Trainers, Guns and Money

In this article a joint author team analyzes U.S. security assistance programs to counter urgent and emergent threats. The authors recommend that Congress adopt a newly proposed Global Security Contingency Fund in parallel with the existing Global Train and Equip authority, known as the Section 1206 program. The highly constrained Section 1206 program allows the Defense Department, with State concurrence, to train partner militaries in counter terrorism and in stability operations in which the U.S. participates. The new Fund would build on Section 1206's model interagency approach to reach security forces under control of partners' ministries of interior, and focus longer term on justice sector and prison reform as well as other rule of law programs. The authors contend that employing the new Global Security Contingency Fund in parallel with Section 1206 provides the optimal solution for an agile and dependable whole-of-government approach to achieve long lasting security and keep our forces at home.