A mobile training team (MTT) from the Defense Security Cooperation University’s (DSCU) School of Security Cooperation Studies (SSCS) recently traveled to Vilnius, Lithuania to conduct a two-week international partner whole-of-government Security Cooperation and foreign military sales (FMS) training with Lithuanian Ministry of Defense (MoD) and Lithuanian Military Departments personnel.

Specifically, the MTT led DSCU’s International Partner Security Cooperation Logistics and Finance course. The course’s curriculum spans the full spectrum of Security Cooperation, including legislation & policy, technology transfer/end-use monitoring, FMS, acquisition, logistics, and financial management.

The class included members of the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense (MoD) and Lithuanian Military Departments. Twenty-five students graduated from the class.

DSCU strengthens relationships with partner nations by working hand-in-hand to provide education, training, and tailored institutional capacity building. DSCU supports DSCA’s Foreign Military Sales programs through holistic solutions that develop and support advancing responsible governance and the intellectual interoperability and synergistic ties between the U.S. and our allies and partners.

Founded in 1976, as the Defense Institute of Security Assistance Management (DISAM), SSCS is the focal point of Foreign Military Sales education for all Department of Defense personnel and international partner personnel engaged in managing Security Cooperation programs. MTT seminars/trainings typically involve up to 80 hours of training plus time for administrative functions and are usually completed over the course of ten business days.

As the center of intellectual life for the Security Cooperation enterprise, DSCU continually searches for relevant education and training opportunities to help the Security Cooperation Workforce (SCW) achieve outcomes that enhance the security of the United States and its partners and allies.

One such course is the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) 45-minute, self-paced course on Humanitarian Assistance Essentials. This course is designed and conducted by USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance.

The course highlights international disaster response best practices and the U.S. military's role in supporting Foreign Disaster Relief operations as provided for under DOD Directive 5100.46. This offering enhances the Department of Defense’s ability to work collaboratively during humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations.

The Humanitarian Assistance Essentials course is available on JKO at jkodirect.jten.mil. Once logged on using a government common access card, SCW members can search for USAID -001 Humanitarian Assistance Essentials using the catalog search function to take the course.

Please email jhoc@usaid.gov if you are interested in attending the 4-day Virtual or 2-day in-person JHOC (Joint Humanitarian Operations Course).

The Defense Security Cooperation University (DSCU) is pleased to announce the DSCU Speaker Series. DSCU strives to be the center of intellectual life for the security cooperation enterprise; we prepare a global network of professionals to achieve outcomes that enhance the security of the United States and its partners and allies.

The DSCU Speaker Series embraces academic freedom and innovation as we strive to advance the knowledge and practice of security cooperation. Invited speakers are experts who offer data, analysis, and insights on security cooperation issues.

The DSCU Speaker Series occurs on the third Wednesday of every month, starting March 2024. The monthly forum is hosted on Microsoft teams to promote exchange and reflection across the security cooperation community. To receive the link and invitation for the speaker series, please register HERE.

We are excited to announce the first two speakers confirmed:

• March 20, 2024, will feature Dr. Ilaria Carozza, Senior Researcher at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO).
• April 17, 2024 will feature Dr. Clare Lockhart, Director of the Institute for State Effectiveness (ISE).

The views and opinions expressed during the DSCU Speaker Series are solely those of the speaker(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Department of Defense, Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), or Defense DSCU. The appearance of external hyperlinks does not constitute DSCA/DSCU endorsement of the linked websites, or the information, products or services therein. DSCU does not endorse nor advocate speaker’s published materials.

News item #110215

Warsaw, Poland—The Polish Air Force and a team from the Defense Security Cooperation University (DSCU), led by the Institute for Security Governance (ISG) and augmented by U.S. Ministry of Defense Advisors (MoDAs), recently co-hosted the first regional European F-16 Institutional Capacity Building (ICB) workshop, in Warsaw, Poland. This event was supported by the Office of Defense Cooperation Warsaw and the Illinois National Guard, Poland's State Partner.

