Episode 66 of the Irregular Warfare Podcast explores how America’s security cooperation programs can help shape regional security environments by training foreign militaries.
Our guests begin by addressing why America settled on a global strategy of exporting its security to allied and partner militaries. They then examine the range of activities that fall under the umbrella term of security cooperation, and compare and contrast building partner capacity for conventional forces and doing so for irregular warfare units. Finally, they end by talking about how past military cooperation efforts have shaped today’s regional security environment in Eastern Europe, and what America can do to optimize its approach to security cooperation in the future.
Retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling is a national security and military analyst for CNN. Over his thirty-eight-year career in the military, he served or commanded at every level from platoon to field army. In 2013, he retired from the military as the commanding general of US Army Europe. He graduated from West Point in 1975 and holds advanced degrees from Indiana University, the National Defense University, and Rollins College.
Professor Derek Reveron is the chair of national security affairs at the US Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. He is also a Navy Reserve officer who has testified before the House Armed Services Committee on security cooperation programs and has published multiple books and research articles on US military cooperation efforts around the world. The second edition of his 2016 book, Exporting Security, serves as the anchor for today’s conversation.
Ben Jebb and Barbara Elias are the hosts for Episode 66. Please reach out to them with any questions about this episode or the Irregular Warfare Podcast.
The Irregular Warfare Podcast is a production of the Irregular Warfare Initiative (IWI). We are a team of volunteers dedicated to bridging the gap between scholars and practitioners in the field of irregular warfare. IWI generates written and audio content, coordinates events for the IW community, and hosts critical thinkers in the field of irregular warfare as IWI fellows. You can follow and engage with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, or LinkedIn.
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Image credit: Sgt. Justin Geiger, US Army
From Pages 2 and 3 of the Introduction chapter to Professor Derek Reveron's book "Exporting Security: International Engagement, Security Cooperation, and the Changing Face of the U.S. Military" — the book which — as this podcast's introductory page above states — "serves as the anchor for today’s conversation:"
"Militaries Do More Than Fighting:
Since the 1990s the focus of American international security policy has been focused on creating conditions for extending zones of security and prosperity to other states under the theory that 'political as well as economic globalization would make the world safer — and more profitable — for the United States.' Consequently, the United States saw expansion, rather than retraction, of American military presence around the world. Indeed during Bill Clinton's tenure as president, US military forces were deployed in more countries than at any time during his immediate predecessors' tenure in the Oval Office, which coincided with the end of the Cold War. This trend has continued … "
Thus,
a. If one is looking for the basis for the character, size, scale, scope, etc., of U.S. security cooperation post-the Old Cold War,
b. Then one need look no further than to the U.S.'s post-Cold War "expansionist" agenda describe above; which — itself — was based the idea that "political as well as economic globalization would make the world safer — and more profitable — for the United States?"
From the perspective I provide in my comment immediately above, might we need to change the title of this podcast:
a. From: "Slow Burn: How US Security Cooperation Shapes Operational Environments"
b To: "Slow Burn: How the US's Embrace of Globalization Shaped — and Continues to Shape — Operational Environments?"