全球智库信息集成服务系统

• Based on DSCA guidance, the study assumes that a centrally managed, progressive, multilevel training and education (along with continuous learning and opportunities for broadening experiences) is the best approach to professionalizing the SC workforce.
• The main KSA to develop are in-depth knowledge of an area of concentration (AOC), broad knowledge of one or more other AOCs, strategic thinking skills, problem-solving skills, and management capability, which includes communication and collaboration skills.
• To build an advisory capability, SC experts need both SC-related KSA and professional networks that can provide additional information and assistance in developing and implanting SC plans and programs.
• An ideal SC professionalization COI not only develops the main KSA through interactive instruction but also includes opportunities for networking and mentoring.
• A viable and valued COI instills pride in participants in the expert status they achieve, builds the reputation of the course and the institution delivering it, and attracts qualified candidates.

In the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, the U.S. Congress called for the professionalization of the security cooperation (SC) workforce and placed the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) in charge of this effort. Accordingly, in January 2020, DSCA established an SC Workforce Certification Program (SCWCP) with four proficiency levels that reflect increasing responsibility and greater knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA). Asked to help develop training course requirements for expert professionals that would capture what they need to know regarding the integration of SC into the national security framework, RAND researchers set out to identify training requirements for SC experts and best practices in senior leader education and training outside the Department of Defense.

The ultimate goal of the professionalization process should be a "T-shaped" leader with both depth and breadth in terms of training and experience. The researchers also found that developing an effective and implementable course of instruction (COI) for SC experts depends on balancing requirements for deep and broad knowledge, on the one hand, and desired course content and practical considerations, on the other hand. To this end, the researchers propose an SC expert COI that takes into account not only course objectives and associated design elements but also duration and cost considerations and DSCA priorities and constraints.

• Chapter One

  Introduction

• Chapter Two

  Review of the Policy and Academic Literature for Security Cooperation Professional Training and Education

• Chapter Three

  Interviews and Discussions with Security Cooperation Subject-Matter Experts

• Chapter Four

  Best Practices in Subject-Matter-Expert Training and Education

• Chapter Five

  Security Cooperation Expert Course of Instruction and Ways to Implement It

• Appendix A

  Interview Protocols

• Appendix B

  Case Study Recommendations for Security Cooperation Expert Course

• Appendix C

  Methodology for Cross-Sector Literature Review and Department of Defense and Non–Department of Defense Subject-Matter Expert Interviews

• Appendix D

  Case Study Summaries