Attendees included key representatives from NATO Allies who are currently transitioning from legacy Soviet-era warplanes to fourth and fifth generation Western multi-role fighter aircraft, including Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. Observers from Ukraine also attended. In addition, guest speakers from Lithuania, Hungary and the United Kingdom supported this event offering diverse perspectives and subject matter expertise.

This ICB engagement was developed in support of bolstering human resources management and operational readiness as part of regional countries’ collaborating on common Air Forces capacity building objectives. Specifically, the goal of the workshop was to create a community of practice and understanding of human resources factors in their relation to platform preparedness and resilience.

The DSCU team of experts led discussions around partner-centric examinations of key challenges to effective human resources management as they impact air combat capability. This regional ICB initiative was designed to develop shared solutions consistent with NATO standards and principles and support regional coordination and crosstalk between functional experts.

About DSCU

DSCU is a directorate of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA). DSCU, including its component ISG, consists of a global, cross-functional team of scholars, practitioners, and support staff who work in concert to plan, develop, and deliver security cooperation education, training, and advising in support of the National Defense Strategy (NDS) and America’s Allies and partners.

Defense Security Cooperation University (DSCU) is excited to introduce its sponsored research program and to announce that it is now accepting grant proposals for projects that contribute to the body of knowledge on Security Cooperation. The growing importance of Security Cooperation as a tool of national security demonstrates the importance of dedicated research, critical inquiry, and scholarship that advances knowledge and practice.

“The DSCU Research Grant Program is integral to advancing one of DSCU’s core missions: to produce research, analysis, and lessons learned that expand the intellectual foundations of Security Cooperation,” said Dr. Celeste Gventer, DSCU President. “This grant program uniquely postures the University to fund innovative research projects related to Security Cooperation.”

DSCU is one of five directorates reporting to the Director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA). Development of a highly professional and competent Security Cooperation workforce (SCW) is critical to achieving foreign policy and National Defense Strategy (NDS) objectives. Initiatives found in the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and NDS implementation strengthen the SCW and professionalize the field of Security Cooperation for decades to come.

The FY24 NDAA Section 1204 gives DSCU the authority to both give grants and receive them. DSCU’s Research, Analysis, and Lessons Learned Institute administers these grants. The Institute supports and enables the Security Cooperation enterprise to build and share knowledge from a strong foundation of evidence.

DSCU sponsors research that meets standards of scientific rigor, results in lessons that can be applied to practice, and aligns substantively with the Department of Defense Learning and Evaluation Agenda for Partnerships (LEAP) framework and the  DSCU Research Agenda. The grants competition is open to all researchers anywhere in the world, including university and professional military education (PME) faculty, scholars in think tanks and industry, and the Security Cooperation workforce.

A Notice of Funding Opportunity (NFO) is posted on the DSCU website and Grants.gov with details on project eligibility, research priorities, and the application process.

If you are interested in learning more about DSCU-sponsored research, please sign up here.

Forty-five Security Cooperation Organization (SCO) students graduated the Defense Security Cooperation University’s (DSCU) seven-week SCO Operations Course on February 29, 2024. The course, which takes place in Ohio, Indiana, and the National Capital Region (NCR), prepares both military and civilian SCO personnel to represent the Department of Defense (DOD) to allies and partners on Security Cooperation and Assistance programs in complex, interagency, and international environments.

As an academic institution, DSCU holds itself accountable to a higher standard of Security Cooperation education by using evidence-based knowledge to inform DSCU’s curriculum, especially training and education for SCO personnel who perform critical duties at U.S. embassies worldwide. Therefore, DSCU made important changes to the SCO curriculum for 2024, to include incorporating the Department of State-mandated Foreign Affairs Counter Threat (FACT) Course equivalency training. Students traveled to Muscatatuck, Indiana, and completed the 40-hour block of instruction on a variety of safety-related topics including driver’s training and tactical medical care.

In addition to incorporating FACT-equivalency training, the SCO Operations Course also integrated a new in-resident week for the SCO Spouse Course, which invited spouses to participate in relevant training together with SCO Operations Course students. The spouses received important instruction on a myriad of topics including diplomatic etiquette and protocol, diplomatic immunities, and ethics.

