Security Assistance -- It Can Be a Two-Way Street

摘要

There are two views of almost everything, especially when U.S. government (USG) programs are the subject; and security assistance is certainly no exception. From the definition in JCS Publication 1, we know that security assistance (SA) is 'a group of programs which provide defense articles, military training and related defense services, by grant, credit or cash sales to qualified countries in the furtherance of national policies and objectives.' But many critics contend that SA is another case of the USG spending valuable tax dollars with no clear goal, resulting in the U.S. acting as a 'merchant of death' which sells or gives unneeded weapons to insolvent third world nations.