Security cooperation in a post September 11, 2001 world: the Defense Security Cooperation Agency Worldwide Conference.

In this issue of the DISAM Journal, we have provided several of the speeches that were given at the Defense Security Cooperation Agency Worldwide Conference in October, 2002. In addition, many of the presentations can be viewed on the Defense Security Cooperation Agency's (DSCA) website at www.dsca.mil. The following is a summary of the events of the conference.

Lieutenant General Tome H. Walters, Jr., USAF, Director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) opened the annual Security Cooperation Conference to an audience of over 300 people representing the United States government, U.S. industry, media representatives and international customers from over thirty countries. He recognized that the past year has been especially busy for the security cooperation community. He offered that the Secretary of Defense has been using security cooperation as one of a larger set of tools to fight the war on terrorism. An example of this is the expanded list of countries the United States is partnering with (India, Pakistan, the Central Asian Republics, and Afghanistan). Security Cooperation has been recognized by Congress as an important tool of the war on terrorism, as is evidenced by the increase in foreign military financing from $3.6 billion in 2002 to $4.1 billion in 2003. Lieutenant General Walters also acknowledged that there have been some challenges in the past year, including speeding up processes that were not designed for speed. However, the Security Cooperation community has made significant progress in speeding up those processes in part because of the cooperation between those in the Defense Department and those at State Department, in particular the Political Military Affairs Department. Lieutenant General Walters also mentioned that enough progress had been made on the initiatives revealed at the 2001 conference that Defense News published a positive editorial on those changes. He then went on to outline the vision for the next year, including continuous improvement through business process reengineering, driving down the number of open cases, introduction of the web-based Portal system, continued development of the Case Execution Management Information System (CEMIS) and the use of performance-based management. Lieutenant General Walters thanked all those in the Security Cooperation community for their continued hard work.

Fred Beauchamp and Glenn Lazarus, both from DSCA, followed Lieutenant General Walters. They gave an update on the transition from reinvention to continuous business process reengineering. They discussed the use of Team International among the three military services as well as the impact of new changes to the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation to the security cooperation community. They also announced that Singapore will be the first country to sign up for the Stand-By Letter of Credit announced at last year's conference. Beauchamp also reminded attendees that the Customer Guide to US. Security Assistance Programs, which also contains the Letter of Request Guide, can be viewed on the DSCA website. Beauchamp also provided an update on the workforce initiatives. Lazarus continued the discussion of the transition to business process reengineering by stating that DSCA has examined 151 business processes and identified 45 issues to examine. The goal is to look at them one or two at a time to avoid undue strain on resources.

Freda Lodge from DSCA and Tom Sippel from DSADC followed with an update on the CEMIS and Security Cooperation Portal. CEMIS is on schedule and is being developed in accordance with the formal acquisition process as described in DODD 5000.1 and 5000.2. The Security Cooperation Portal is being tested and will provide users with a tri-service view. It is expected to be deployed in four phases, with each phase providing more functionality. It is expected that user registration will begin in January 2003. Information will be provided to users as to the procedures.

Steve Harris from DSCA then discussed the current effort on the re-write of the Security Assistance Management Manual. The new SAMM will more readily identify what is law, what is policy, and what is done for standardization purposes. It is also expected to use more tables and matrices for a more user friendly format. The draft was sent out in November for coordination and it is expected that the new SAMM will be published in the beginning of May 2003.

A discussion on security cooperation performance measures was then given by Fred Beauchamp. He stressed that the purpose of these measures was to keep senior management informed, not to analyze the information. The security cooperation deputies forum focuses on three core functions (development, execution, and closure) and looks at two to three metrics within each, include the time involved in processing an LOA from LOR receipt to offer, supply discrepancy reports over 1 year old, shipped/delivery not reported, payment schedule variance, deliveries vs. schedules, and open supply complete cases.

Leon Yates from DSCA then gave a presentation on the Golden Sentry program for end-use monitoring. Yates emphasized that this was not a new program, but rather a new emphasis on an old requirement that has been in existence since 1996. The goal is to have final roles and responsibilities outlined by end of 2002.

Day 1 of the conference was closed by Lieutenant General Walters who thanked everyone for coming. He stated that security cooperation occupies a different niche in than it did a year ago and that what the community does has a significant impact and has been elevated in importance for national security strategy.

Day 2 of the conference started with Dean Borgman, President Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation. Borgman's comments concentrated on the importance of security cooperation to U.S. industry. He cited the increase in global trade and the effect it has had on U.S. industry. Borgman also noted that DSCA's assistance in security cooperation efforts has helped keep companies, including his, alive. He also stressed the importance of keeping U.S. industry competitive in the global market for not only economic, but also national security reasons. His remarks also included concerns regarding increasing partnership between U.S. companies and foreign companies and the desire of foreign companies to gain a share of the U.S. defense market. Borgman's speech can be read in its entirety at the DSCA web site www.dsca.mil.

