Government Security News

International training essential to
global stability and security
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NATO forces have been training
together from its establishment
in 1949. Collectively NATO has
experienced success in Afghanistan,
Libya, the Balkans and
Kosovo, and the coast of Africa
just in the past 10 years. NATO’s
success epitomizes the Aristotle
saying “The whole is greater than
the sum of its parts.”
We are also firsthand wit-
nesses to less than effective results.
Part of ISIS’s success has
come due to the lack of capability
for indigenous forces to contain
them. While foreign forces have
been willing to participate for the
most part, lack of capability has
stifled the efforts. As the coalition
of capable and interoperable
forces increases, the success rate
will go up.
I’m certainly not an advocate
of giving away all of our
military secrets nor our best
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equipment to foreign militaries.
However, there is substantial
benefit to providing our coalition
and partner forces with comparable
U.S. military capability. Writing
the check for the equipment
is actually the easy part though –
the difficulty comes in effectively
integrating and employing military
equipment and capability.
This is where security assistance
via international training plays
an important role – the ability to
effectively operate autonomously
and as interoperable partners
in a coalition is as essential
as having the capability in
the first place. The resultant
benefit is immeasurable and
mitigates many of the risks
we incur with a diminished
U.S. military fighting force.
Again, the whole is greater
than the sum of its parts.
Capable foreign military
partners offer the U.S.
many tangible benefits in
terms of stability and security.
First and foremost,
strong foreign militaries act
as a deterrent to aggression.
Both internal and regional
bad actors are less likely to
take hostile action knowing
a capable military is within
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