In 2014 the Counterterrorism Partnership Fund (CTPF) was proposed by
the White House (President Obama's administration) to provide funding
for counterterrorism training for 'partner nations'. Unfortunately,
Congress never really (as of early 2015) got behind the program as they
only provided a fraction of the funds requested. This had an impact on
the ability of the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) to
send training teams overseas to conduct training. The CTPF was part of
the much larger Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) or war funding
request. OCO has been used to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as
well as in some other troubled areas. The OCO funding was also used to
fund much of the pre-deployment training conducted stateside by units
scheduled to deploy to the conflict zones. The CTPF proposal would
provide $4-billion to the Pentagon and $1-billion to the Department of
State. The CTPF aims to 'train and equip' U.S. partners in
counterterrorism. President Obama outlined the purpose of the CTPF in a
speech on national security to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point,
New York. 1.
Papers and Reports about the CTPF
CRS, The Counterterrorism Partnerships Fund (CTPF) Proposal:
Questions for Congress, by Nina M. Serafino, June 14, 2014. This
Congressional Research Service (CRS) Insight is posted on the Federation
of American Scientists (FAS).
http://fas.org/sgp/crs/terror/IN10103.html
DoD Comptroller, Counterterrorism Partnerships Fund and the
European Reassurance Initiative, Department of Defense Budget
Fiscal Year 2015, Officer of the Under Secretary of Defense
(Comptroller), June 2014.
http://comptroller.defense.gov/ . . . oco CTPF . . .pdf
DoS, Budget Amendment Summary: Department of State, Foreign
Operations, and Related Programs, Fiscal Year 2015.
www.state.gov/documents/organization/228924.pdf
White House, Fact Sheet: The Administration's Fiscal Year 2015
Overseas Contingency Operations Request, The White House Office of
the Press Secretary, May 28, 2014.
www.whitehouse.gov/ . . . oco . . .
News Reports about the CTPF
May 7, 2015.
"Time for Congress to Reconsider the Counterterrorism Partnership Fund".
By Sam Ehrlich, Defense in Depth, Council on Foreign Relations.
The author argues in favor of Congress providing funding to the CTPF.
July 21, 2014.
"Still Questions on Counterterrorism Fund". Friends Committee on
National Legislation. The Quakers come out against the CTPF . . . of
course they would.
July 16, 2015.
"Senate Chops Request for New Counterterrorism Partnership Fund, White
House Still Happy". Roll Call Blog.
July 15, 2014.
"Welcoming Congressional Action on Key National Security Tools". By
Lisa Monaco, The White House Blog. The White House got half of
what they wanted in the funding of the CTPF but they seem happy with
that.
May 30, 2014.
"Taking a Closer Look at the Counterterrorism Partnerships Fund". By
Victoria Burnside Clapp, American Security Project.
May 2014.
"Assessing the Counterterrorism Partnerships Fund". National
Security Network.
May 28, 2014.
"White House Proposes $5 Billion Global Anti-Terrorism Fund".
Time.com.
Endnotes
1. See "Remarks by the President at the United States Military
Academy Commencement Ceremony", The White House Office of the Press
Secretary, May 28, 2014.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/05/28/remarks-president-west-point-academy-commencement-ceremony
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