This week’s “stop work” order on all ongoing US foreign aid may prove to be a mistake for the Trump administration. This decision’s wide-ranging effects are likely to obstruct the incoming White House, Department of State, and Department of Defense leadership’s national security priorities. These priorities include counternarcotics programs, anti-trafficking initiatives, and security sector support for countering aggressive North Korean, Chinese, and jihadist activities.
According to the law, “foreign assistance” refers to the yearly legislative allocations that support many financing accounts, each of which has its abbreviation.
The Office of Foreign Assistance, established as a clearinghouse to integrate these funds, processes nearly 30 foreign assistance accounts in total. These accounts span State and USAID and are implemented by various agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense. These accounts range from emergency response funds for humanitarian causes to security accounts like foreign military financing and International Military Education and Training (IMET). The State Department has the authority but the Department of Defense is in charge of carrying out the programs with international security partners.
Statistics about the foreign assistance budget
The amount of the overall foreign assistance budget allocated to security assistance funding has risen steadily since September 11, 2011, under both Republican and Democratic administrations. The 2022 budget includes $9.6 billion for security assistance, while the remaining bilateral foreign assistance accounts, economic aid, global health, and humanitarian assistance programs total $36.4 billion.
The stop-work order is likely to harm President Trump and Secretary Rubio’s foreign policy objectives, even if it was created in an effort to target development funds. The almost $1.45 billion yearly funding for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) was among the security support that was abruptly discontinued this week. Since the recipients are frequently domestic police units and other civilian law enforcement agencies and entities. The accounts are referred to as security aid rather than military assistance.
What is the effect of transnational crime on America?
To diminish transnational crime, INL’s most recent strategy places a high priority on disrupting and lowering illicit drug markets as well as fighting illicit finance. In the past, the Western Hemisphere has accounted for the majority of INL funding. The Drug Enforcement Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, and other organizations have used it as a vital resource to train domestic police to fight drug smuggling that directly affects Americans. In other words, the INL provides funding to other national security players, such as those fighting human trafficking, which is a top concern for Secretary Rubio and other Trump administration officials.
In late 2018, for instance, President Trump signed the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act (ARIA) in escalating military and economic tensions between the US and the People Republic of China. North Korea’s rapid ballistic missile testing and a rise in jihadist activity in the Indo-Pacific area were also signed.
In addition to promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific, the ARIA aimed to further American influence and policy objectives in the region. Foreign aid to the Indo-Pacific area has increased exponentially over the last five years due to the ARIA and the succeeding Biden administration’s Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS) and budget requests.
Countries that hold US support
Between 2020 and 2024 (Fiscal years 2019–2023), the United States allocated $8.3 billion for health initiatives, economic support, and security aid to the area. To combat the PRC’s coercive operations in the South China Sea, at least 25–30% of this cash goes toward providing security support to regional partners. It includes Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines. In East Asia, the Philippines is the country that receives the most US security assistance.
The State Department aims to influence partner states’ political will and capacity to combat terrorism at home through its Counter Terrorism programs. The majority of specialists in security aid concur that more could be done to assess these programs’ strategic results. To ensure more scientific rigor in designing and measuring security assistance programs and their results, the Department of Defense has established a whole university under the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.
However, calling for increased effectiveness and impact does not require a sudden halt to ongoing security assistance initiatives worldwide. Unfortunately, the primary beneficiaries will be US security rivals, who will interpret the stop-work order as immediate evidence of their ongoing propaganda about the unreliability of US cooperation.
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