Authorities and Funding · 1 of 3
Security cooperation and security assistance appear interchangeably in almost every discussion of American defense transfers. They are not the same thing, and the manual devotes a section to separating them.
The wider term comes first. "Security cooperation (SC) comprises all activities undertaken by the DoD to encourage and enable international partners to work with the United States to achieve strategic objectives" (SAMM C1.1.1). That covers every interaction with a foreign defense establishment, including relationship building, armaments cooperation, developing partner capability, and securing American access to host nations in peacetime and in contingency.
The narrower term is a set of programs with a common legal parent. "SA is a group of programs, authorized under Title 22 authorities, by which the United States provides defense articles, military education and training, and other defense-related services by grant, loan, credit, cash sales, or lease, in furtherance of national policies and objectives" (SAMM C1.1.2.2).
The relationship between them is stated in one line: "Those SA programs that are administered by DoD are a subset of SC" (SAMM C1.1.2.2). Assistance sits inside cooperation, and part of it is run by the state department rather than the defense department.
The test is not what the activity looks like. Programs of both types "are the means by which the United States provides defense articles, military training, and other defense services to our partner nations in support of U.S. national security objectives" (SAMM C1.1.2). Two programs can deliver the same equipment to the same ministry and belong to different families.
What separates them is written plainly: "They are distinguished by the statutes by which they are authorized and funded" (SAMM C1.1.2).
On one side, "SC program authorizations and appropriations are provided to the Secretary of Defense primarily under the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and appropriations acts" (SAMM C1.1.2.1). These programs "vary greatly in terms of the agency or DoD activity responsible and the manner in which they are planned for and funded", and some must be exercised in coordination with the state department.
On the other, assistance rests on three public laws: the Foreign Assistance Act, the Arms Export Control Act, and the annual appropriations acts for foreign operations and export financing (SAMM C1.2.1).
The consequence is a difference in who supervises. "All SA programs are subject to the continuous supervision and general direction of the Secretary of State to best serve U.S. foreign policy interests; however, programs are variously administered by DoD or Department of State (State)" (SAMM C1.1.2.2).
A partner dealing with an assistance program is dealing with a defense system operating under foreign policy supervision. A partner dealing with a cooperation program under the defense authorities is dealing with something planned, budgeted and defended inside the defense department, where the state department's role is set by the particular statute rather than by a general rule.
That is why two apparently similar requests can move at different speeds and answer to different offices. It also explains the shape of the funding calendar, which for assistance runs through the state department's budget request and for cooperation runs through the annual defense budget.
There is a further label that sits inside cooperation and is easy to confuse with both. Security force assistance "is a set of DoD activities that contribute to unified action by the USG to support the development of the capacity and capability of foreign security forces and their supporting institutions, whether of a partner or an international organization" (SAMM C11.2.3).
Its distinguishing feature is circumstance rather than legal basis. "As a subset of SC, DoD utilizes SFA to support U.S. strategic objectives as part of a crisis response or contingency operation" (SAMM C11.2.3). It describes when the work is done, not which statute pays for it.
Underneath all of this is a distinction that decides whether a program can actually spend anything. "A legislative authority is temporary or permanent and allows USG entities to perform specific activities for a stated purpose" (SAMM C11.2.4).
Having one is not the same as having money. "The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization and appropriation. The authorization legislation does not independently provide funding. Congress must then separately appropriate USG funds to support a program enacted under the authorizing legislation in an annual spending bill" (SAMM C11.2.4). An authority with no appropriation behind it delivers nothing.
Authorities also differ in lifespan. Those "codified in either Title 10 or Title 22 of the U.S. Code and do not require renewed authorization legislation each year are permanent authorities" (SAMM C11.2.4.1). Temporary ones arrive through acts such as the annual defense authorization and "identify the expiration timeline" (SAMM C11.2.4.2). At expiry, Congress may let one lapse, extend it, or move it into the code and make it permanent.
A single authority can carry several programs, and several authorities can be combined. To the extent the terms allow, "multiple authorities may be combined to form a full spectrum approach to deliver a comprehensive capability that a partner can absorb, apply, and sustain" (SAMM C11.2.4). A program drawing on more than one authority is normal rather than irregular.
The word program is used at three different scales, which is the last common source of confusion.
A named program is the largest. It "refers to a collection or set of individual SC programs, projects or activities that are centrally managed to support a higher-level objective to provide a partner with particular capabilities" (SAMM C11.2.5.1). Some take their name from the authorizing statute, such as the section 333 program, which is described in the section 333 build capacity authority.
An individual program is bounded in time. It is "a specific temporary endeavor undertaken over a defined period (i.e., program has a clear start and end), through which resources are mobilized to produce specific outputs" (SAMM C11.2.5.2). One may need several activities and several cases, run by different agencies and offices.
An activity is the smallest unit and the one a partner actually sees. Activities cover transfers of articles and services, exercises, institutional capacity building and training, and the manual gives a concrete example: "one training case, one workshop, and a BPC case that transfers equipment are all SC activities" (SAMM C11.2.5.3).
One naming point follows from this. Where a capacity building case delivers the capability, the recipient "will be referred to as the Benefitting Partner on the BPC case" (SAMM C11.2.5.3), rather than as the purchaser, because it is not buying anything. How that works is set out in what building partner capacity is.
| Security cooperation | All defense department activity with foreign security establishments. SAMM C1.1.1. |
|---|---|
| Security assistance | The Title 22 programs supervised by the state department, part of them run by defense. |
| Security force assistance | Capacity work done as part of a crisis response or contingency operation. |
| Authority | Permission to act, which delivers nothing until an appropriation follows. |
| Benefitting partner | The recipient on a capacity building case, since it is not the buyer. |
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.
Which statute pays decides who is at the table and how fast it moves. Sentfore provides secure transport, protective security and site support for defense programs in difficult environments. Requirements can be sent through the contact page.