The USAF, along with other DoD elements, has worked for many years with allies and friendly nations to build strong and enduring partnerships, reinforce other nations' capacity both to defend themselves and to work in coalitions, and ensure U.S. access to foreign territories for operational purposes. The activities conducted by the Air Force range from the very visible-training, equipping, and exercising with others-to those that are less obvious, such as holding bilateral talks, workshops, and conferences and providing education. Since 2006, DoD has placed a higher priority on these security cooperation activities, which collectively are viewed as being central to U.S. efforts to shape international relations in ways that are favorable to U.S. interests and equities.1 As the demand for security forces continues to outpace the supply, the United States needs partners to improve their own capabilities and be better prepared to confront both internal and external security challenges. As a result, U.S. efforts to build partnerships with foreign countries have evolved from the "nice to do" category to the "necessary" one.

The U.S. Air Force works to build strong and enduring partnerships with allies and friendly nations, to reinforce their capacity to defend themselves and to work in coalitions, and to ensure U.S. access to foreign territories. This volume evaluates existing Air Force capacity to conduct assessments of its security cooperation programs and describes a framework for improving assessment efforts.

Working with allies to build their defense capacity, acquire access to their territories for potential operations, and strengthen relationships with their air forces, is an important U.S. Air Force activity. To determine the value of this activity, the authors outline an assessment framework that planners, strategists, and policymakers can use to see whether Air Force security cooperation activities are achieving the desired effects.