Expending Diplomacy: How Much of the Pentagon Budget Goes to Foreign Militaries?

As most media outlets picked apart or defended the Department of Defense's $518.3 billion 2009 budget request, paying particular attention toward the top heavy and tangible weaponry portion, they overlooked a comparatively miniscule $750 million allocated to training foreign troops. But the significance of this line in the DoD budget lies not in the dollar amount, but what it means for foreign policy.

If the Department of Defense gets its way, the $750 million will be allocated to Section 1206 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Implemented in fiscal year 2006, Section 1206 granted the Department of Defense the authority -- and $100 million -- to train and equip foreign military forces ("global train and equip"), ostensibly for counterterrorism activities. Most of the funding would go towards equipment provided by contractors, according to the DoD.

The New York Times, two years ago almost to the day and during the first year of implementation, published an editorial that outlined how Section 1206 was the newest step in the "militarization of American foreign policy." The article called upon Congress to require that the State Department set freedom and democratic standards and benchmarks for U.S. military aid. The lack of restrictions within the Defense Department, the Times argued, is problematic -- "and the danger is more than theoretical." "Six of the 10 African nations the Pentagon proposes to train and equip [in 2006] … have poor human rights records."

Section 1206 would allow the Department of Defense to fund and train militaries of foreign governments from the DoD operations and maintenance account -- a program with a long history in the State Department, but one with checks and prodedures that the DoD views as an impediment to its work. In its 2009 budget request, the DoD states that "traditional security assistance takes three to four years from concept to execution," but that global train and equip under its supervision "allows a response to emergent threats or opportunities in six months or less." Passed by Congress in 1961, the Foreign Assistance Act, among other things, reorganized programs and separated military and non-military aid. Critics worry that Section 1206 is another step toward fusing military and diplomatic relations once again, but now under the Pentagon instead of the State Department.

A Growing Budget for Section 1206

For fiscal year 2006, Section 1206 authorized spending of up to $200 million per year for FY2006 and FY2007. In 2007 the amount was amended to raise the limit to $300 million and extend the authority through FY 2008. According to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report, during the course of the fiscal year, the DoD may transfer funds that it will not use for their originally budgeted purposes to Section 1206 programs. The CRS account also reports that in FY2006, $106 million was obligated to Section 1206 programs and $289 million in FY2007. Pakistan, as a key country in the so-called Global War on Terror, has been one of the primary recipients of the aid, at approximately $41 million for the first two years.

The legislation does come with limitations. It requires 15-day advance notification to the Congressional Defense, Foreign Affairs, and Appropriations committees before initiating each program. This notification must specify, among other things, the program country, budget, and completion date, as well as the source and planned expenditure of the funds. Section 1206 authority permits the Secretary of Defense to provide such support with the "concurrence" of the Secretary of State -- a term that has been interpreted to mean the Secretary of State's approval.

But these minor stipulations may be cramping the freedom the Pentagon has become accustomed to. According to the CRS report on Section 1206, unlike in previous years, the proposed legislation for 2009 "would not itself waive restrictions, but would grant waiver authority to the President and the Secretary of State."