Case Study: U.S. Army Security Cooperation Command (USASAC)
Challenge: Facilitating a Critical Transition & Ramping Up New Resources
Security Cooperation is an important part of United States foreign affairs and defense operations, involving collaborations between U.S. military branches and allied foreign governments in pursuit of common interests and defense goals. These programs include foreign military sales, foreign military financing, leases and loans, all of which are authorized by the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act and the Arms Export Control Act and related statutes.
Security Cooperation policy for the Army is managed by the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Defense Export and Cooperation (DASA DEC), while the U.S. Army Security Assistance Command (USASAC) leads implementation efforts. A recent base realignment and closure (BRAC) decision resulted in the relocation of USASAC headquarters from Ft. Belvoir, VA to Huntsville, AL.
Many of the agency’s government personnel and contractors decided not to relocate, which resulted in a significant resource gap and plans to hire many personnel without prior Security Cooperation background. This was a challenge to the organization because of the complexity, significance and delicacy of the program and the fact that both DASA DEC and USASAC have faced resource constraints. It was critical that the new USASAC hires fully understand Security Cooperation policies and processes. Typically, it takes more than a year of formal training for new hires to become knowledgeable, capable, and effective Country Program Managers.
Solution: Sharing Policy Knowledge & Building Up the Resource Base
Infinitive Federal’s experienced Security Cooperation experts, who had been collaborating with DASA DEC, were engaged to help manage the transition. Our team worked to ensure that the new hires and Country Program Managers understood the policy implications and processes for administering these vital programs. Specifically, Infinitive Federal provided training content, documentation and guidance about key policy matters, especially for the European, African, Latin American, and Asia Pacific Regions.
Additionally, our security assistance experts provided insight into the full range of resource needs, requirements, qualifications and skill sets to improve the quality of products originating from the USASAC team. Then, leveraging its considerable experience in foreign military sales, Infinitive Federal consultants continued to deliver consultation and advice on a daily basis.
Results: Improved Coverage & Cooperation
USASAC experienced an immediate gain in processing capabilities, which resulted in improved global security cooperation coverage and increased ability to meet tight administrative deadlines.
The USASAC team has improved the processing of foreign military sales cases, congressional notifications, leases, and foreign military financing programs. Infinitive Federal’s engagement with USASAC bridged the expertise gap in critical Security Cooperation programs. The U.S. Army now has in place better trained managers with greatly improved administrative and communications abilities, which has resulted in better program execution and the capacity to enhance the overall effectiveness of Security Cooperation implementation.
Today, each USASAC Country Program Manager is able to more effectively manage their workload and can better communicate with the myriad of Army agencies involved in Security Cooperation. They have visibly improved their ability to track requests by country and type (e.g., requests for information, meetings, pricing and availability, formal offers or release of items, diversion requests from Army inventory). Improved d enables clearer oversight of and easier access to other Army and U.S. Government Agencies. With a better trained team in place, coordination and interaction across many Army agencies, the Offices of Defense Cooperation within U.S. Embassies in allied nations, and the other service branches has been streamlined and standardized.