DSCU’s SCO Operations Course provides crucial instruction for SCO personnel executing Security Cooperation activities with Allies and partners in support of the National Defense Strategy. Students glean knowledge from lectures, group work, and practical exercises while hearing from multiple guest speakers and experts including senior military and policy leaders, ambassadors, academics, and Security Cooperation practitioners. DSCU is especially grateful to Major General Donn H. Hill, Commanding General Security Force Assistance Command, who spoke with the students in February about his organization’s role in Security Cooperation and the interaction with SCO personnel.

The course concludes with a week in the NCR. This final phase focuses on forging key relationships for their in-country assignments with the contacts needed to be that vital link between U.S. whole-of-government Security Cooperation efforts and Partner Nations.

About

DSCU strives to be the center of intellectual life for the Security Cooperation enterprise; we prepare a global network of professionals to achieve outcomes that enhance the security of the United States and its partners and allies. DSCU works to ensure SCO personnel and their spouses have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to develop and sustain key relationships, assist partners in determining how to address capability and capacity gaps, and translate partner requirements into actionable Security Cooperation initiatives.

The Defense Security Cooperation University’s School of Security Cooperation Studies (SSCS) Mobile Training Team (MTT) conducted an International Partner Security Cooperation Finance and Logistics course in Bern, Switzerland February 26 – March 8, 2024. The course facilitated an active learning environment for Swiss partners and addresses key U.S. Foreign Military Sales (FMS) concepts in the context of Security Cooperation.

The SSCS faculty team trained 13 civilians from armasuisse, the Federal Office for Defence Procurement. Armasuisse is the Competence Center for Procurement, Technology and Real Estate within the Swiss Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS).

Switzerland has a robust Foreign Military Sales portfolio. The portfolio includes acquisition and support for Patriot Missile Systems, F-35 aircraft, F/A-18 aircraft, and F-5 aircraft.

The U.S. Embassy Switzerland Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) team engaged throughout the course and provided an ODC-specific Security Cooperation orientation brief to the class. The course graduation was presided over by armasuisse senior leaders, along with members from the U.S. Embassy ODC.

About

DSCU’s mission is to advance the knowledge and practice of Security Cooperation through the education, training, and development of the U.S. Security Cooperation workforce and through the education, training, and Institutional Capacity Building of partner nations; and to produce research, analysis, and lessons learned that expand the intellectual foundations of Security Cooperation.

Founded in 1976, as the Defense Institute of Security Assistance Management (DISAM), DSCU’s SSCS is the focal point of FMS education for all Department of Defense personnel and international partner personnel engaged in managing Security Cooperation programs.

Fourteen Department of Defense personnel recently concluded a Defense Security Cooperation University (DSCU) thirty-hour Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response (CHMR) mobile training course at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida.

Students were specifically from U.S Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command. The CHMR mobile training course provides instruction on CHMR Fundamentals, CHMR in Security Cooperation and working with Partner Nations, CHMR multidomain operations, planning for civilians in the area of operations, and urban warfare. Ms. Muhammedally utilizes practical exercises, case studies, vignettes and scholarly readings to apply the learnings.

DSCU strives to be the center of intellectual life for the Security Cooperation enterprise; we prepare a global network of professionals to achieve outcomes that enhance the security of the United States and its partners and allies. This includes bespoke CHMR training, education and advising for the U.S. Security Cooperation Workforce that spans the full spectrum of Security Cooperation programs and activities. As DSCU updates its new, innovate curriculum as part of Certification 2.0, key CHMR related policies and requirement for Security Cooperation professionals are being integrated across the Certification 2.0 curriculum.

DSCA is recruiting for a Senior Lecturer AD-1701-05. This position is located within DSCU/ISG with a remote duty location. Interested candidates are encouraged to apply by following the link above.

Provides an updated method to accessing the Security Assistance Management Manual (SAMM) and the Policy Memorandums that are issued by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA).