Security Assistance Engagement Plan Development

Introduction

After reviewing many security assistance organization (SAO) engagement plans in the course of conducting joint general inspections, I have found there is no consistent approach to the practice of developing them. Security assistance organizations generally devote considerable time and effort in crafting a plan that describes their efforts, whether or not there is any interest from the rest of the country team. In some cases, development of the SAO engagement plan, like the embassy's mission program plan, is primarily an exercise in compliance with regulations that require it to be prepared. This tends to be a rather sterile drill that wastes man hours and results in a piece of paper that is stuck in a safe until it is dragged out and modified the next time a submission is due. Some SAOs put greater store in their engagement plans, and try to use them as navigation aids as they conduct day-to-day business. However, even when the engagement plan occupies a central position in the functioning of an SAO, certain aspects of the way the staff approaches the development process and the articulation of goals and objectives limits the plan's usefulness and influence. This article will set forth some ideas and tips that can help the SAO produce an engagement plan that is more than just a piece of paper.

The Process of Strategy

The first thing to understand about the engagement plan is that it constitutes a piece of strategy. In terms of the host nation, the SAO engagement plan is aimed at having national level effects. The engagement plan is therefore fundamentally different than the tactical operations plans military officers are used to dealing with. Most engagement plans cover at least a year, and their main goals tend to be very broad. They frequently aim at political outcomes rather than military objectives. All of these characteristics clearly denote engagement plans as strategic documents, and their development should be treated accordingly.

One of the first principles of strategy is that the process is more important than the product. Analysis of why powers such as Germany and Japan went down to defeat reveals a defective process of developing strategy. The right people did not talk to each other; barriers to communication kept critical information from key decision makers, and plans, once developed, were not subject to periodic and objective review. Any strategy or plan is only valid until the next engagement. It must then be reexamined and modified if necessary.

What this means for the SAO is that the engagement plan should be considered the result of a process and not an end in itself. …

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