IMET program costs and training it will not fund

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1. Two fund codes for the programs

The Security Assistance Management Manual sets rules for two International Military Education and Training (IMET) fund codes that support the programs as a whole. They are general costs, fund code 66, and infrastructure, fund code 77 (SAMM C10.6.13). Waivers from those rules need approval from the Defense Security Cooperation University and the business operations office of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA). What IMET pays for more broadly is covered in what the IMET program funds.

2. General costs: building programs and courses

General costs cover program development and course development, and the University manages them (SAMM C10.6.13.1). Requests, with justification, go to both the University and DSCA’s business operations office. All work on new IMET-funded programs and courses must be approved by the University before it starts.

Program development means creating a program or changing it substantially (SAMM C10.6.13.2). The manual’s example is deciding which courses a new master’s program needs. Course development follows once a program is justified, and covers the detail of each course, including additions and updates (SAMM C10.6.13.3). It is not specific to any country.

3. Infrastructure: running the schools

Infrastructure costs are the costs of running the schools of the expanded IMET program and the Mobile Education Team programs (SAMM C10.6.13.4). Each school builds its request as if all its training were IMET funded. It then reduces the figure where other money, such as Regional Defense Fellowship Program or sales case funds, pays for development or courses.

The request has four parts. Salaries cover the estimated share of civilian personnel costs spent managing the programs (SAMM C10.6.13.4.1). They start at the full cost and fall as other funding sources are confirmed and reimburse their share. Personnel costs tied directly to a course are charged to the country receiving it. Travel covers meetings DSCA directs, such as the annual working group and the end of year review, but not site surveys or trips for a particular course (SAMM C10.6.13.4.2).

Equipment, supplies and books cover material used by the staff who provide infrastructure support, with miscellaneous office costs subject to oversight (SAMM C10.6.13.4.3). General administration and facilities cover the host organization’s costs of providing and managing the facility (SAMM C10.6.13.4.4). These include procurement, comptroller, legal, information technology, library, building maintenance and utilities, usually as a share of staff or space. General cost requests go to the University and DSCA from time to time, while infrastructure requests go to DSCA once a year and must show those four categories (SAMM C10.6.13.5).

One accounting rule is absolute. IMET is a grant account, Treasury account 11 X 1081, issued to DSCA as a direct appropriation with no reimbursable authority (SAMM C10.6.13.6). Offsetting collections count as reimbursable authority, so they may not be posted to the IMET account.

4. Four more years to spend it

IMET money can outlast its fiscal year. The annual State and foreign operations appropriations act has included a recurring provision for funds under chapter 5 of part II of the Foreign Assistance Act, which covers IMET (SAMM C10.6.15.1). Such funds remain available for four more years if they are first obligated within their original period of availability. Because IMET is apportioned directly to the Defense Department, funds obligated in their first period stay legally available for the extra years. The manual notes that reprogramming them is the State Department’s responsibility.

The manual adds a caution. The provision has appeared in past acts, but future acts may not include it, so DSCA’s comptroller confirms each year whether recently enacted acts contain it (SAMM C10.6.15.1.1).

5. Invitation-only professional military education

Some senior and intermediate professional military education courses are open to foreign students only by invitation (SAMM C10.6.16). The services and the Joint Staff set the priorities for which countries are invited, taking account of service priorities, combatant command requirements and the countries of emphasis in the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s annual submission memorandum. The manual lists the schools, among them the service war colleges, the command and staff colleges and the National Defense University’s colleges.

The timetable runs well ahead. Combatant commands send country priorities with full justification to the military departments by November 16 each year, for the academic year that starts two years later (SAMM C10.6.16.1). The manual’s example is November 16, 2018 for the 2020-2021 year. In February and March, the Joint Staff leads a review board with the services, DSCA and the Office of the Secretary of Defense to align proposed invitations with the defense and military strategies. The services and the National Defense University finalize invitation lists by June 1 for the academic year starting the following summer (SAMM C10.6.16.2).

6. Training IMET will not fund

The manual’s Table C10.T4 lists training that cannot be provided with IMET money (SAMM C10.6.5). The limits apply only to IMET-funded training, and exceptions are requested through the combatant command to the University. The list includes training unrelated to the program’s objectives, and initial or technical training for equipment bought through a sales case. It also excludes training of non-career personnel, skills normally available in the country other than professional military education, and training already provided in sufficient quantity. Courses at Department installations outside the United States need University approval and a justification that no similar course is given in the United States.

Repetition is capped. One item is repetitive training in the same courses. As the manual’s example, a country’s program should carry at most five of any one technical course, ten of any one professional military education course and two master’s degree courses in a fiscal year (SAMM C10.6.5). Every master’s program funded this way needs State Department approval. The table also rules out sniper training, flight training, foreign language training and musical or band leader courses. Training for national intelligence programs is excluded, since intelligence training for international students is limited to combat or operational intelligence.

Key terms

Fund code 66	IMET general costs, for program and course development.
Fund code 77	IMET infrastructure costs, for running the expanded IMET schools and Mobile Education Teams.
Mobile Education Team (MET)	A team that delivers IMET education programs, whose running costs count as infrastructure.
Offsetting collections	Reimbursements that may not be posted to the IMET account.
Invitation-only PME	Senior and intermediate courses open to foreign students only by invitation.

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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