DOD Security Assistance to MENA 2011-2012: Yemen and Jordan Benefit Share This /

Security Assistance Monitor has recently uploaded data from the Defense Department’s (DOD) Fiscal Year 2011 and 2012 Section 1209 reports, which detail DOD’s spending on foreign assistance related programs around the world. Not all DOD assistance programs are tracked in the 1209 report, and some missing programs include a handful of smaller military and police training programs, the DOD’s Iraq and Afghanistan programs, and the programs established under Section 1207 of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act – the Global Security Contingency Fund and the 1207(n) transitional authority. Excluding the Iraq accounts, the programs tracked by the 1209 report accounted for the vast majority of DOD security assistance to MENA through 2011. Starting in 2012, however, the establishment of the Global Security Contingency Fund and the 1207(n) transitional authority mean that a significant portion of DOD security assistance to MENA is not tracked by the 1209 report.

Fortunately, the Security Assistance Monitor has uploaded data both for programs in the 1209 Report and for the new programs established in the 2012 NDAA. Taking a look at this data provides a clearer picture of DOD security assistance activities in MENA over the last few years. First, this assistance has targeted two countries in particular – Jordan and Yemen; second, until the creation of the new programs in 2012, DOD assistance was largely delivered through two programs – Coalition Support Funds (CSF) and Section 1206 Train and Equip Authority; and third, 2011 saw a major drop in assistance to the region, with a subsequent recovery in 2012.

The following post will briefly explain some interesting aspects from this report:

You can view the data for this chart here – note that Iraq is excluded from the chart for clarity purposes.

You can view the data for this chart here – note that assistance for the Iraq Security Forces Fund is excluded from the chart for clarity purposes.

Jordan:

Between 2007 and 2010, Jordan averaged $91 million in CSF reimbursements. After receiving no CSF assistance in 2011, Jordan received $98.4 million from this account in 2012. In short, CSF assistance reimburses countries for their direct or indirect support to the U.S. led operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Prior to 2012, CSF reimbursed Jordan for security activities along its border with Iraq and for operating field hospitals in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to details found within the Section 1209 reports. The FY2012 justification for Coalition Support Funds likewise states that CSF assistance to Jordan focuses on the country’s security activities along the border with Iraq. However, the 2012 Section 1209 report states that Jordan was reimbursed for an “OEF-TS Expense,” which stands for Operation Enduring Freedom – Trans Sahara (OEF-TS), a military component of the Trans Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership initiative. Unfortunately, U.S. government and non-governmental resources about OEF-TS do not reference Jordan’s participation, so the country’s role in this operation is a bit unclear.

Looking ahead, the FY2014 National Defense Authorization Act authorizes up to $150 million in assistance from the CSF account to help Jordan increase and sustain security along its border with Syria. 

Yemen:

Between 2007 and 2010, Yemen averaged $62 million in Section 1206 assistance, which made it the top recipient of 1206 assistance worldwide. Yemen did not receive Section 1206 assistance in 2011 because the security situation in the country caused the DOD to suspend most of its activities there, according to a 2013 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. Section 1206 funding to Yemen resumed in 2012, and according to details found in the Section 1209 report, the program supported Yemen’s fixed wing counterterror capabilities and special forces capacities.

The aforementioned GAO report also notes that Yemen received $75 million for Ministry of Interior counter-terror capacity building from DOD’s Section 1207(n) account, a transitional authority created by Congress in conjuncture with the Global Security Contingency Fund. While the Section 1209 report does not track this program, we have added it to the Security Assistance Monitor database. The large amount of Section 1206 and 1207(n) assistance to Yemen in 2012 highlights the DOD’s oversized role in providing security assistance to Yemen, which is visualized in the chart below. The Security Assistance Monitor blog and others have critiqued this imbalance, and it is a theme SAM will continue to track moving forward. 

This chart includes data from every Defense Department security assistance program and every State Department security assistance program in the Security Assistance Monitor database.

Some other notes:

• The other top recipient of Defense Department assistance prior to 2011 was Lebanon, which averaged $25.4 million in 1206 assistance between 2006 and 2010. Lebanon was not allocated 1206 funding in 2011 or 2012, though it was the only country in the region to receive a substantial amount of Section 1004 Counter Drug assistance, which funded tactical skills training of Lebanese forces in 2012. A recent White House fact sheet and a testimony by a senior DOD official indicate, however, that Lebanon has received and will receive Section 1206 assistance in 2013 and 2014 respectively.
• Tunisia has also been a consistent recipient of Section 1206 assistance, averaging $9 million in funding between 2008 and 2012. According to details in the 1209 report, 1206 assistance to Tunisia has largely sought to enhance Tunisia’s border security and maritime capacities.
• In 2012 Libya became a major beneficiary of U.S. security assistance, receiving $6.2 million from the DOD portion of the Global Security Contingency Fund (GSCF) and another $5.5 million from the State Department portion of this fund. Prior to 2012, the most security assistance Libya had received in a year was just over a million dollars (in 2008), exemplifying the dichotomy of the U.S. relationship with Libya before and after its revolution in 2011. According to the details in the GSCF report, GSCF assistance sought to enhance Libya’s border security and special forces capacity.
• Comparing Defense Department and State Department security assistance to the MENA region is complicated, since a number of outliers skew the data. For instance, the combined over four billion dollars Israel and Egypt receive in annual State Department Foreign Military Financing represent two thirds of all security assistance to the region. Conversely, between 2005 and 2011 the Defense Department distributed about $20 billion in assistance to Iraq’s security forces, which skews the balance between DOD and State Department assistance in the opposite direction. As such, examining the balance between State Department and Defense Department assistance, which is an important task considering the growing role of the Defense Department in traditionally State Department activities, may be more useful on a country-by-country basis than regionally.