Maj. Kier Elmonairy evaluates how well today’s security force assistance (SFA) fiscal authorities support the Army’s Security Force Assistance Brigades (SFABs) in conducting their critical mission in an era of great power competition.
Elmonairy first surveys the organizations the Army uses to conduct SFA, looking at how Army Special Forces and SFABs complement each other by focusing on different aspects of this mission. Next, Elmonairy examines the various fiscal authorities available to SFABs and how well each authority allows SFABs to carry out SFA.
This article concludes that no existing authority provides SFABs the flexibility required to consistently engage with allies and partners, a critical requirement of the National Defense Strategy.
To alleviate this mismatch between the SFAB mission on the one hand and fiscal laws on the other, Elmonairy recommends the creation of a new fiscal authority and appropriation. These new tools reflect the enduring nature of engagement with allies and partners necessary in great power competition and necessary to utilize SFABs to the fullest.