"News from the Field" U.S. Army Security Assistance Command Supports Baltic NATO Allies

By Mr. Richard Bumgardner

As employees and visitors walk through the halls of U.S. Army Security Assistance Command (USASAC) buildings – whether at the headquarters in Alabama, satellite offices in Pennsylvania, in Washington D.C., Saudi Arabia, at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, or at the more than 20 or more forward-deployed teams around the globe – one distinct slogan stands out at every location: Strength in Cooperation. 

“We truly believe in this motto,” said Brigadier General Garrick Harmon, the USASAC commander. His command is specifically responsible for building that strength through implementing and managing over $200 billion in Army-centric foreign military sales (FMS) cases for more than 150 countries and partner organizations.

For small countries, like the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – staunch U.S. allies and members of the North Atlantic Trade Organization (NATO) – strength in cooperation helps bolster each nation’s defenses and supports their independence. All three countries sit precariously at the eastern edge of the Baltic Sea and share hundreds of miles of border with their larger and more aggressive neighbor, Russia.

In the aftermath of Russia’s military invasion of South Ossetia in Georgia in 2008 and the Crimean invasion in Ukraine in 2014, the Baltic states amplified military modernization efforts to increase their capability to defend their borders. The U.S. government continues to support this modernization effort through critical Department of State and Department of Defense security cooperation and security assistance programs that train, equip and assist the Baltic forces.

“The effective use of FMS, along with training and exercises similar in scope to Defender Europe, assists NATO allies like Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in meeting their Article 3 (self-defense) commitments,” General Harmon said. “FMS also prepares members of the alliance to respond to armed aggression in the event of an Article 5 (assisting in the defense of NATO partners) invocation.” 

BG Garrick Harmon, left, the commander of USASAC, meets with Major General Maciej Jabłoński, head of Polish delegation from the General Command of the Polish Armed Forces, at USASAC headquarters on Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, 1 June 2021. General Harmon has held a number of key leader engagements like this with partner forces to review their country FMS requirements. U.S. Army photo by Tim Hanson

BG Harmon is a Russian/Eurasian FAO with extensive experience in Russia and throughout the former Soviet Union and Europe. Prior to his current assignment, he served as SDO/DATT, U.S. DAO Moscow. He is one of the U.S. Army's most senior FAOs. Among his earlier FAO assignments General Harmon previously served as Deputy Director, Strategy, Plans, and Policy, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-3/5/7, Headquarters, Department of the Army; as SDO/DATT, U.S. Embassy Tbilisi, Georgia; as Army Attaché, USDAO Moscow; as Deputy Foreign Policy Advisor to the Chief of Staff of the Army; and as Army Attaché, USDAO Tallinn, Estonia.

In the past three years, William Slade, USASAC’s country program manager for the Baltic states, and members of the security assistance enterprise have processed and implemented more than $1 billion in FMS cases to help assure that the Baltic states could deter aggressive action by neighboring militaries. Although Mr. Slade is the primary U.S. government representative and advocate for the Baltic states’ FMS portfolios, he must monitor and balance the requirements of the U.S. Army against customer requests, so as to not impact the readiness of U.S. operational units.

“One of our requirements when we send out these inquires to industry is that we make sure that we do not degrade the Army mission or the Army capabilities or readiness,” Mr. Slade said. “As an example, the Army, as well as the Marines, use the JLTVs, so we have to plan out the manufacturing and delivery over the course of years. This is one of the reasons we have longer lead times with FMS, so we can properly plan for procurement while still providing our international partners those world-class capabilities.” Such capabilities are very much needed as 2021 marks the 30th anniversary of the independence of the Baltic states. 

In major FMS announcements released by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, this includes offensive and defensive capabilities to include Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters, Javelin missiles, and many other operational and tactical equipment items. These equipment items will also enable the Baltic states to gain significant interoperability with U.S. and NATO forces. 

Soldiers from eight different nations came together on a Saturday in Latvia to compare equipment, review lessons learned from a recent exercise, and build comradery. This event came about after the NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group Latvia, or eFP BG Latvia, spent the last several weeks in the field conducting multi-lateral combat training.

Photo by Capt. Matthew St Clair, Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division

Estonian troops conduct training on the Javelin, an American-made, portable fire-and-forget anti-tank missile. The United States delivered nearly 100 Javelin missiles to Estonia in July 2020 as part of a congressionally funded $19 million Building Partner Capacity case.

