FAO HISTORY Will the original FAO please stand up? - Faoa

“The FAO Journal” International Affairs Page 17Improved FAO Training: A Joint FAO Introduction CourseBy Karl M. Asmus, Major, US Army, FAOThe Department of Defense should establisha comprehensive Joint Foreign Area Officer IntroductionCourse (JFAOC) as a basic course for a careeras a Foreign Area Officer (FAO). The course shouldbe required for all Officers entering their Service‘sFAO program. FAOs need a detailed introduction tothe full spectrum of professional FAO functions andresponsibilities prior to reporting for In-RegionTraining (IRT), a vital foundation for Functional Area48 professional development. This paper‘s focus islimited to discussion of a comprehensiveFAO course, rather than focusing on thechallenges associated with establishinga Joint course. The current course forpreparing FAOs for IRT, the FAOOrientation Course (FAOC), is insufficientand is not mandatory. The FAOCdoes not provide a comprehensive introductionto the embassy Country Team,the role of the Combatant Command(COCOM), and the special responsibilitiesof the different military offices in theembassy. This introduction often occurs muchlater, meaning that new FAOs are not fully preparedfor their assignments and may remainunaware of the diverse duties of a Foreign AreaOfficer for years after accession to the careerfield. Additionally, FAOs must be made awareof personal risks and operational limitations duringIRT. The proposed course would give the outboundFAO a fundamental understanding of embassy CountryTeam responsibilities, describe the COCOM‘spriorities, and provide a regionally specific counterintelligenceand security introduction.The current IRT training program‘s limitationsderive mostly from the omission of basic informationon what embassies, embassy military offices andCombatant and Service Commands actually do.FAOs report to their IRT assignment with languageproficiency but an incomplete understanding of theembassy's specific functions and are generallyunaware of the sensitive programs to which they maybe exposed. The result is that the FAO hits theground half blind. FAOs in IRT often learn the detailsonly by incidental exposure, and much of thislearning depends on what the sponsoring office andstaff has time to introduce. IRT-bound FAOs need apreparatory explanation of the missions of theDefense Attaché Office (DAO) and the Office ofSecurity Cooperation (OSC or equivalent), how theseoffices work together, and how they fit within thelarger context of the US embassy‘s mission. Thespecial responsibilities of the DAO and the OSC aresometimes unclear even among US militarypersonnel working in the respective offices. JFAOC isan ideal time to introduce Security Cooperation andbasic intelligence functions as they apply toCombatant Command and embassy operations.JFAOC can build on what FAOC has alreadyestablished, and the addition of thisimportant information will make it amuch more useful component ofFAO training.At least three years of trainingare required for an Officer toachieve FAO qualification. It iscompleted in several phases includinglanguage training, In-Region Training, AdvancedCivil Schooling, Joint ProfessionalMilitary EducationPhase I, and is completedwith training specific to theirassignment as an Attaché orSecurity Assistance Officer.During the IRT phase, FAOsare usually based at embassiesor Service Component Command headquarters.The current four-day FAOC is their preparatoryprogram, held at the Presidio of Monterey, California,and run concurrently with the Defense LanguageInstitute‘s (DLI) language training. It focuses on Armypolicies, the FAO training phases, and region-specifictopics. All are necessary for understanding FAOqualification processes but it is insufficient for eitherIRT or long-term career preparation. FAOC omitsdiscussion of specific geographic command operationsand priorities, sensitive missions and counterintelligenceconcerns, and it lacks detail on functionalFAO assignment options. Although the current ArmyFAO training program is extensive, much of therelevant information is introduced toward the veryend of the training sequence, and is limited to onlythat position‘s requirements. FAOs headed to anoperational assignment at an embassy, GeographicalCombatant Command, Service Component