JORDAN-U.S. SECURITY DIALOGUES

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 002579 SIPDIS DEPT FOR PM/RSAT CHRISTOPHER PETRONE DEPT FOR NEA/RA STEVE SOUCEK E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/19/2019 TAGS: AESC MOPS PGOV JO SUBJECT: JORDAN-U.S. SECURITY DIALOGUES REF: STATE 112900 Classified By: Ambassador R. Stephen Beecroft for reasons 1.4 (b) and ( d). ¶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. -------------- U.S.-Jordan Joint Military Commission -------------- ¶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. -------------- Security Assistance Management Review -------------- ¶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). -------------- Other Security Dialogues -------------- ¶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