SFA as part of a campaign design: supporting operational requirements (part 1)

[jmm99]

of the target HN security forces with development of an indigenous ethos - as in this post. Seems a logical approach to answer the initial question "Where am I ?"

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Now, if someone will critique my own KG lesson so-far learned in SFA. My perception of Figure 1-3 (attached) from FM 3-07.1 Security Force Assistance (May 2009) is that SFA has a very broad charter, which cuts across a number of other charters.

Looking at the legal basics only, I get this (leaving aside a lot of Titles 10 & 22 stuff which is inside baseball - political hardball) from FM 3-07.1:

LEGAL AUTHORITY FOR SECURITY FORCE ASSISTANCE

B-2. If the Secretary of State requests and the Secretary of Defense approves, U.S. forces can participate in security force assistance. The request and approval can go through standing statutory authorities in Title 22, U.S. Code. Title 22 contains the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, the Arms Export Control Act of 1976, and other laws. It authorizes security assistance, developmental assistance, security force assistance and other forms of bilateral aid.

B-3. The request and approval for security force assistance might also occur under various provisions in Title 10, U.S. Code. Title 10 authorizes certain types of military-to-military contacts, exchanges, exercises, and limited forms of humanitarian and civic assistance in coordination with the U.S. ambassador to the host nation. In such situations, U.S. forces may be granted status as administrative and technical personnel based on a status-of-forces agreement or an exchange of letters with the host nation. This cooperation and assistance is limited to liaison, contacts, training, equipping, and providing defense articles and services. It does not include direct involvement in operations.

Assistance to police by U.S. forces is permitted but, generally, Department of Defense (DOD) does not serve as the lead government department. Without receiving a deployment or execution order from the President or Secretary of Defense, U.S. forces may be authorized to make only limited contributions during operations that involve security assistance.
....
LEGAL CONSTRAINTS ON THE SECURITY FORCE ASSISTANCE MISSIONS

B-18. U.S. law and regulation play a key role in establishing the parameters by which military forces may conduct security force assistance missions. These parameters tend to constitute constraints on the activities of military units. They range from the rules of engagement in combat situations to the ability to spend government funds in furtherance of a training or support mission.

GENERAL PROHIBITION ON ASSISTANCE TO POLICE

B-19. Historically, DOD is not the lead government department for assisting foreign governments. DOS is the lead when U.S. forces provide security assistance-military training, equipment, and defense articles and services-to host-nation governments. The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 specifically prohibits assistance to foreign police forces except within specific exceptions and under a Presidential directive. When providing assistance to training, DOS provides the lead role in police assistance through its Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. The President, however, may delegate this role to other agencies. This was done in 2004, when the President signed a decision directive granting the commander, United States Central Command, authority to train and equip Iraqi police.

TRAINING AND EQUIPPING FOREIGN SECURITY FORCES

B-20. All training and equipping of foreign security forces are specifically authorized. U.S. laws require Congress to authorize expenditures for training and equipping foreign forces. The laws of the United States also require DOS to verify that the host nation receiving the assistance is not in violation of human rights. The Secretary of Defense may authorize deployed U.S. forces to train or advise host-nation security forces as part of the mission. In this case, DOD personnel, operations, and maintenance appropriations provide an incidental benefit to those security forces. Numerous other programs to assist foreign forces are paid for with funds appropriated by Congress for that purpose. Consultation with a staff judge advocate or legal advisor early in the planning ensures the availability of funds for missions to train and equip foreign forces.

Am I on target for the scope (attached diagram) and the basic legal charter ? Any adds or caveats ?

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The next thing is a question - answer not found in FM that I could see; and question coming from the definition in the Commander’s Handbook for Security Force Assistance (JCISFA 14 Jul 2008)

1.1 Security Force Assistance (SFA) is defined as unified action to generate, employ, and sustain local, host nation or regional security forces in support of a legitimate authority.
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Security forces include not only military forces, but also police, border forces, and other paramilitary organizations at all levels of government within a nation state, as well as other local and regional forces.

Is it the intent for SFA to include militias ("other local and regional forces") within the charter ? How about "irregular forces" that cannot meet the GC III Art. 4 test ?

E.g.,

Convention (III) relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. Geneva, 12 August 1949.

Art 4. A. ....

(1) Members of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict, as well as members of militias or volunteer corps forming part of such armed forces.

(2) Members of other militias and members of other volunteer corps, including those of organized resistance movements, belonging to a Party to the conflict and operating in or outside their own territory, even if this territory is occupied, provided that such militias or volunteer corps, including such organized resistance movements, fulfil the following conditions:

(a) that of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates;
(b) that of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance;
(c) that of carrying arms openly;
(d) that of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war.

Militias could come under 4A(1) or 4A(2), but could also be a GC Common Article 3 organization, depending on how far out you want to go. Military forces are obviously under 4A(1), but police, border forces, and other paramilitary organizations may or may not, depending on the HN's domestic laws. Police, for example, are normally considered civilian under the GCs.