United States Security Assistance Effectiveness Act

Summary

Creates a centralized State Department system to manage U.S. security assistance by establishing an Office of Security Assistance and a Coordinator, requiring specialized training, a shared database of assistance and transfers, and new monitoring, evaluation, planning, and reporting processes to Congress. It also directs a GAO assessment of State–Defense coordination and requires interagency procedures and timelines for when the State Department must review and concur on certain Defense-led projects.

• Creates an Office of Security Assistance and a Coordinator at the State Department to centralize governance of U.S. security assistance.
• Requires a specialized security-assistance training curriculum at the Foreign Service Institute developed with DoD/DSCA coordination.
• Mandates a common, country-level database of all U.S. security assistance and security cooperation activities and transfers, with a plan to capture data back to FY2017.
• Directs GAO to assess State–Defense coordination and requires State and Defense to set joint procedures and timelines for planning and concurrence on certain Defense projects.
• Requires development of assessment, monitoring, and evaluation programs for countries receiving significant security assistance, including baseline security-sector governance metrics.
• Establishes a planning framework and annual prioritization and reporting process to Congress for security assistance recipients and resource allocation.
• Does not itself appropriate new funding but allows use of existing State security assistance funds and contemplates reimbursable detailees and interagency resource-sharing.
• Sets multiple implementation deadlines (180 days, 1 year, 18 months, 2 years, and 3 years) for plans, training, databases, M&E, and reporting.
• Aims to improve transparency, human-rights vetting, and oversight of lethal and nonlethal assistance but could increase bureaucratic review and interagency friction.