The vesting of greater funding, authority, and autonomy to the Department of Defense (DoD) to carry out military-to-military training with countries of strategic importance without going through the Department of State (DoS) seems, to be advantageous in terms of the prosecution of global counter-terrorism operations and of the cultivation and solidification of strategic alliances at the military and diplomatic levels. This would only be appropriate if DoD action were concordant with the DoS’s implementation of US foreign policy.

The US military represents one of the central organs in global strategic and tactical counter-terrorism operations. The military is also a key diplomatic tool for the US in fostering bilateral and regional relations and strategic alliances via military-to-military engagement. Further, the US military is rather unique among its compatriot national agencies in the breadth, depth, and durability of the operational roles, faculties, and presence it is able to independently project abroad. As the so-called Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) compels an increase in the global presence and operational tempo of the military abroad in warfighting, training, and deployments, the demand and utility of the military to prosecute the multifaceted elements of counter-terrorism operations has increased apace.