Training Foreign Police: A Missing Aspect of U.S. Security Assistance to Counterinsurgency

Abstract

The lack of an institutional capacity and a legal authority to train foreign police forces is undercutting U.S. security assistance in the war on terror. From Iraq to Afghanistan to the Philippines, effective police forces are a key component of efforts to combat insurgency. This article discusses the importance of effective policing to counterinsurgency, briefly explores the history of American police assistance during the Cold War, and proposes a means by which, for a fraction of what it spends annually on military assistance programs, the United States can leverage domestic police academies to provide high-quality support and assistance to foreign law enforcement agencies.

Notes

Notes

1. Quadrennial Defense Review Report (Washington, DC: Office of the Secretary of Defense, 2006), p. 11.

2. For a discussion of this point, see Fredrick Kagan, “A Strategy for Heroes: What's Wrong with the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review,” The Weekly Standard, vol. 11, no. 22 (February 20, 2006).

3. Michael Moss, “How Iraqi Police Reform Became Casualty of War,” The New York Times, May 22, 2006.

4. Rodger Trinquier, Modern Warfare: A French View of Counterinsurgency, translated by D. Lee (New York: Praeger, 1961), p. 24.

5. T. E. Lawrence, “The Evolution of a Revolt,” Army Quarterly, vol. 1, no. 1 (1920): 69.

6. Julian Paget, Counter-insurgency Campaigning (London: Faber and Faber, 1967), p. 35.

7. Ibid., p. 176.

8. Kalev Sepp, “Best Practices in Counterinsurgency,” Military Review, vol. 85, no. 3 (May–June 2005): 9.

9. James S. Corum, Training Indigenous Forces in Counterinsurgency: A Tale of Two Insurgencies (Carlisle Barracks, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, 2006).

10. Corum, Training Indigenous Forces in Counterinsurgency, p. 38.

11. Vance Serchuk, “Cop Out: Why Afghanistan Has No Police,” The Weekly Standard, July 17, 2006.

12. Following a three-month nationwide manhunt, Ghozi was killed in a shootout with Philippine police. See Kimina Lyall, “JI Bomb Master Killed in Gunfight,” The Australian, October 14, 2003 and “Big Blow to Terrorism,” Manila Standard, October 18, 2003.

13. For discussions of the problems in the south as well as examples of particular incidents, see “Taming Thailand's insurgency,” The Economist, October 26, 2006; Scott Bobb, “Thai Court Convicts 1, Acquits 4 Policemen in Disappearance of Muslim Lawyer,” Voice of America, January 12, 2006 (accessed at www.voanews.com on 27 October 2006); and Anucha Charoenpo, “NRC Deeply Concerned over Murders of Muslim Teachers,” Bangkok Post, June 28, 2005.

14. Robert M. Perito, The American Experience with Police in Peace Operations (Clementsport, Nova Scotia: The Canadian Peacekeeping Press, 2002), p. 16.

15. All facts and figures in this paragraph come from Thomas Lobe, “The Rise and Demise of the Office of Public Safety,” Armed Forces and Society, vol. 9, no. 2 (Winter 1983): 192–193.

16. Dana R. Dillion, “The War on Terrorism in Southeast Asia: Developing Law Enforcement” (Washington, DC: The Heritage Foundation, January 22, 2004), p. 4.

17. David Bayley, Police Building in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Beyond: Successes, Failures, and Lessons Learned (panel discussion, American Enterprise Institute, Washington, DC, May 25, 2006).

18. Moss, “How Iraqi Police Reform Became Casualty of War.”

19. David G. Epstein, “The Police Role in Counterinsurgency Efforts,” The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology and Political Science, vol. 59, no. 1 (1968): 150.

20. Ibid.

21. IMET figures come from Lincoln Bloomfield, “Improving Lives: Military Humanitarian and Assistance Programs,” Foreign Policy Agenda, November 2004, http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itps/1104/ijpe/ijpe1104.pdf (accessed on June 5, 2006.) In fiscal year 2004, “about 50,000 individuals from 152 countries participated in training worth a total value of approximately $412M.” U.S. State Department, Foreign Military Training: Joint Report to Congress, Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005 (Washington, DC: Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, April 2005), Executive Summary.

22. According to the Los Angeles Police Department's “Schedule of Repayment and Reimbursement for Training Costs,” for fiscal year 2006–2007 it costs approximately $60,000 to send a single recruit through the police academy.

23. Dick Mayer, Police Building in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Beyond: Successes, Failures, and Lessons Learned (panel discussion, American Enterprise Institute, Washington, DC, May 25, 2006).