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The Regionally Aligned Force Concept Can Help the Army More Effectively Undertake Its Security Cooperation Missions

• The alignment of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, to U.S. Africa Command improved the efficiency of security cooperation (SC) planning and preparation.
• The success of the regionally aligned force (RAF) concept as a process more broadly will depend on structured planning, agility, and access to appropriate personnel.
• The ability of RAF to carry out SC missions successfully will depend on planners' abilities to match SC activities to theater security objectives (TSOs) and partner-nation conditions.
• Planning and training for missions that span an entire continent entail much uncertainty and complexity. Building greater planning time and developing a structured planning process for RAF missions in Africa might improve mission effectiveness.
• RAF units experienced difficulty delivering training to partner-nation units that possessed nonstandard equipment.
• On average, U.S. Army Africa SC events were most likely to include partner nations that were most politically attractive and militarily compatible.
• Planners did a good job working within their constraints to match SC activities to TSOs and partner-nation conditions.

The U.S. Army has been aligning specific units with geographical regions (regionally aligned forces, or RAF) to strengthen cultural awareness and language skills, facilitate force management, and improve security cooperation (SC) efforts around the world. Given the substantial role that the Army plays in U.S. SC, it is important to understand the value of RAF in making SC more effective. To develop this understanding, the Army asked the RAND Arroyo Center to assess the initial use of an Army unit as RAF in Africa, focusing on SC. The study results are intended to assist the Army, geographic combatant commands, and the U.S. Department of Defense in better aligning SC missions with national interests and security goals. The report provides some recommendations and analytic tools for the Army's leadership and regionally aligned force planners to improve regionally aligned force implementation.

• Chapter One

  Introduction

• Chapter Two

  Planning for Security Cooperation Using the Regionally Aligned Force

• Chapter Three

  How U.S. Army Africa Planned and Implemented the Regionally Aligned Force Concept

• Chapter Four

  How the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Implemented the Regionally Aligned Force Concept and Lessons Learned

• Chapter Five

  Planning Framework for Assessing Security Cooperation Missions in Different Planning Environments

• Chapter Six

  Findings and Recommendations