Photo by Kaitseväe Pildigalerii, Estonian Defense Forces

Capt. Agur Kibur, a native of Parnu, Estonia, an operations officer for the Viru Single Infantry Battalion, looks through the Command Launch Unit for a Javelin anti-tank weapons system July 29, 2014, at Estonia’s Tapa Training Area. Senior Estonian officers and government officials watched a live-fire demonstration of the Javelin weapon system presented by paratroopers from Troop B, 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade.

Photo by: Sgt. John Carkeet, 143rd Sustainment Command

Gray-zone conflict

As Matthew Donovan, the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, said during his Senate Armed Service Committee confirmation hearing in March 2020, “Our nation faces an array of threats from near-peer competitors we have not seen in decades, not since before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union.” Donovan went on to say that the character of warfare has evolved, where grave threats now appear in previously unknown or uncontested domains.

BG Harmon knows first-hand what that feels and looks like to operate in an environment that uses false information and targeted cyber-attacks to spread confusion, distrust and fear, as an alternative to actual physical conflict. In the spring of 2007, Harmon’s first permanent assignment following FAO training was as Army Attaché, living and working in Estonia’s capital, Tallinn. Estonia had just come under a denial-of-service cyber-attack campaign lasting 22 days. 

According to an Estonian think tank analysis, the attacks were not directly attributable to Russia, rather to ‘unidentified’ malicious actors. The cyber-attacks were preceded by an Estonian government decision to relocate a Soviet-era monument, the "Bronze Soldier,” along with the remains of Soviet soldiers, from a busy bus stop in Tallinn to a more appropriate location in a military cemetery not far away. 

“This attack, while not necessarily technologically sophisticated, had the strategic effect of impacting routine aspects of everyday life: internet access, banking and news access, government websites,” General Harmon said. “These types of attacks have subsequently been used by malign actors as a prelude to or in conjunction with other activities, and could now be viewed as a precursor to more recent cyber-attacks targeting infrastructure.” In hindsight, the narrative response to this move also seemed to foreshadow some of the dis- or mis-information campaigns used today. Since 2007 Estonia has invested heavily in time, manpower and infrastructure, becoming a world-leader in cyber security.

The Growing Physical Threat

Found within a 2016 RAND Corporation report on war-gaming the defense of the Baltics were comments that NATO at that time couldn’t successfully defend the territory of its most exposed members, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, losing capital cities in under 60 hours. Such a rapid defeat would leave NATO with a limited number of options, all bad, the report stated.

In response to that realization that no former Eastern-bloc country was safe, NATO leaders decided at the Warsaw Summit in 2016 to strengthen their deployable forces at the eastern edge of the alliance. In 2017, four multinational battle groups with more than 4,500 troops, called the enhanced forward presence (eFP) were created, and to this day remain deployed to the Baltic States and Poland.

During a panel discussion in London marking the 70th anniversary of NATO in December 2019, defense ministers from Estonia and Lithuania made it clear they felt Moscow was their biggest security challenge. “Russia has shown with its actions that it is a serious security threat,” Estonian defense minister Jüri Luik told the audience. “The fact that there are eFP troops in Estonia, a small group of British and French, are a great testament that NATO is doing a lot in supporting its eastern-most members.”

Lithuanian Defense Minister Raimundas Karoblis reinforced that sentiment when he stated “For Lithuania, [Russia] is the only external existential threat we have. Lithuania has never had such a great number of guarantees and allies as we have now.”  

Luik went on to say that when people talk about the level of Russian threats, he tells them “If we are serious in our actions, if we are clear and concise in our messaging, then the threat is quite low. But if we are weak, if we are wobbly, then the threat can go up.”   

The biggest security challenge was not the small number of eFP troops present, but “what we need is more exercises showing how we bring in additional troops if they are necessary, and reinforcements, if they are necessary,” Luik pointed out.

Defender-Europe 2021

Recently completed in Europe, Defender-Europe 2021 (DE-21), and associated exercises, tested exactly what Minister Luik identified was the most pressing security challenge for not only the Baltics, but Europe as well - the ability to quickly surge combat-ready forces into and across theater lines - to bring in reinforcements.

U.S. Strykers with the eFP Battle Group Poland cross the temporary bridge during Exercise Iron Wolf 2017, a component of Saber Strike 17, in Rukla, Lithuania June 20, 2017.

Photo by Sgt. Justin Geiger, 7th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

The key objectives for Exercise Iron Wolf 2017 are training and exercising multiple NATO eFP Battle Groups with the focus on promoting interoperability amongst Allies and partners. Each multinational and robust eFP Battle Group stationed in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland is part of an ongoing commitment by the United States and NATO Allies and partners to deter aggression throughout Europe.

