EconDefense
INT-17 / Security cooperation, assistance and education

Pay for combined training and exercises and partner incremental expenses

Train U.S. forces with friendly military or similar-function national security forces and pay permitted exercise, partner and small-construction costs; special-operations training has a separate path.

Action briefPDF dossier · original 168Download record
Authority / instrument · INT-17

Security cooperation

Security cooperation, assistance and education

Statute & instrument
Authority holder

Military Department Secretary or combatant commander for §321 payments; designated combatant commanders for §322, within SecDef-approved procedures.

What this does not authorize / hard limit

Not substitute for §333 partner-capacity assistance where principal purpose differs.

Recorded executor

Service units and exercise contracting/support offices; USSOCOM/theater special operations commands for §322

Continue to actor →

Institutional routing from the recorded executing role. See the office profile for its published responsibilities and engagement routes.

Legal basisSources linkedLegal sources and instrument limits are recorded.
RequirementsGates recordedRead the requirements for this instrument; applicability depends on the proposed action.
Public fundingScale documentedFY2027 O&M request: $10.891 billion, plus separately budgeted acquisition accounts. Institutional/program context, not a funding allocation to this specific action.
Assigned rolesRemit sourcedPublic sources describe institutional authority. The instrument identifies approval and execution roles; a specific signature remains transaction-dependent.
EngagementRoutes publishedThe office profile lists public routes and their scope. Not every route accepts applications for this instrument.

Public evidence describes the institution and instrument; it is not approval of an individual transaction.

At a glance

Possible toolINT-17 · Other statutory tools
Legal basis10 U.S.C. § 321

Authority holder: Military Department Secretary or combatant commander for §321 payments; designated combatant commanders for §322, within SecDef-approved procedures.

Other statutory tools

Mechanism tags describe the source text; they do not expand the authority.

Availability and verification

Existing statutory pathway; conditional on the listed findings, approvals, eligible purpose and actual available funds. Not an obligation-ready certification.

Requirements and limits

Eligibility & prerequisites

  • Primary purpose is training U.S. forces (SOF for §322).
  • Partner incremental-expense eligibility; developing-country restrictions/exception under §321 regulations.
  • Required fiscal controls and reports.

Limits & exclusions

  • Not substitute for §333 partner-capacity assistance where principal purpose differs.
  • FY26 law removed general-purpose-force military-only restriction but retained comparable-function national-security-force qualification.

Funding conditions

  • §321 allows covered activities spanning into next fiscal year; check actual funds.
  • Partner incremental expenses do not become general salary/budget support.

Read the funding and execution guide

Who contributes what

Need & planning

  • Geographic or functional CCMD security-cooperation planners
    Office profile
  • Embassy SCO and Chief of Mission country team

Resources

Approval

  • Secretary of Defense prior approval under prescribed regulations
    Office profile
  • Service Secretary or combatant commander statutory payment authority

Execution

  • Service units and exercise contracting/support offices
  • USSOCOM/theater special operations commands for §322
    Office profile

Partners & review

  • Foreign partner government
  • Department of State
  • Export-control/foreign-disclosure officials

Office links are editorial matches to the original role text, not verified delegations. Composite labels and unmatched actors are preserved.

Coordination pathway

Exercise sponsor → CCMD/Service counsel and comptroller → identify §321 vs322 purpose/recipient → SecDef approval → authorized payments and reporting.

Actor and execution-role sources

Legal basis

What this research establishes

Legal basisSources linkedLegal sources and instrument limits are recorded.
RequirementsGates recordedRead the requirements for this instrument; applicability depends on the proposed action.
Public fundingScale documentedFY2027 O&M request: $10.891 billion, plus separately budgeted acquisition accounts. Institutional/program context, not a funding allocation to this specific action.
Assigned rolesRemit sourcedPublic sources describe institutional authority. The instrument identifies approval and execution roles; a specific signature remains transaction-dependent.
EngagementRoutes publishedThe office profile lists public routes and their scope. Not every route accepts applications for this instrument.

Confidence: High on express statutory capability; execution/delegation and currently available resources require program-specific confirmation.

Currentness: GovInfo2024 §§321-322 read; Pub. L.119-60 §1201 directly applied: revised eligible forces and payment categories; quarterly retrospective report replaces prospective schedule.

Review scope: Original research target October 2, 2026; no record-specific last-review date supplied. Publication is not legal-currentness certification.

Related tools in this family