How the foreign military training report is built

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1. A report Congress requires every year

Section 656 of the Foreign Assistance Act, 22 U.S.C. 2416, and the annual foreign operations appropriations act require a joint Foreign Military Training Report (FMTR) from the Defense and State Departments (SAMM C10.21.2). It goes to the appropriate congressional committees. It covers all military training the two departments gave foreign military personnel in the last fiscal year, plus the training they propose for the current year. What the statute requires the report to contain is covered in reporting to Congress on assistance programs. This piece covers how the Security Assistance Management Manual (SAMM) has the data gathered.

2. What counts as training

The manual adopts the definition of military education and training in section 644(n) of the Foreign Assistance Act (SAMM C10.21.2.1). It reaches formal or informal instruction of foreign students in the United States or overseas by American officers, employees, contract technicians or contractors. It also reaches correspondence courses, publications and media, training aids, orientation, and military advice to foreign units and forces. The manual adds that any activity is included where a significant objective is to transfer knowledge or skills of a military or defense nature to foreign armed forces or defense ministry civilians.

Third party training is covered too (SAMM C10.21.2.1.1). Any training that results from American funds appropriated to the Defense or State Department for foreign partners is subject to inclusion, and the data must name both the country providing the training and the country receiving it. Three things are left out: military exercises, Joint Combined Exchange Training, and institutional advising events (SAMM C10.21.2.1.2). If an event falls under a reportable authority or program and meets the definition, it must be reported (SAMM C10.21.2.3).

3. What each record must hold

For each reportable event, data providers must record the benefiting partner, the number of students and their units, the dates and place of training, and the American military units involved (SAMM C10.21.2.2). The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) may collect more in its annual data call to meet other reporting requirements.

Comprehensive reporting is the responsibility of the military groups (MILGPs) in each country (SAMM C10.21.2.4). They must make sure all reportable training in their area is tracked accurately and in real time in the Security Cooperation Training Management System (SC-TMS), whoever provides or funds it. They review and approve the training data and correct anything inaccurate, incomplete or inconsistent. Implementing agencies must help them make corrections promptly.

4. Who enters which data

Training managed on a sales case follows one route (SAMM C10.21.2.4.1). Implementing agencies regularly review and update the training data held in the Defense Security Assistance Management System. The data should be uploaded in real time and finalized in SC-TMS once an event is complete, and the Combatant Commands (CCMDs) and military groups keep it under review all year.

Other training follows different routes. Events not run by the military departments’ security assistance organizations must be entered by the military group under a separate tab for training not managed on a case (SAMM C10.21.2.4.2). Providers must share their data with the military group as soon as the activity ends. Classified training data goes to DSCA over the secret network, with a copy of the original classification authority so the report can be classified properly (SAMM C10.21.2.4.3). The regional centers share their data with DSCA as the annual data call memo describes, and the service academies help validate student data and pricing (SAMM C10.21.2.4.4). The State Department gives its reportable data to the military groups continuously for entry (SAMM C10.21.2.4.5).

5. The data call and delivery

At the end of each fiscal year, DSCA issues an annual data call tasking message with detailed reporting procedures (SAMM C10.21.2.5). The CCMDs and military departments pass it to every military group and country program manager, who complete their remaining entries. The CCMDs must run a compliance review in SC-TMS, correcting errors and supplying missing information, with the military departments helping to verify the data. DSCA then shares the finalized Defense inputs with the State Department for review, validation and the addition of State data (SAMM C10.21.2.6). The State Department must publish the unclassified portions of the report on the internet.

6. Positions of prominence and graduates

A second annual report tracks former students who rise to prominent positions (SAMM C10.21.1). Each CCMD makes sure its Security Cooperation Organizations (SCOs) update the Positions of Prominence Report data in the country’s training plan before the annual working group. DSCA’s training division extracts it to assess program effectiveness and support alumni engagement. Military positions that count include all general and flag officers, and lower ranks in posts such as chief of a service, senior joint staff roles, or attaché to a major capital (SAMM C10.21.1.1). Civilian positions include heads of state, ministers, ambassadors, members of parliament and heads of leading businesses (SAMM C10.21.1.2).

Each entry records the person’s grade and American equivalent, current and earlier prominent positions, the training completed with its funding source, and how the position was obtained (SAMM C10.21.1.3). SCOs also monitor how American-trained personnel are used, with emphasis on the more critical and higher-level skills (SAMM C10.21.4). Annual updates by host nation authorities to the student information in Appendix D of the training plan meet that requirement. How these reports fit the embassy office’s wider training work is covered in planning training from the embassy.

7. The codes that make training countable

The Training Military Articles and Services List (T-MASL) is the master list of formal training open to international students (SAMM C10.4.3). It gives each course’s description, prerequisites, length, location, cost, medical information, dependent rules, English requirement and a training analysis code. Military departments restrict the use of entries that lack this information, and a non-descript entry cannot be used for a mobile training team unless tailored to the training proposed (SAMM C10.4.3.2). A four-digit worksheet control number identifies each student or team in a program, assigned when a military department enters a requested course into a country’s program (SAMM C10.4.4). The training analysis codes let the State Department, the CCMDs and DSCA analyze a country’s program, a command or the whole International Military Education and Training program (SAMM C10.21.3).

Key terms

FMTR	The joint annual report to Congress on military training given to foreign personnel.
Third party training	Training resulting from American appropriated funds, reported with both the providing and the receiving country.
Positions of Prominence Report	The annual record of former students who reach senior posts.
T-MASL	The master list of formal training available to international students.
Worksheet control number	The four-digit identifier for each student or team in a training program.

Every statement above links to the document behind it. The full source list for this piece is on the sources page.

This page describes public United States government programs for general information. It is not legal, regulatory or procurement advice, and it does not address the facts of any particular case.

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