Defense Institution Building: An Assessment

Abstract A key element in the Department of Defense's Strategic Guidance is building the capacity of partner nations in order to share the costs and responsibilities of global leadership. To implement this goal, the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (USD(P)) utilizes several security cooperation programs to work with partner countries to support Defense Institution Building (DIB), i.e. build the capacity of their defense ministries. In addition, the major commands and the Services conduct activities that directly or indirectly support DIB objectives. DIB has four primary components—Wales Initiative Fund-DIB (WIF-DIB), Defense Institution Reform Initiative (DIRI), Ministry of Defense Advisors (MoDA), and Defense Institute of International Legal Studies (DILLS)—but includes all security cooperation activities that develop accountable, effective, and efficient defense institutions. The primary objective of many existing DIB activities is to help partner nations develop and manage capable security forces subject to appropriate civilian control. This paper addresses the following topics, critical to answering questions about DIB: (1) DIB-focused policy goals and program objectives; (2) Criteria for selecting and prioritizing partner nations; (3) A strategy to achieve goals and objectives; (4) Harmonizing DIB with other security cooperation activities; (5) Accountability processes and procedures; (6) Roles and responsibilities.