Strengthening America’s Competitive Advantage: A Security Sector Assistance Case Study
Matthew Kuhlman | 11.20.20
In the renewed environment of great power competition, the United States has a distinct competitive advantage: its alliance and partner network. Strengthening those alliances and partnerships remains a cornerstone of the United States’ national security strategy. However, while there are many success stories, particularly at the strategic and operational levels, fully exploiting this advantage requires the United States to enhance the actualization of this effort at the lowest level—specifically by improving the coordination and implementation of security sector assistance programs with allies. Improved multilateral coordination with allies at the tactical level will increase security cooperation efficiency, reduce resource expenditure, reinforce our relationship with like-minded partners, and provide better capabilities to partner nations.
Partnerships and alliances have long been an important tool in US national security, especially during periods of competition like the Cold War, when the West and the Soviet Union both sought to increase influence through partnerships as a means of deterrence. During that period, the boundaries and partnerships in Europe were generally stable, and the competition for influence predominantly took place in what we now call the Global South. Today, a similar competition is playing out across the world, and while the cast of traditional US allies will likely remain fixed, the task of “attracting new partners,†as stated in the National Defense Strategy, needs emphasis. Its importance was recently reiterated when the Department of Defense issued its Guidance for Development of Alliances and Partnerships, which looks to improve relationships through engagements, coordination, and defense sales, specifically geared to compete with Russia and China. As such, security sector assistance is clearly an increasingly important tool in the national security enterprise. While the resources dedicated to security cooperation are finite, there are ways to improve implementation that attracts new partners and strengthens the relationship with existing allies at the same time.
https://mwi.usma.edu/strengthening-americas-competitive-advantage-a-security-sector-assistance-case-study/
