EconDefense
INT-44 / Security cooperation, assistance and education

Operate international education/research networks and fund university partnerships

Host bilateral and multilateral research, discussion and training; pay eligible participant costs, receive reimbursements, and use specified grants/contracts/cooperative agreements for Irregular Warfare Center higher-education partnerships.

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At a glance

Possible toolINT-44 · Cooperation & exchanges
Legal basis10 U.S.C. § 342

Authority holder: Secretary of Defense; Regional Center directors for authorized service agreements; ASD(SO/LIC) is IWC executive agent after FY26 amendment.

Cooperation & exchanges

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

Availability and verification

Existing statutory pathway; program-specific approvals, eligible recipients, actual appropriations and delegations remain necessary.

Requirements and limits

Eligibility & prerequisites

  • Use statutory center and authorized subject matter; regional-center reimbursements normally required unless eligible waiver.
  • FY26 removed developing-country limitation for §342(f)(3)(A) military/defense/security participant waivers; national-security-interest finding remains.
  • For IWC university partnerships use §2679 support agreement or contract/cooperative agreement/grant through DSCU.

Limits & exclusions

  • Cannot designate an unlisted institution as a §342 Regional Center.
  • RDFP statutory annual cap $35 million; center-specific costs are not automatically included in that fellowship cap.
  • Reimbursable Regional Center services to other Federal agencies require SecDef concurrence and full-cost payment.

Funding conditions

  • Center appropriations, eligible reimbursements, and authorized gifts under §2611 subject to their terms.
  • IWC faculty and operating costs require appropriations; statute permits higher-education partnering rather than unrestricted business grants.

Read the funding and execution guide

Who contributes what

Need & planning

  • CCMD and regional-center academic/program staffs
    Office profile
  • OUSD(P)/ASD(SO/LIC) for irregular warfare priorities

Resources

  • Regional Center appropriations and eligible reimbursements
  • Irregular Warfare Center and Regional Defense Fellowship Program resource holders

Approval

  • Secretary of Defense or documented delegate
    Office profile
  • State concurrence for prescribed participant categories and joint fellowship planning

Execution

  • Six statutory Regional Centers
  • Irregular Warfare Center and Defense Security Cooperation University contracting/grants offices

Partners & review

  • Foreign officials and eligible NGO/international-organization participants
  • U.S. agencies and higher-education institutions

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

Coordination pathway

Theater or institutional need → relevant center/IWC → cost and participant eligibility → State/Defense approval or waiver → education/research agreement and funded execution.

Actor and execution-role sources

What this research establishes

Legal powerSource and conditions recorded
EligibilityProject-specific check needed
Available fundsBalances not verified
DelegationValid signature authority must be checked
ExecutionOffice capacity and approvals must be checked

Confidence: High on statutory capability; implementation and available resources not certified.

Currentness: Full GovInfo2024 §§342 and345 read; FY26 §§1203-1204 directly applied, including IWC executive-agent replacement from DSCA to ASD(SO/LIC). Target October 2, 2026; subsequent enactment delta not certified.

Research target: October 2, 2026. A record-specific last-review date is not supplied. Publication date is not legal-currentness certification.