State Partnership Program

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The National Guard State Partnership Program (SPP) was established in 1993 in response to the radically changed political-military situation following the collapse of Communism and the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

The program links U.S. states with partner countries for the purpose of supporting the security cooperation objectives of the Combatant Commander. The program's goals reflect an evolving international affairs mission for the National Guard using the unique civil-military nature of the Guard to interact with both active and reserve forces of foreign countries. The State Partners actively participate in a host of engagement activities ranging from bilateral familiarization and could lead to training exercises opportunities, fellowship-style internships, and civic leader visits and medical events. All activities are coordinated through the Theater Combatant Commander and the US Ambassadors' country teams, and other agencies as appropriate, to ensure that National Guard support is tailored to meet both US and country objectives.

The value of the SPP is its ability to focus the attention of a small part of the Department of Defense (DoD)—a State National Guard—with a single country or region in support of US Government policies. This concentrated focus allows for the development of long term personal relationships and a mechanism to catalyze support from outside the DoD which otherwise would not occur but nevertheless complements US policy. The optimum SPP partnership is one in which: the Host Nation professes genuine interest in Partnership; US and Theater engagement objectives are satisfied; the Force Protection risk is acceptable; a minimum of additional resources is required to execute engagement; and National Guard core engagement competencies, particularly military support to civil authority (MSCA), and national defense are heavily incorporated.

Today, 43 U.S. states, two territories, and the District of Columbia are partnered with 50 countries around the world.