His Excellency Shaikh Khalifa Bin All Al-Khalifa, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain followed Borgman. His Excellency gave a brief history of his island nation, including its relationship with the United States that dates back to the early 1 900s with the first mission hospital in the Arabian Gulf region. He also outlined his nation's relationship with the United States with regards to Security Cooperation. He emphasized that for his nation, the Foreign Military Sales program is the best way to meet their requirements. He also stressed that the Security Assistance Officers are a vital link to U.S. organizations and that their work is much appreciated. His Excellency also outlined his nation's role in the Global War on Terrorism. He concluded his remarks by stressing that the United States and Bahrain must maintain a strong relationship because there are benefits to both, but they must work carefully to address the challenges both face in the post September 11th, 2001 world.

The next speaker of the day was the Honorable Michael Wynne, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology. Secretary Wynne's remarks centered on globalization and the transfer of technology. He pointed out that the world is changing and that it is necessary to enter into conflicts with coalition partners who are capable of working with the United States. This interoperability focuses not just on equipment, but also command and control procedures and rules of engagement. With regards to technology transfer, there is a move to make the process more transparent. The Defense Department is currently reviewing the United States Munitions List to determine if some things can be removed. He also stated that there is a push to minimize the time spent in reviewing license requests, but he stressed that those requests must be clear in what they want. Wynne also foresees more opportunities for U.S. defense industry as allies increase their defense spending.

The Honorable Richard Armitage, Deputy Secretary of State, was the lunch speaker. Armitage stressed the importance of international cooperation for U.S. security and the role the Department of State plays in building international cooperation. This cooperation has always been important, but is even more so in the current war against terrorism and the disarming of Iraq. In order to make it easier to build international cooperation, the Secretary of State has realized the importance and devoted resources to reform. Of particular interest to the security cooperation community is the modernization of defense trade controls. Armitage presented a couple of improvements that have recently been made in the licensing process, including Global Project Authorization, review of munitions list, and an update to the organization and management structure. Please see page 113 of this Journal for Armitage's complete comments.

Peter Verga, Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Homeland Security, started the afternoon with a perspective on Homeland Security. He explained the Department of Defense will be a front-line player under three categories: extraordinary circumstances (something that requires unique DoD capabilities), emergency response (to augment civil authorities), and temporary/limited in scope (assist or train local authorities for a specific event). Verga also discussed the role of the new unified command, NORTHCOM, in homeland defense.

Michael Nurse, Associate Deputy Minister of Government Services and Public Works of the Government of Canada, followed Peter Verga with perspectives of a friend and ally. Nurse pointed out that there is a strong foundation of cooperation between the United States and Canada and is a model for the world. He also discussed the Controlled Goods Program, which deals with some exemptions from ITAR requirements for certain goods exported to Canada. Nurse's comments also included a discussion of the importance of the FMS program to Canada's defense program. He also pointed out the involvement of Canada in reforming the FMS program.

Brigadier General Jeffrey J. Schloesser, USA, Chief, War on Terrorism Strategic Planning Cell, J-5, The Joint Staff followed Minister Nurse with an Operation Enduring Freedom update. BGEN Schloesser began with a brief description of the threat followed by an description of the strategic objectives (put the Taliban out of business, run down al Qaeda and other terrorists, and prevent regimes that sponsor terrorists from threatening United States and friends). BGEN Schloesser stressed that in order to run down terrorists it takes an international effort. To this end, 70 nations have given their support to Operation Enduring Freedom with 59 providing support in the way of forces, resources, access, etc. He also stressed that Security Cooperation has played a vital role by being an important tool. He mentioned the lifting of sanctions against India and Pakistan in exchange for their assistance in Operation Enduring Freedom. BGEN Schloesser also stressed that this effort is for the long term and it is important to help coalition partners be able to help themselves to reduce terrorism in their own countries.

Captain T.L. McCreary, USN, Special Assistant for Public Affairs, Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff then gave a presentation on the war on terrorism from the public affairs perspective. One of the biggest challenges is being transparent in actions in order to garner support, but at the same time protecting information in order to protect forces. Another challenge is to get all government elements to speak with one voice.

Lieutenant General Walters concluded the conference with a reminder to all that a tough year had passed, but there was still a challenging one ahead. lie thanked all that had moved to accomplish tasks that normally took over a year to complete for getting them done in three months. He emphasized that he knew the process was not designed for speed, but everyone had adapted well. Lieutenant General Walters also stressed the importance security cooperation is to the National Security Strategy. He expects all programs will grow in the years to come. He pointed out that both the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State are both staunch supporters of the International Military Education Training program. It is expected that the demand for Security Cooperation will continue to be high and that some less important tasks will have to be shed and processes streamlined even more in order to meet the demand. Lieutenant General Walters also thanked everyone for attending the conference (489 total over the two days) because it showed that the issues were important.

The conference ended with attendees feeling accomplishments had been made and that their contribution to the National Security Strategy had been recognized. They also left knowing that there were still challenges ahead, but they had the support of the security cooperation community and the challenges would be met.

About the Author

Lieutenant Dana J. Clay is a U.S. Navy surface warfare officer and has been assigned to the Defense Institute of Security Assistance Management since 2000. In addition to being an Assistant Professor of Security Assistance Management, she is also the anti-terrorism/force protection functional coordinator. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and is working on a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix.