Military assistance is a valuable instrument of U.S. national security and foreign policy. It helps friends and allies deter and defend against aggression and contributes to sharing the common defense burden. Military assistance is a range of programs that enable friends and allies to acquire U.S. equipment, services, and training for legitimate self-defense and for participation in multinational security efforts, such as coalition warfare.
Military assistance promotes overseas presence and peacetime engagement by improving the defense capabilities of allies and friends, while demonstrating U.S. commitment to defend common interests. Adequate military capability among allies decreases the likelihood that U.S. forces will be necessary if conflict arises and raises the odds that U.S. forces will find a relatively favorable situation should a U.S. response be required. As an integral part of peacetime engagement, military assistance programs contribute to U.S. national security by enhancing deterrence, encouraging defense responsibility sharing among allies and friends, supporting U.S. readiness, and encouraging interoperability among potential coalition partners. Military assistance enhances U.S. national security by sustaining and adapting vital U.S. security relationships that reduce regional tensions and promote regional stability.
Programs under military assistance include Foreign Military Sales (FMS), Foreign Military Financing (FMF), International Military Education and Training (IMET), Military-to-Military Contact Programs (MMCP), Voluntary Peacekeeping Operations (PKO), emergency drawdowns of defense inventories, and grants of Excess Defense Articles (EDA). The structure of each program provides the capability to respond to the needs of foreign friends and allies by addressing their security concerns while supporting U.S. armed forces and promoting U.S. foreign policy and national security interests.
The FMS program is the government-to-government channel for selling U.S. defense equipment, services, and training. FY 1994 sales totaled almost $13 billion. Responsible arms sales further national security and foreign policy objectives by preserving regional stability in areas important to U.S. interests through ensuring balance of military forces and reducing incentives to acquire weapons of mass destruction. National benefits derived from these sales include an improved balance of trade, sustainment of highly skilled jobs, and generation of revenue for U.S. companies. DoD benefits from FMS through enhanced coalition capabilities of U.S. friends and allies, as well as extention of production lines and lowering of unit costs for key weapon systems, such as the M1A2 tank, F-16 aircraft, AH-64 (Apache) helicopters, and F/A-18 aircraft.
FMF is the primary United States government financing arm of military assistance. Congress appropriates funds in the International Affairs budget and the Department of Defense executes the program. The principal aim of FMF is to meet the continuing security needs of allies in the Middle East, but funding is also provided to assist counternarcotics and demining efforts. FMF in FY 1994 was again below prior year amounts. After funding for Israel and Egypt ($3.1 billion) and other earmarked programs, only $25.741 million was available to allocate among remaining eligible countries. Greece, Portugal, and Turkey received market rate loans through FMF.
The IMET program is a low-cost grant program ($22.25 million in FY 1994) that provides professional military education and training to more than 2,000 foreign military and civilian personnel from 100 or more countries annually, Over half a million foreign personnel have been trained through IMET sponsorship over the past three decades. Future leaders of foreign defense and nondefense establishments received training in U.S. values, regard for human rights, democratic institutions, and a professional military under civilian control by attending IMET sponsored courses and programs in the United States.
To meet the challenges posed by recent transitions to democracy in countries throughout the world, IMET has been expanded to include programs focusing on human rights, defense resource management, military justice, and civil-military relations. The IMET program remains one of the least costly and most effective programs for maintaining U.S. influence and assisting countries in their transition to functioning democracies.
The Military-to-Military Contact Program (MMCP) was established two years ago as a means of facilitating quick military-to-military contacts with the emerging democracies of Northern, Central, and Southern Europe. First year funding was provided through Commander in Chief (CINC) initiative funds, and FY 1994 funding through separate DoD funds. For FY 1995, Congress moved MMCP funding from Defense to the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act and authorized $12 million for the program. $10 million will be used to sustain the European program and the remaining $2 million to establish contact in Pacific Command's area of responsibility.
The MMCP maintains a team of U.S. military personnel within the Ministry of Defense for selected countries to facilitate dialogue of requirements for defense management appropriate to democratic societies. These military liaison teams help in the creation of Traveling Contact Teams (TCTs) with expertise in specific functional areas. The information provided by the TCTs is tailored to the host nation's particular needs. In addition to TCTs, the objectives of the MMCP may be accomplished through the use of familiarization tours, conferences, and exchanges of civilian and military personnel.
Multilateral peacekeeping is an essential element of U.S. strategy for promoting peace abroad. It allows the United States to share its security responsibilities and burdens with others. The number of situations requiring peacekeeping operations has risen dramatically in the past few years and can be expected to increase further in the years ahead.
In addition to supporting long-term, nonassessed commitments such as the Multinational Force of Observers (MFO) in the Sinai and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe initiatives, this program, inter alia, supports peacekeeping forces and promotes regional involvement in the resolution of neighboring conflicts such as supporting the peacekeeping effort in Liberia by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Section 506, Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) authorizes the President, on a grant basis, to draw down defense articles from DoD inventories and to provide defense services to foreign government and international organizations in response to military emergencies or to provide assistance for international narcotics control, international disaster relief, or refugee assistance. In FY 1994, FAA Section 506(a)(1) drawdowns for military emergencies went to the Dominican Republic $15 million, Jamaica $1.5 million, and Haiti $50 million. One drawdown under Section 506(a)(2) for $75 million for Rwanda for refugee assistance was also authorized. Section 552(c)(2), FAA authorizes drawdowns for peacekeeping operations. In FY 1994, Section 552 Peacekeeping Drawdowns for commodities and services were $13.4 million for Egypt to support peacekeeping in Somalia, $5.6 million for Serbian sanctions, and $4 million for the West Bank/Gaza. While drawdowns provide the President with a flexible, quick means of response to extraordinary circumstances which require the provision of military assistance, they do represent a significant drain on scarce DoD resources.
EDA are equipment (other than military construction equipment) in excess of the Approved Force Acquisition Objective and Approved Force Retention Stock at the time such articles are dropped from the DoD inventory. Such articles may be sold to eligible countries and international organizations under the FMS program or transferred under the provisions of Sections 516 through 520 of the FAA. During FY 1994, EDA transfers notified to Congress totaled $1.07 billion, and EDA delivered to foreign countries exceeded $500 million (both measured in original acquisition value). Morocco, Turkey, Greece, and Israel were the largest recipients of grant EDA. Several Central and Eastern European countries are now eligible to receive non-lethal EDA, and trucks and uniforms have been notified for Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Albania under the program.
As the U.S. armed forces continue to downsize and the requirement for potential coalition defense operations increases in regions of conflict and tension, military assistance programs will remain critical. The importance of such programs is recognized in the National Security Strategy and National Military Strategy.
