In January 2002, a few months after the September 11 attacks, Congress appropriated $17.9 million in the 2002 Defense Appropriations bill to allow the Pentagon to launch a Regional Defense Counterterrorism Fellowship Program (CTFP). The new program, the law specified, would “fund foreign military officers to attend U.S. military educational institutions and selected regional centers for non-lethal training.” Begun at the urging of the regional military commands, particularly the Pacific Command, the CTFP has become one of the most significant sources of training funds worldwide.

In 2003 the CTFP became a permanent program, when Congress included it in the 2004 National Defense Authorization Act (Public Law 108-136). A new section of the U.S. Code (Title 10, section 2249c) gave the Secretary of Defense the authority to spend up to $20 million each year on the program, using the military’s “defense-wide” operations and maintenance budget. The program is overseen by the office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict (SO/LIC).

While the Western Hemisphere lags behind other regions of the world, the CTFP has nonetheless grown quickly in the region. The program went from training 431 students from four Latin American and Caribbean countries in 2003, to 1,107 students from 22 countries in 2004.[1] This made the CTFP the fourth-largest source of U.S. training funds for Latin American militaries in 2004.

While the rationale for CTFP is anti-terrorist training in the aftermath of 9/11, the program is becoming less distinguishable from International Military Education and Training (IMET), the principal State Department-managed military training program in the annual Foreign Operations bill.

When the CTFP began, the idea was for a largely academic program, somewhat similar to the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies (CHDS) and other regional defense centers.[2] The program’s curriculum focused on counter-terror doctrine and theory, taught mainly in classrooms, workshops, and seminars. A 2003 Defense Department policy guidance explained, however, that “all non-lethal education and training is to be considered available through the CT fellowship.”[3] This meant that IMET and the CTFP could fund many of the same courses.

In 2004, legislative changes turned the CTFP into a program that resembles IMET even more closely. The 2004 authorization expanded the CTFP to allow lethal training, and permitted it to fund training activities, such as visits from Mobile Education Teams, that carry out training in other countries, outside U.S. defense educational institutions.

Because it is funded through the Defense budget, not the foreign assistance budget, the CTFP is free of most human rights, democracy, drug-certification and other conditions that apply to foreign aid programs. Even the American Servicemembers’ Protection Act, which halts military aid – particularly IMET – to countries that fail to give U.S. personnel immunity from the International Criminal Court, does not freeze CTFP funding.

1. Countries that benefited from the CTFP, and the amount paid to each;
2. “The training courses attended by the foreign officers and officials, including a specification of which, if any, courses were conducted in foreign countries.”
3. An assessment of the CTFP’s effectiveness “in increasing the cooperation of the governments of foreign countries with the United States in the global war on terrorism.”
4. “A discussion of any actions being taken to improve the program.”

• Section 8125 of H.R. 3338, the 2002 Defense Appropriations Law (P.L. 107-117).
• Section 8120 of H.R. 2658, the 2004 National Defense Authorization Law (P.L. 108-87).
• Section 2249c of Title 10, U.S. Code, authorizing the CTFP.

2007 Defense Authorization

On May 11, 2006, the House of Representatives approved its version of H.R. 5122, the 2007 National Defense Authorization Act. Section 1024 of this bill would make "enhancements" to the CTFP, allowing funds to be used to send students to civilian educational institutions in the United States, and increasing the annual worldwide budget from $20 million to $25 million. It would also change the program's name to "Regional Defense Combating Terrorism Fellowship Program."

On May 9, 2006, the Senate Armed Services Committee drafted its version of the 2007 National Defense Authorization Act, S. 2766. Section 1202 of this bill would make the same changes as the House version of the bill.

2003 [4]

2004 [5]

2005, est. [6]

2006, req. [7]

Regional discretionary

450,000

Argentina

63,139

200,000

100,000

Belize

8,477

Bolivia

17,100

Brazil

72,279

200,000

150,000

Chile

39,990

100,000

Colombia

288,204

654,075

300,000

200,000

Costa Rica

11,400

Dominican Republic

20,043

Ecuador

187,454

200,000

100,000

El Salvador

21,090

100,000

Guatemala

17,490

Honduras

14,510

100,000

Jamaica

127,171

Mexico

12,000

479,699

450,000

375,000

Nicaragua

5,700

100,000

Panama

50,412

50,000

Paraguay

338,029

242,458

200,000

100,000

Peru

209,810

362,413

200,000

150,000

Trinidad and Tobago

146,825

50,000

Uruguay

158,916

Venezuela

8,810

Total

848,043

2,709,451

1,750,000

2,125,000

2003 [4]

2004 [5]

Argentina

12

Belize

1

Bolivia

3

Brazil

6

Chile

9

Colombia

358

542

Costa Rica

3

Dominican Republic

3

Ecuador

14

El Salvador

5

Guatemala

4

Honduras

3

Jamaica

3

Mexico

1

236

Nicaragua

1

Panama

3

Paraguay

17

94

Peru

55

119

Trinidad and Tobago

5

Uruguay

39

Venezuela

2

Total

431

1,107