Difference Between FID and SFA
What is the difference between Foreign
Internal Defense (FID)
and Security Force Assistance (SFA)?
Not much. By many accounts there
is as much as a 95% overlap. Many
military leaders and units are having difficulty distinguishing between
FID and SFA. In fact, sometimes the
terms are used interchangeably. 1.
"SOF does FID". Foreign Internal
Defense is a core SOF mission. So it is not surprising that conventional
force personnel avoid train and assist missions (when they can; although
in Iraq and Afghanistan CF ended up doing advising and training in a big
way); defaulting to the common phrase "Not my job, SOF does FID". When it
did happen, the default explanation was that training and advising could
fall under "Full Spectrum Operations".
"GPF does SFA". It is a common
assumption that General Purpose Forces does Security Force Assistance.
Definition of Foreign Internal Defense.
2.
"Participation by civilian and military agencies of a
government in any of the action programs taken by another government or
other designated organization to free and protect its society from
subversion, lawlessness, insurgency, terrorism, and other threats to its
security".
Definition of Security Force Assistance.
3.
"The Department of Defense activities that contribute to
unified action by the US Government to support the development of the
capacity and capability of foreign security forces and their supporting
institutions".
For many years the Defense Department used the FID
term to describe how the U.S. military (or elements of DoD) supported
security assistance to friendly nations. In 2006, the Secretary of Defense
introduced a construct named Security Force Assistance or SFA.
FID is seen as an effort to improve a foreign
nations ability to defend itself from internal threats. SFA can be seen as
a peacetime engagement activity or an effort to assist a nation to defend
against both internal and external threat. So how does this help us define
the mission in Afghanistan? We have an insurgency sponsored and supported
in part by an external actor (Pakistan). Are we doing FID or SFA? ISAF
says we are doing SFA. Perhaps we are doing both.
Question of FID and SFA in Afghanistan.
So here is a perplexing question. What is the difference between a
twelve-man Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha advising and
training an Afghan Commando kandak and a twelve-man Security Force
Assistance Advisor Team (SFAAT) advising and training an ANA Infantry
kandak? Is the SFODA doing FID and is the SFAAT doing SFA?
Publications and Papers on Differences
Between FID and SFA (listed in chronological order by year,
then alphabetically)
Pirone, Sean R. Security Force Assistance:
Strategic, Advisory, and Partner Nation Considerations, Naval Post
Graduate School Thesis, December 2010. Pirone's paper focuses on areas of
SFA that the U.S. needs to improve to include the capability of the U.S.
to influence PNs, establishment of clear goals and objectives, importance
of unity and continuity of effort, and a critique on how U.S. advisors are
selected, trained, and employed. He also compares FID with SFA.
http://edocs.nps.edu/npspubs/scholarly/theses/2010/Dec/10Dec_Pirone.pdf
Jenkins, Major Derek C. "Distinguishing Between
SFA and FID", Small Wars Journal, December 10, 2008.
http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/distinguishing-between-sfa-and-fid
Matelski, Major Thomas R. Developing Security
Force Assistance: Lessons from Foreign Internal Defense, School of
Advanced Military Studies (SAMS), Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. AY 2008.
http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/sfa/Repository/Matelski.pdf
Endnotes
1. Dave Maxwell, retired SF Colonel with an
excellent doctrinal background, states that the 5% that does not
overlap is the " . . . to build partner capacity to be able to defend
against external threats and to develop capacity to conduct external
operations . . ." See Dave's comments in the Small Wars Journal
posting of the Army Irregular Warfare Fusion Cell's August 2011
Newsletter.
http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/the-army-irregular-warfare-fusion-cell%E2%80%99s-august-newsletter
2. Definition of FID from page GL-7, Joint
Publication 3-22, Foreign Internal Defense, 12 July 2010.
www.dtic.mil/doctrine/new_pubs/jp3_22.pdf
3. Definition of SFA from page GL-11, Joint
Publication 3-22, Foreign Internal Defense, 12 July 2010.
www.dtic.mil/doctrine/new_pubs/jp3_22.pdf
References
Wiltenburg, Ivor and Martijn Kitzen, "What's in a
name? Clarifying the Divide between Military Assistance and Security Force
Assistance", Small Wars Journal, November 9, 2020. This article
argues that there is a need for doctrinal clarity, allowing both SOF and
conventional forces to partake in TAA-operations without unnecessary
overlap.
https://smallwarsjournal.com/index.php/jrnl/art/whats-name-clarifying-divide-between-military-assistance-and-security-force-assistance
|