H.R. 4455 — United States Security Assistance Effectiveness Act

This section establishes organizational reforms to improve coordination of security assistance (i.e., U.S. military aid, training, and equipment to foreign countries) within the Department of State. Specifically, it (1) assigns new duties to the Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, including providing strategic policy guidance on security assistance, ensuring budget and planning integration, and overseeing coordination with the Department of Defense (DoD) and other agencies on title 10 authorities (e.g., DoD security cooperation); (2) requires the Secretary of State to designate or establish an Office of Security Assistance—headed by a Senior Executive Service Coordinator and located in the Under Secretary's office—with duties including guiding security assistance, maintaining a common database (sec. 5), coordinating assessment/monitoring/evaluation (sec. 6), and establishing a framework (sec. 7); (3) requires each relevant State Department bureau, within one year of enactment, to designate a coordinating officer (ineligible if responsible for human rights vetting under Leahy Law provisions such as FAA §620M) who must complete specified training (sec. 3); and (4) requires each U.S. chief of mission, within one year of enactment, to designate a senior diplomatic officer at relevant posts to oversee security assistance activities and ensure implementation of Leahy Laws (FAA §620M and 10 U.S.C. §362, prohibiting assistance to foreign security units with credible gross human rights violations) and related end-use monitoring, with the designee completing specified training. Additionally, within 180 days of enactment, the Secretary must submit to the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations Committees an unclassified plan (with possible classified annex) for implementing these reforms, including internal/DoD coordination, training fulfillment, personnel detailing, and legislative recommendations.

This section requires the Secretary of State, not later than 180 days after enactment, to establish a curriculum at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) to provide Department of State employees with specialized training on security assistance. The training must align with the Department of Defense's Security Cooperation Workforce Development Program; be developed in coordination with the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (including via an Economy Act agreement); and cover (1) the full range of agencies, offices, authorities, funds, programs, and timelines involved in security assistance; (2) relevant foreign military and police systems and structures; (3) security assistance reform, research, and resources; (4) planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation; (5) requirements to coordinate with the Department of Defense; (6) implementation of the Leahy vetting laws (i.e., Foreign Assistance Act §620M and 10 U.S.C. §362), Arms Export Control Act requirements, end-use monitoring, and human rights best practices; and (7) common risks to program effectiveness such as corruption and political instability.

This section requires (1) the Comptroller General of the United States to submit to the appropriate congressional committees, not later than one year after enactment, a report assessing the effectiveness of existing mechanisms requiring Secretary of State concurrence and coordination for Department of Defense security assistance and security cooperation programs (including those under 10 U.S.C. § 333, which authorizes training and equipment for foreign national security forces to conduct counterterrorism and related operations), identifying relevant authorities and processes (e.g., joint coordination, Chief of Mission concurrence), evaluating them in practice, and recommending improvements; and (2) the Secretaries of State and Defense to establish, consistent with recommendations in GAO report 23-105842, a process specifying Department of State involvement in planning section 333 projects, including timelines for review of concurrence packages.

This section directs the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, the Director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, and heads of other relevant federal departments and agencies, to maintain a common database of all security assistance and security cooperation programs and activities, funding, and transfers organized by recipient country not later than two years after enactment. It further requires submission not later than one year after enactment of a plan to the Committees on Foreign Affairs (House) and Foreign Relations (Senate), Armed Services committees of both chambers, and Appropriations committees of both chambers. The plan must include (1) a standardized method to capture country-level data for Department of State and Department of Defense programs since FY2017, covering authorities and costs by fiscal year, primary recipients, purposes and alignment with U.S. strategies, capacity-building and lethal assistance descriptions, and recipient capability assessments; (2) logistical and methodological challenges with required resources, staffing, and authorities; (3) updates to existing monitoring and evaluation systems on a country basis; (4) options for congressional visibility of the data; and (5) options for transparency to researchers and evaluators under specified statutory authorities.

This section directs the Coordinator to develop and maintain, not later than 18 months after the date of enactment, an assessment, monitoring, and evaluation program for any country receiving significant security assistance. The program must include the following elements: (1) baseline assessments incorporating factors such as security sector governance (including the level of state corruption as defined under the Combating Global Corruption Act, 22 U.S.C. 10501), civilian oversight of security forces, security forces' involvement in politics or commercial holdings, merit-based promotions, human rights violations and accountability, recipient commitment to mutual objectives, threat perceptions, absorption capacity, and country- or region-specific risks and opportunities; (2) identification of short- and long-term goals for the bilateral security partnership and progress toward those goals; (3) monitoring of security assistance programs, projects, and activities against specific targets, metrics, or indicators; and (4) lessons learned and recommendations for future assistance. The Coordinator must guide and support the assessments in coordination with relevant State Department bureaus and create a common evaluation framework. Funds available to the Political-Military Affairs Bureau and other Department of State security assistance accounts may be used to carry out the program.

This section directs the Coordinator for Security Assistance (established in section 1) to develop, by 18 months after enactment, a framework for regional and country-specific security assistance planning (i.e., grants, loans, and training to build foreign partners' defense capabilities) that includes prioritized goals aligned with the National Security Strategy, risk/opportunity criteria, integration of assessment/monitoring/evaluation under section 6 and the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010, effectiveness metrics (e.g., U.S. operational access, partner burden sharing, peace treaty maintenance), and accounting for non-security assistance transfers such as certain direct commercial sales. The section further requires the Coordinator to produce, by 2 years after enactment and annually thereafter, a prioritized list of security assistance recipient countries with justifications based on State Department policy objectives and political conditions; mandates integration of this framework and an annex (covering section 6 baselines, resource requests, and usage plans) into all subsequent comprehensive regional or country strategies; and requires coordination among State Department offices, the Office of Foreign Assistance Resources, and other agencies including the Department of Defense. Finally, beginning 3 years after enactment and annually thereafter, the section requires the Secretary of State to submit to Congress, with materials supporting the President's annual budget under 31 U.S.C. 1105, an unclassified report (possibly with a classified annex) listing priority recipients and objectives, section 6 evaluation results, and plans for security assistance allocation, monitoring, and evaluation.

This section defines terms used in the Act, including (1) appropriate congressional committees as the House Committees on Foreign Affairs and Armed Services and the Senate Committees on Foreign Relations and Armed Services; (2) Coordinator as the Coordinator for Security Assistance established under section 2(b)(2); (3) Department as the Department of State; (4) Office as the Office of Security Assistance designated under section 2(b); (5) Secretary as the Secretary of State; and (6) security assistance as assistance provided under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, the Arms Export Control Act (excluding Foreign Military Sales or direct commercial sales), or any other provision of law.