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A Plan To Reform U.S. Security Assistance Getty/Pete Kiehart
A Ukrainian soldier shakes hands with one of his instructors after taking part in a Combat Lifesaver Course at the International Peacekeeping and Security Center near Yavoriv, Ukraine, on April 22, 2015.
Sam Hananel
Introduction and summary
U.S. security assistance is broken and in need of an overhaul. Over the past two decades, the bureaucratic system developed to deliver billions of dollars of military aid to partner nations has evolved and expanded not by design but as the result of a series of ad hoc legislative and policy changes. Though the U.S. Department of State was initially in charge of security assistance policy and accounts, since 9/11, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has established a separate, well-funded security assistance bureaucracy at the Pentagon. This has inhibited effective congressional oversight, harmed coordination between diplomacy and defense, and contributed to the growing militar
A radical plan calls for shifting billions to State from Defense March 9 A national army forces stands guard during the graduation ceremony of newly Afghan National Army soldiers after a three month training program at the Afghan Military Academy in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Oct. 28, 2019. (Rahmat Gul/AP) WASHINGTON A new report from the Center for American Progress calls for a radical overhaul of the U.S. security assistance program, including shifting roughly $7 billion in funding streams from the Pentagon to the State Department to ensure stronger, more cohesive oversight.
The report, from Max Bergmann and Alexandra Schmitt, argues that the current system of funding for foreign militaries is “dysfunctional and bifurcated,” and that the Biden administration should look to reset the relationship between the departments of State and Defense.
Washington is so eager to help Ukraine counter what it calls “Russian aggression,” it is sending Kiev patrol boats that the US Navy wants to phase out, and holding another $150 million back pending “defense reforms.”