The Disam Journal Of International Security Assistance Management - Brief Article

DISAM Journal, Summer, 2000

In July, the Naval Air Systems Command held its annual foreign military sales (FMS) Logistics Process Improvement Team (LPIT) conference, which brings together participants from the Navy, industry, and the nations which use naval aircraft. We at DISAM are taking this opportunity to salute the Naval Aviation System Team that currently supports 45 countries through 1,500 FMS cases valued at over $29 billion. In this issue, we present not only a look at LPIT conferences, past and present, but we also offer several articles describing Naval Aviation initiatives that will result in better life cycle support for the international military customer. Many of these initiatives involve information technology, and these were demonstrated in the LPIT conference's Cybercafe. Taken as a whole, the LPIT conference, as well as the new projects presented there, are indicative of NAVAIR'S dynamic approach to improving logistics support through security cooperation.

Also in July, DSCA hosted its second annual conference on FMS reinvention, the 2000 Security Cooperation Conference. With the theme "Perspective Is Everything," General Michael Davison opened the conference by announcing a string of successes that FMS reinvention has had. In another plenary session, Deputy Secretary of Defense Rudy de Leon emphasized the continuing importance of security cooperation, noting that the calamitous failure of the FMS system that had grabbed the headlines a few years ago seems today to be a thing of the past, as sales and customer satisfaction have steadily risen. We have included their speeches in their entirety, and we have attempted to capture the essence of the ten panels of experts that comprised the bulk of the conference.

The last few years have seen a growth in the use of security cooperation funds in contingency operations such as presidential drawdowns and humanitarian assistance. These techniques are used as part of our overall foreign policy, but they bring with them additional financial requirements. DFAS-Denver is responsible for handling the funds for these various contingency operations.

Use of computers is growing steadily in the security assistance organizations. As technology has become cheaper, capabilities are now spreading thorough the world. In the European Command, information technology personnel have developed procedures for computer management throughout the unified command, and in this issue their ideas are presented so that other SAOs may benefit.

DISAM has two new offerings for our stakeholders. The first is a new course, the SAO Advanced Training Workshop, which will provide specialized training in the Training Management System. A prototype course will be held in September, with the first actual courses to be conducted in FY 01. The details of the course are found inside. Next is the professional certification program for those in our field. The Defense Security Cooperation Certification Program is aimed at those experienced individuals with a broad educational background in security cooperation. The description of the course and how one may qualify for each certification are found in this issue.

Finally, we want to wish a fond farewell to Lieutenant General Michael Davison as he retires from the Army and to extend a warm welcome to the new director of DSCA, Lieutenant General Tome Walters.

JUDY-ANN CARROLL

Colonel, USA

Commandant