JORDAN-U.S. SECURITY DIALOGUES

1. (C) SUMMARY: The military-to-military relationship
between Jordan and the United States is one of the most
robust in the region. Security assistance to Jordan tops
$300 million per year and military engagements include over
20 bilateral and multilateral joint exercises annually.
Jordan is also deployed in missions that are critical to U.S.
goals, including in Afghanistan and the Combined Maritime
Force off the coast of Somalia.



2. (C) Supporting this cooperation are several bilateral
security dialogues. The two most important are the annual
U.S.-Jordan Joint Military Commission (JMC) is used to set
the strategic direction of the mil-to-mil relationship, and
the annual Security Assistance Management Review. There are
also several CENTCOM bilateral staff talks and other routine
planning meetings are used to address operational issues.
END SUMMARY.



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U.S.-Jordan Joint Military Commission


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3. (C) The highest level security dialogue between the U.S.
and Jordan is the annual meeting of the Joint Military
Commission (JMC) held alternately in Washington and Amman.
This year the meeting will take place in Washington on
November 30 to December 3. The JMC is attended by
senior-level officials from Jordan's military General
Headquarters (GHQ) and military services -- the Jordan Armed
Forces (JAF), Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF), and the Royal
Naval Force (RNF).



4. (C) The JMC provides an opportunity for senior leaders
to engage in strategic thinking about shared regional
security goals, Jordan's defensive capabilities and force
modernization needs, security assistance, interoperability
with U.S. forces, and joint military engagement and
deployments. The JMC typically produces an after-action
report that summarizes the key findings of the Commission
meetings and a series of action items for both parties to
implement agreed goals.



5. (C) The 2008 JMC focused on Jordan's support for U.S.
redeployment from Iraq and JAF deployments in Afghanistan. A
direct result of the 2008 JMC was the deployment of a JAF
Special Operations Unit (TF-111) to Afghanistan in May 2009,
and a 700 member JAF infantry battalion (TF-222) in Logar
Province, Afghanistan in July 2009. Both units now have
ongoing redeployments scheduled for at least the next 18
months.



6. (C) The 2009 JMC will focus on three major issues: (a)
the Jordanian military's human capital and training needs,
(b) Jordan's emerging role as a enabler for force training
and security capacity development among regional partners,
and (c) the sustainability of Afghanistan and other
deployments.



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Security Assistance Management Review


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7. (C) The bilateral Security Assistance Management Review
(SAMR) is an annual review of security assistance provided to
Jordan through the Foreign Military Finance (FMF) / Foreign
Military Sales (FMS) program. The meeting is attended by
Jordan GHQ officials and Embassy, DOD, and DOS officials who
are involved in the FMF/FMS program.



8. (C) The SAMR serves two purposes: (a) to conduct a
comprehensive financial and technical review of open and
planned FMS cases, and (b) to conduct a strategic review of
the FMF program and plan future acquisitions and security
assistance ensuring strong linkages to U.S. regional security
goals.



9. (C) The most recent SAMR took place in April 2009 in
Washington and placed considerable emphasis on cases related
to Jordan's Border Security Plan (JBSP).



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Other Security Dialogues


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10. (C) There are also a number of periodic dialogues
between various CENTCOM components and the Jordanian military
that are operational or strategic in nature. They include:

Staff Talks: CENTCOM service components have regular
meetings with Jordanian command counterparts to address
issues in CENTCOM's Theater Security Plan. Upcoming Staff
Talks include:

-- NAVCENT will conduct staff talks with the Royal Navy in
January 2010 to discuss Jordan's ongoing preparations to
deploy Visit-Board-Search-Seizure (VBSS) units as a part of
the Combined Maritime Anti-Piracy Force (CMF) off the coast
of Somalia.

-- AFCENT will conduct staff talks in January 2010 to discuss
readiness and force transformation of the Royal Jordanian Air
Force.

-- SOCCENT will conduct staff talks with Jordan's Special
Forces Command in March 2010 to discuss pre-deployment
training priorities and the King Abdullah Special Operations
Training Center (KASOTC).



11. (C) Various operational units within CENTCOM also have
routine pre-deployment and pre-joint exercise preparatory
conferences with counterpart units within the Jordanian
military.



12. (C) Comment: The security dialogues detailed here are an
important and substantive part of the political and military
relationship in Jordan -- a key U.S. ally and regional
security partner. The dialogues enhance the operational
effectiveness of the JAF, keep the technical and financial
aspects of the FMF program on course, and allow senior
leaders to set the strategic direction of our bilateral
engagement. End Comment.
Beecroft