About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 1 (July 1, 2021)

handle is hein.crs/govedwu0001 and id is 1 raw text is: UpdatedJuly 1, 2021 Army Security Force Assistance Brigades (SFABs) What Is Security Force Assistance (SFA)? Security Force Assistance (SFA) is defined as unified action to generate, employ, and sustain local, hostnation or regional security forces in support of a legitimate authority. By definition security forces includenotonly military forces, but also police, border forces, and other paramilitary organizations, as well as other local and regional forces. SFA involves organizing, training, equipping, rebuilding, and advising foreign security forces (FSF). Title 10, U.S. Code, Chapter 16, governs the Department of Defense's (DOD's) SFA activities. Each year, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) modifies, eliminates, or creates new SFA authorities and authorizes funding for Geographic Combatant Commands (GCCs) to conduct SFA activities. Background In the past, SpecialForces units handled the majority of SFA missions,butthe growing requirement for SFA over time resulted in conventional forces assuming a more active role in conducting SFA missions. Conventional forces SFA mis sions were normally as signed to a Brigade Combat Team (BCT), the Army's principal warfighting organization. Because of the nature of SFA missions, BCT leadership-officers and senior and mid-grade noncommissioned officers (NCOs)-were typically deployedto conductSFA missions, while mostjunior NCOs and soldiers remained at their home station. This situation, while practical froma resource perspective, created a number ofreadiness concerns for the nondeployed BCT soldiers remaining at home station, as well as the other home station units who were responsible for these junior s oldiers while their leadership was deployed on SFA missions. One suchconcern is with leadership stripped out of the BCTs for the SFAB mission, the remaining soldiers were limited to training at individualand squad levelonly, resulting in alowerlevelof unitreadiness.In addition, nondeploying units who were temporarily as signed the nondeployed soldiers were required to make accommodations for these soldiers, which hadresidual readiness impacts onhostingunits. The Army's Plan to Establish SFABs As envisioned, SFABs are to be capable of conducting SFA from the strategic (such as Ministry of Defense) to tactical (brig ade and below) level. In May 2018, the Army announced it would establish sixSFABs-five in the Active Component and onein the Army National Guard (ARNG). SFABs were originally planned to consist of about 500 soldiers (BCTs consist ofbetween 4,400 to 4,700 soldiers depending on type), primarily in senior grades and encompassing a range of Military Operational Specialties (MOSs). The Army also planned to establish a Military https://crsrepc Advisor Training Academy at Fort Benning, GA, to conduct a six-weekcourseon relevant topics and skills. The Army has also established a command element-the Security Force Assistance Command (SFAC)-within U.S. Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) at Fort Bragg, NC, to conduct training and readiness oversightof the SFABs. The SFACis commanded by a MajorGeneral. Originally, the Army planned for SFABs to be expanded, if the need arises, into fully operationalBCTs cap able of conducting major combat operations. In this case, SFAB personnel would serve as cadres who would accept the expansion of personnel and equipment required to transformthe SFAB into a BCT. These newly manned and equipped BCTs would then be trained up to conduct their respective combat missions. Based on CRS discussions with the SFAC, this may no longerbe the case. According to the SFAC, the Army is now considering placing less emphasis onthe SFAB's secondary mission-to serve as a cadre to create new BCTs-to actively participating in SFA operations during conflict, thereby making themunavailable to serve as cadre for newly created BCTs. If this new proposal is adopted, it could proveimpractical to useSFABs as a means to create new BCTs, which calls the Army's ability to rapidly expand in the event of crisis into question. SFAB Organization According to the SFA CInformation Book, Volume Seven, 2021, provided to CRS by the SFAC, SFAC Headquarters consists of82 soldiers and Department of the Army Civilians. Each SFAB is commanded by either a Colonel or Brigadier General (some Colonels are promoted to Brigadier Generals while serving as SFABCommanders and remain in command) and comprises 816 soldiers. SFABs are broken down into 60 multifunctional teams consisting of four to eight soldiers, which are categorized as Maneuver Advising Teams; Field Artillery Advising Teams; Engineer Advising Teams; and Logistics Advising Teams. The SFAC notes that all SFAB soldiers are volunteers recruited fromother Army units, much in the manner Army Special Forces recruits personnel. Individuals designated for key SFAB leadership and staff positions must have previously successfully commanded or served at the level they are being recruited for. Those recruited for SFAB leadership positions are also subject to a Selection and Assessment evaluation to determine if they are suitable for service in the SFAB. .conqress.ov

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most