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Defense Security Cooperation University Expert Course of Instruction

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Defense Security Cooperation University Expert Course of Instruction Defense Security Cooperation University Expert Course of Instruction Content, Design, Implementation JEFFERSON P. MARQUIS, JENNIFER D. P. MORONEY, PAULINE MOORE, REBECCA HERMAN, JONATHAN WELCH, REID DICKERSON Prepared for the Office of the Secretary of Defense Approved for public release NATIONAL DEFENSE RESEARCH INSTITUTE For more information on this publication, visit www.rand.org/t/RRA572-1 Published by the RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, Calif. © Copyright 2020 RAND Corporation R® is a registered trademark. Limited Print and Electronic Distribution Rights This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited. Permission is given to duplicate this document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial use. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions. The RAND Corporation is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous. RAND is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and committed to the public interest. RAND’s publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors. Support RAND Make a tax-deductible charitable contribution at www.rand.org/giving/contribute www.rand.org Preface In its 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the U.S. Con- gress called for the professionalization of the security cooperation (SC) workforce as part of a range of reforms designed to confront perceived deficiencies in Department of Defense (DoD) SC planning, man- agement, execution, and assessment and placed the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) in charge of this effort. Accordingly, DSCA established a Security Cooperation Workforce Certification Program (SCWCP) in January 2020, which codified SC competen- cies and areas of concentration (AOC) for the approximately 20,000 civilian and military officials in SC workforce positions and estab- lished four proficiency levels that reflect increasing responsibility and greater knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA). DSCA asked the RAND National Defense Research Institute (NDRI) to help develop training course requirements for expert professionals that would cap- ture what they need to know regarding the integration of SC into the national security framework. The RAND study team undertook four research tasks in pursuit of this objective. To identify training requirements for SC experts, we reviewed the SC academic and policy literature, conducted interviews and discussions with SC subject-matter experts (SMEs), and conducted case studies of existing SC courses. To identify best practices in senior leader education and training outside DoD, we reviewed relevant aca- demic and business literature, interviewed adult education SMEs, and conducted case studies of executive education programs. Based on this research, we outlined an SC expert course of instruction (COI), to include course objectives, associated design elements, estimated duration iii iv Defense Security Cooperation University Expert Course of Instruction and cost considerations; and recommended options for implementing the COI that accounted for DSCA priorities and constraints. This study may be of interest to SC policymakers, educators, prac- titioners, and researchers, as well as U.S. government officials who focus on DoD personnel training, education, and professional development. The research reported here was completed in August 2020 and underwent security review with the sponsor and the Defense Office of Prepublication and Security Review before public release. This research was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense’s DSCA and conducted within the Forces and Resources Policy Center and the International Security and Defense Policy Center of the RAND National Security Research Division (NSRD), which operates the NDRI, a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), the Joint Staff, the Unified Combatant Commands, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the defense agencies, and the defense intelligence enterprise. For more information on the RAND Forces and Resources Policy Center, see www.rand.org/nsrd/frp or contact the director (contact infor- mation is provided on the webpage). For more information on the RAND International and Defense Policy Center, see www.rand.org/nsrd/isdp or contact the director (contact information is provided on the webpage). Contents Preface ............................................................................. iii Figures and Tables ...............................................................vii Summary .......................................................................... ix Acknowledgments ............................................................. xvii Abbreviations .................................................................... xix CHAPTER ONE Introduction ....................................................................... 1 Defense Security Cooperation University’s New Certification Program .... 3 Principles Guiding the Study ..................................................... 6 Key Issues ........................................................................... 6 Study Approach ...................................................................12 Study Limitations .................................................................12 Report Organization ..............................................................13 CHAPTER TWO Review of the Policy and Academic Literature for Security Cooperation Professional Training and Education ..................15 Security Cooperation Legislation and Policy Guidance ......................15 Security Cooperation Literature on Training and Educating Security Cooperation Professionals ...................................................21 Conclusion ........................................................................ 30 CHAPTER THREE Interviews and Discussions with Security Cooperation Subject-Matter Experts ....................................................31 Interview Participants ............................................................32 v vi Defense Security Cooperation University Expert Course of Instruction Interview Protocol and Coding .................................................33 Findings ........................................................................... 34 Conclusion ........................................................................ 46 CHAPTER FOUR Best Practices in Subject-Matter-Expert Training and Education......49 Review of the Academic and Professional Training and Education Literature ..................................................................... 50 Interviews Related to Subject-Matter-Expert Training and Education ...57 Findings ............................................................................59 Case Studies Relevant to Security Cooperation Expert Education and Training .......................................................................63 Case Study Methodology ....................................................... 64 Conclusion .........................................................................70 CHAPTER FIVE Security Cooperation Expert Course of Instruction and Ways to Implement It .................................................................73 Potential Security Cooperation Expert Learning Objectives Distilled from Subject-Matter Expert Interviews, Case Studies, and Prior Research ................................................................74 Developing Course Design Recommendations and Considering Time and Cost ................................................................76 An Ideal Professionalization Program to Develop Experts Could Require Substantial Investment ............................................82 Seven Strategic Choices to Ponder Related to Expert Education ........... 84 Additional Challenges Posed by COVID-19 ..................................89 Conclusion ........................................................................ 90 APPENDIXES A. Interview Protocols .........................................................93 B. Case Study Recommendations for Security Cooperation Expert Course ............................................................. 103 C. Methodology for Cross-Sector Literature Review and Department of Defense and Non–Department of Defense Subject-Matter Expert Interviews ..................................... 109 D. Case Study Summaries................................................... 117 References ....................................................................... 163 Figures and Tables Figures S.1. Proposed Organization and Flow of Security Cooperation Expert-Level Course ............................................... xiv 1.1. “T-Shaped” Leader: Distinguishing Among Expert, Advanced, and Executive Levels of Security Cooperation Professionals ........................................................... 8 1.2. Bloom’s Taxonomy .................................................... 9 3.1. Percentage of Interviewed Senior Security Officials and Subject-Matter Experts by Organization ..........................33 3.2. Number of Security Cooperation
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