“Defender-Europe 21 provides us the best opportunity to hone our abilities alongside our allies and partners in the strategically important Balkans and Black Sea region so that collectively, we are ready to respond to any crisis that may arise,” said General Christopher Cavoli, Commanding General U.S. Army Europe and Africa, in his opening statements.

Preparations for DE-21, the largest U.S. and European exercise in 25 years, had been underway for more than a year after the 2020 exercise was significantly reduced due to COVID-19 concerns.

The DE-21-linked exercise is directed by U.S. Army Europe and Africa and led by the U.S. Immediate Response Force. This year, multinational participation in Swift Response 21 involved more than 7,000 troops from 12 countries. Although this year’s exercise included COVID restrictions, it spanned the Balkans and the Black Sea region to use key ground and maritime routes that bridge Europe, Asia and Africa, according to an U.S. Army Europe and Africa statement. One of the overarching goals of DE-21 was to build allied and partner interoperability along with strategic readiness in support of not only the U.S. National Defense Strategy, but also NATO’s deterrence objectives.

DE-21, and supporting exercises like Immediate Response, Saber Guardian, Swift Response, African Lion, and the NATO exercise, Steadfast Defender, exercised the ability to deploy and integrate thousands of U.S., Allied and partner forces, from 26 nations, to conduct nearly simultaneous operations across 31 training areas, in 14 countries, from the Baltics to the Black Sea, to the Balkan regions.

Swift Response is a linked exercise of Defender-Europe 21, which involves; special operations activities, air assaults, and live fire exercises in Estonia, Bulgaria, and Romania, demonstrating airborne interoperability among NATO Allies. Defender-Europe 21 is a large-scale U.S. Army-led exercise designed to build readiness and interoperability between the U.S., NATO Allies, and partner militaries. This year, more than 28,000 multinational forces from 26 nations will conduct nearly simultaneous operations across more than 30 training areas in more than a dozen countries from the Baltics tot the strategically important Balkans and Black Sea Region. 

A U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk carries an M-777 Howitzer in preparation of an air assault in support of Swift Response 21, Tapa Central Training Area, Estonia, May 8, 2021.

Photo by Spc. Austin Riel, U.S. Army Europe and Africa

As an example, "Lithuania was the staging area for approximately 700 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division and associated aircraft, who took off from an airfield in Lithuania and parachuted into Estonia,” said LTC Jerimiah Wildermuth, from the Office of Defense Cooperation in Lithuania. 

DE-21 was also a way to test the ability of NATO forces to cross borders with their weapons systems. In September 2020, the U.S. Army’s 41st Field Artillery Brigade, the only Europe-based fires brigade, traveled to Estonia and conducted a multiple launch rocket system live-fire exercise.

“This is the first time they sent MLRS outside Germany since the 41st FAB reconstituted in November 2018,” said LTC Robert Padgett, Chief of the Office of Defense Cooperation at the U.S. Embassy in Tallinn, Estonia.

Tapa Central Training Area, Estonia — A U.S. Army M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System fires during a live fire exercise in support of Fires Shock, a series of fires exercises in support of Defender-Europe 21 May 5, 2021.

Photo by Spc. Christian Cote, U.S. Army Europe and Africa

This portion of Fires Shock is in support of Swift Response 21, a linked exercise of Defender-Europe 21, which involves special operations activities, air assaults, and live fire exercises in Estonia, Bulgaria, and Romania, demonstrating airborne interoperability among NATO Allies. In supporting DE-21, and other mil-mil exercises, NATO and its members understand that lessons learned will pay substantial dividends later when multinational defensive operations are quickly needed and Allied forces are in their countries, helping to defend their borders.

Strength in Cooperation

“Many of our Allies and partners sit on the frontlines of competition and deterrence around the world every day,” BG Harmon said. “Some, like the Baltic nations, know firsthand from history and experience the threats to peace and stability that we all face. Our alliances and partnerships provide a decisive advantage in competition through assurance and deterrence.” That assurance, and deterrence, is visible every day in the thousands of FMS cases that USASAC, and supporting personnel throughout the Army Security Assistance Enterprise, process, implement, and manage for partner and allied countries. At the end of the day, it is not just about the dollars spent, but rather about the strategic effects and the impact on U.S., regional and international security,” BG Harmon said. “It is about long-term relationship building, capabilities improvement, and interoperability. These enduring partnerships, built over time, enable us to be successful in competition, deter aggression, and prevail in crisis and conflict.”

Defender-Europe 21 provides us the best opportunity

About the Author

Mr. Bumgardner is a Public Affairs Specialist assigned to Headquarters, U.S. Army Security Assistance Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.