"News from the Field" Nothing Conventional About It: Foreign Area Officers and Their Role in Conventional Arms Control

By Major Matthew A. Schleupner, U.S. Army

Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) continues to be a destination for Foreign Area Officers (FAO) across the services because of its support to the conventional arms control mission of the U.S. government.  As the national representatives of the President of the United States for conventional arms control, FAOs across the joint force are a tip-of-the-spear body representing the geopolitical aspirations of the U.S. in the field of conventional arms control, from implementation through policy.  While the mission of FAOs in arms control is ebbing due to the reduction international arms control agreements, within the conventional arms control regime the contributions of FAOs is still important and provides a unique set of knowledge to the force for future assignments.  However, the Joint FAO community would be wise to evaluate FAO positions in the conventional arms control realm and reimagine the support FAOs can give to the arms control community.

FAOs have been an active part of the conventional arms control community since the formation of the On-Site Inspection Agency (OSIA) in 1988.  Officers with Russian language and cultural skills worked initially on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Treaty.  With the addition of the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty and Vienna Document, OSIA responsibilities grew and so did the need for FAOs.  In 1998, through Department of Defense (DoD) realignment, OSIA became a part of DTRA, and falls currently under the On-Site and Building Partnership Capacity Directorate. At its peak in the mid-2000s, the agency, formerly known as OSIA, conducted over 100 missions a year and required dozens of FAOs to implement treaties and support policy creation.  

In the present day, FAOs lead inspection and evaluation missions under the CFE Treaty and Vienna Document from Kleber Kaserne in Kaiserslautern, Germany.  From Kleber, teams led by FAOs launch to conduct active missions of inspection and evaluation across the European Theater, but also passive missions to protect U.S. interests when another treaty country is conducting an active mission that involves U.S. military units or property. In addition to these missions, FAOs at Kleber conduct a variety of training and observation missions with allies and partners to ensure they maintain mission readiness, but also to validate U.S. interests in a variety of arms control regimes, such as deploying to the Balkans to observe evaluations under the Dayton Peace Protocols.  This work remains the tactical-level of conventional arms control for the U.S., and ensures FAOs exercise language and cultural skills at the forefront of conventional arms control implementation.  

FAOs across the forces still provide support to the conventional arms control mission from their home base at Fort Belvoir, Virginia through the policy realm.  Air Force and Army FAOs provide technical support to the U.S. mission to the Organization for Security Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in the Forum for Security Cooperation (FSC), Joint Consultative Group (JCG), and Open Skies Consultative Commission (OSCC).  FAOs work arms control policy within the interagency, working with stakeholders in the Office of Secretary of Defense, Joint Staff, Department of State, and other agencies to manage U.S. policy on the implementation of international agreements.  Additionally, FAOs are technical experts at NATO Verification Coordination Committees, consulting with allies on treaty implementation and building relationships across the multinational committee on behalf of the U.S. government.  This work remains a vital component to the successful implementation of conventional arms control across agreements to which the U.S. is a party.

FAOs working at DTRA certainly exercise their language and regional expertise skills, and have the opportunity to develop skills in unique environments such as the OSCE and NATO.  FAOs are some of the only military officers with continuing contact with Russian military, especially at the tactical and operational level, and policy officers routinely have interaction with Russian diplomats and military attachés at the OSCE, along with representatives from other nations where contact is not often had outside of the U.S. Embassy in that nation.  The argument of value added to the FAO skillset by doing a tour in conventional arms control at DTRA cannot be argued.  

However, as conventional arms control treaties ebb with the Russian suspension of the CFE Treaty, and the announced withdraw of the U.S. from the Treaty on Open Skies, and lack of Vienna Document modernization occurring, the Joint FAO community needs to be mindful of the positions dedicated for FAOs at DTRA, and also the placement of those FAOs.  In simple terms, less treaties means less missions and less policy work which accompanies.  Consideration of deployment of full-time arms control FAOs to Vienna and Brussels would give assurance that arms control related operational issues are addressed in the policy process and bolster U.S. expertise in the face of international competitors who are well-versed in the history and implementation of the arms control process while at the same time assuring allies and partners alike.  These placements would bolster support across the Interagency in order to address U.S. government interests to the fullest.  

While an assignment in conventional arms control at DTRA is one of the most unique and professionally developing tours a FAO can be placed in, recent changes in the arms control environment demand that support to this critical function be reevaluated to ensure support is adequate across the interagency.  This reevaluation will ensure adequate support is given to agencies across the government and also ensure maximum professional development is gained by FAOs across the services for use in future assignments.  

About the Author

Major Schleupner is an Army Eurasia Foreign Area Officer at the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency.  He is a policy analyst on conventional arms control issues.  Major Schleupner specializes in Black Sea and Mediterranean security issues, along with issues concerning conventional arms control.  He holds a Master's Degree from Johns Hopkins SAIS in International Economics, along with a Master's in Political Science and a Juris Doctorate degree.  He is fluent in Romanian and Italian.