The Army Foreign Area Officer Program:
A Crucial Component of SOUTHCOM's
Engagement with the Americas

By LTC Rick Kilroy, USA

The political and economic events taking place today in Latin America are indicative of the changes occurring globally. Democratization, trans-national economic cooperation, and increasing regionalization are tremendous forces for change throughout the world. For the countries located within the SOUTHCOM Area of Responsibility (AOR), this was evidenced in the history-making Summit of the Americas, held in Miami, Florida, in December 1994. Democratically-elected leaders of every nation in the Western Hemisphere (excepting Cuba) joined together to forge new levels of understanding and cooperation that will shape our future relations well into the next century. In July 1995, the most senior defense officials from these same countries gathered together in Williamsburg, Virginia, for the first-ever Defense Ministerial of the Americas. Military and civilian leaders met together, many for the first time, to share mutual concerns in order to promote regional stability and security. Planning is now continuous for future meetings on these levels.

SOUTHCOM's role in fostering democratic progress in the Americas centers on remaining engaged throughout the region with host country militaries. Building regional cooperative security through multi-national exercises and other confidence building measures serves to increase military professionalism within the region. Encouraging appropriate future roles for military institutions throughout the region is of paramount importance in ensuring continued civilian primacy with the local defense establishments, and by extension, in ensuring regional peace and stability. By recognizing the important roles that a disciplined, law-abiding armed forces play in maintaining a state's sovereignty and economic viability, SOUTHCOM supports a full range of security assistance programs, training initiatives, and operational plans aimed at supporting military institutions that are committed to upholding democratic values and civil authority. A key component of this effort is supporting the national counterdrug strategy. Drugs remain a blight on the democratic landscape of the Americas and SOUTHCOM remains firmly committed to combating this serious threat to U.S. national security. In each of these immensely important missions, Army FAOs play key roles serving our nation's vital national interests throughout the AOR.

You've heard it before, but it bears repeating -- FAOs play key roles in fostering dialogue between nations and supporting the successful accomplishment of the command's mission. In fact, it would be appropriate to note that Army FAOs and other regional experts from our sister services are the principal peacetime "fighters" and not simply "combat multipliers." Whether they are serving as Military Group commanders and team members, Defense Attaches, Professional Exchange Program (PEP) representatives, or as special assistants, country desk officers, strategic planners, and intelligence analysts on the SOUTHCOM staff, FAOs from all services are this region's principal advisors, policy formulators and implementors. They are on the "front lines" of U.S. foreign policy by virtue of their expertise and access to host nation military and political leaders. One could point to a location on a map within any country in the SOUTHCOM AOR and be assured that there is a FAO within the command somewhere who has walked the ground, knows the history and the people, and can intelligently provide advice on the key policy considerations with regard to that region.

As examples of what FAOs are doing within the SOUTHCOM AOR, the following are representative, but certainly not exceptional. Colonel Steve Fee, while the Military Group Commander in El Salvador, served as the U.S. team chief for coordinating the multi-national observer force mission in the dispute between Peru and Ecuador. Major John McNamara served as the senior U.S. observer on the multi-national force. On the SOUTHCOM staff in Panama, LTC Rich Downie assisted the Joint Staff and the Office of the Secretary of Defense in coordinating the first Defense Ministerial of the Americas, and there were many other FAOs serving as translators and escort officer to the various delegations. Army FAOs are also heavily involved in the counter-drug effort and in working out the political and military dimensions of the final implementation of the Panama Canal Treaty.

As SOUTHCOM headquarters departs from Panama for its new location in Miami, the importance of FAOs to this command's mission will increase. As the other Services improve their FAO programs, the influence of these officers within the command will only increase further. For years, SOUTHCOM benefited from having its headquarters physically operating within its AOR. Living and working overseas enabled us to develop professionals who understood the AOR better and were more likely to deploy often throughout the region. As a CONUS-based command, power projection will become the norm. Therefore, it is imperative that we continue to develop Service FAOs who know the region well enough to overcome the lack of in-depth regional experience within the command.

The Army FAO program can serve as a model for our sister Services. A joint command would benefit immensely if the other Services were able to experience the same academic, language, and in-country opportunities that Army FAOs have had for years. Although the investment is high, the potential returns are even higher. As "jointness" becomes the norm for operational requirements throughout our military, we need to develop a corps of highly professional joint service officers who are also FAOs from each Service. Combining their unique service-related training and experience, coupled with FAO training, these JSO-FAOs could offer future military and political leaders in the United States and overseas uniquely-qualified advice on U.S. Policy concerns that impact on security issues and host nation militaries throughout the world.

Having served in a number of different theaters and on the Joint Staff, I am continually impressed with the high quality officers that serve proudly as FAOs. These officers are true professionals, who chose a specialty that entails years of training, taking them out of their basic branches at critical times during their careers. Yet, to be as effective as they are at what they do, such preparation is invaluable and worth the investment. Therefore, it is our responsibility as senior leaders who demand the knowledge and expertise of FAOs to successfully accomplish their mission, to actively promote and support FAOs, as well as the FAO program. We should maintain a corps of highly professional, dedicated, competitive, career officers that volunteer to be FAOs.

However, because of their unique skills and overseas experiences, FAOs who do spend a good deal of time out-of-country must always remember that they work for the commanders. It sometimes happens, that in their zeal to perform their mission well and support the host nation militaries, that FAOs "go native." Moral integrity and military professionalism are benchmarks of the successful military officer and are never negotiable when dealing with host nation counterparts. FAOs must report derogatory information and human rights violations, even when they fear such information could jeopardize U.S. policy toward that host military. Simply put, "honesty is the best policy" and we, as senior military leaders, must support our soldiers when they find themselves in very sensitive political situations.

Looking forward to the year 2000 and what our military will look like, one thing is certain: FAOs will continue to be major contributors to the successful accomplishment of our military's goals and missions overseas. In fact the FAO program could grow to involve all Services fully and possibly become a joint designated specialty. This would clearly be beneficial for our military Services and for the nation as a whole. In the process of change, we must actively encourage younger officers to make a career decision to become FAOs. Inherent in this change is to change the Service leadership's mentality on what comprises successful career paths, and to foster change in the promotion system that allows these officers to be groomed and retained.

LTC Rick Kilroy, an experienced Latin American FAO, currently works as a Pol-Mil Officer in SOUTHCOM. He has his Ph.D. in Area Studies from the University of Virginia.

1997, Foreign Area Officer Association
Springfield, Virginia
Maintained by LTC Steve Gotowicki
http://www.faoa.org