Time to integrate State Partnership Program in Pentagon planning
As currently used, the program is a missed opportunity, especially when America needs to be strengthening its relationships abroad.
By LT. COL. MALCOLM WARBRICK
on February 25, 2022 at 9:23 AM
The National Guard’s State Partnership Program connects various state units with nations around the globe. It’s an interesting Pentagon effort, but US Army Lt. Col. Malcolm Warbrick argues in the following piece it has never received the kind of integration into national planning that it should. That, Warbrick notes, should change in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition to the pivotal role the United States military plays in deterring aggression by hostile states like Russia and China, it shoulders increasing responsibility for supporting the federal response to crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and instability on the US-Mexico border. The State Partnership Program (SPP), a unique set of partnerships between State National Guards and foreign military partners, has demonstrated it can respond rapidly to the full range of demands the US military now faces.
However, the program remains an afterthought for the leaders who plan national-level responses to emerging threats. That’s a missed opportunity, especially when America needs to be strengthening its relationships abroad.
The SPP has its origins in the early years of the post-Cold War era when the United States sought to welcome former Eastern Bloc countries into NATO while recognizing Russian sensitivity to US deployments on its western border. The Department of Defense also saw that the Baltic and Eastern Bloc countries had to enhance their military capability to be ready for potential NATO membership. In 1993, the Pentagon launched the SPP to address both of these problems.
https://breakingdefense.com/2022/02/time-to-integrate-state-partnership-program-in-pentagon-planning/
