ABSTRACT
Strong security assistance relationships, therefore, are necessary to the achievement of US national political-military objectives in the region. Security Assistance, however, is one of the least understood foreign assistance programs. The basic security assistance components of the foreign military sales programs were authorized by the Foreign Assistance Act. This chapter discusses the evolution of security assistance, its structure in terms of the governmental agencies that guide and implement it and in terms of the actual program contents, its regional implications, and, finally, some questions that have been raised about its applicability to Southwest Asia. Security assistance programs have the unfortunate fate to command a high degree of attention in Congress while receiving low priority. Polls have shown that Executive Branch and congressional leaders consistently recognize the worth of these programs in achieving foreign policy and national security goals. Congress plays a powerful role in US security assistance by providing funding, writing laws and attaching restrictive language to funding.
