling and trafficking, foreign border and port control, organized crime and counter-piracy.
The Policy and Planning Team facilitates State participation in military exercises, experiments, and wargames to promote a better understanding of military operations by diplomats, program managers, and other State Department personnel.
PM/PPA’s Policy and Planning Team represents the PM Bureau in Department of State strategic planning efforts and contributes to establishing international security objectives and strategies for the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development review and the State-USAID Joint Strategic Plan. It supports the Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs in setting bureau goals, prioritizing resource requirements, and formulating the PM Bureau Strategic and Resource Plan.
