Figure 3. Assessing Effectiveness of Political-Military Relationship
loss of life to its citizens and possible loss of political goodwill at home and abroad. The more effective the rela - tionship, the more permissive the Partner Nation is regarding U.S. ac - cess to its airspace and territory, and the more sophisticated the level of military cooperation. A political-military relationship, initiated with an FMS solution to a Partner Nation challenge, can, over time, lead to specific strategic and operational advantages to preclude, mitigate, or neutralize threats to U.S. and Partner Nation interests (Figure 3). In some circumstances, SCOs can build a relationship to initiate a case. In others, they can initiate a case to build a relationship. Whatever the initiating circumstance, the resulting case must be a win-win for the Part - ner Nation and the United States. Advantage of U.S. Government Sources For FMS cases executable by U.S. defense contractors, the entire FMS Enterprise (SCOs, FMSOs, and the organizations to which they are as - signed) are prohibited by the Federal Acquisition Regulation and the De - fense Security Cooperation Agency Security Assistance Management Manual from advocating for specific platforms, equipment, or systems from particular corporations. This ensures full and open competition among prospective defense contrac - tor providers. However, cases executed from USG sources of supply or USG-provided manpower are less constrained by full and open competition laws and regulations because USG-sourced materiel has already been subject to and completed the full and open competition and bidding process. This flexibility enables SCOs to initi - ate conversations and negotiations about equipment or services that could be in the best interest of the Partner Nation without inadvertently or inherently favoring a specific de - fense contractor provider.
100
Combined Operations
Formal Alliance
Combined Exercises
Strategic Communications
Security Agreements
Denial of Access to Near-Peer Competitors
Use of Ports/ Bases/Land routes
Use of Airspace
FMS Case
50
Medical Deployment/ Disaster Relief
Goodwill Tour
Social Engagement
Avoidance
EFFECTIVENESS
0
50
100
Pol-Mil Relationship
Source: Author Note. FMS = Foreign Military Sales; Pol-Mil = Political-Military.
and relationships between countries do not exist in international relations. Countries, like corporations, are conceptual entities. And, like corpo - rations, the interests of countries are pursued and carried out by their hu - man agents and officials. Therefore, what we commonly misconstrue as political-military relationships be - tween countries are, in fact, relation - ships between real people—SCOs, FMSOs, FAOs, attaches, and their counterparts. From a practical plan - ning and execution perspective, these professional relationships are key to establishing effective political-mil - itary relationships that lead to stra - tegic and operational advantages in pursuit and defense of U.S. and Part - ner Nation security interests. Effective Political- Military Relationships Broadly speaking, the effective - ness of political-military relation - ships can be measured by the will - ingness of Partner Nation officials to support U.S. military-related policies and requests and cooperate with U.S. military forces considering (from the Partner Nation’s perspective) man - power and personnel requirements; financial resources and equipment to be expended; risk and potential
During formal and informal en - gagements, it is important to recog - nize that officials and personnel from Partner Nations may have a different assessment of the political-military environment than their U.S. counter - parts. In FMS, it is the responsibility of the SCOs and FMSOs to recognize this gap, learn the reason for the gap from the Partner Nation’s perspective, and find solutions that will meet the com - mon interests of both countries. The positivity or negativity of the political-military environment is in - fluenced by a range of factors includ - ing but not limited to the following factors: • Historical relations between the parties • Regional politics • Political-military relations with third party nations • Domestic public opinion in both countries • Economic relations and interde- pendence However, the most dynamic influ - encing factor on the positivity or neg - ativity of the political-miliary envi - ronment is the level of trust between political and military officials repre - senting each country at all levels. It is critical to understand that the con - cepts of trust, friendship, goodwill,
MAY – JUNE 2026 | DEFENSE ACQUISITION MAGAZINE 47
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