Century of Foreign Military Interaction Security Implications of Foreign Area Competency

This study assesses the evolution of foreign area expertise in the U.S. armed forces during the twentieth century. It focuses on the development of foreign area officer (FAO) programs as the services adapted to incremental requirements for regional expertise, particularly so in the post-Cold War era. This study describes the background of each service's FAO program and investigates the individual progress made by each service in developing foreign area competency commensurate to current and anticipated missions. It assesses the confluence of FAO program objectives with service and national military objectives. This study concludes that the foreign area expertise capabilities in the services as of April 1999 are not equal to the levels required to support the National Security Strategy and the National Military Strategy objectives effectively. That said, this study shows that the Department of Defense has demonstrated both unprecedented recognition of the deficit in foreign area expertise and the resolve to develop capabilities commensurate to requirements. Furthermore, the study also reveals that the process for developing this expertise is well underway, although the individual services differ significantly in their approaches and levels of commitment.