Peace Operations in the United States

Presidential Memoranda

Presidential Memoranda relating with the United States Support to United Nations Peace Operations (September 28, 2015):

As articulated in the 2015 National Security Strategy, the United States has a critical national security interest in mitigating state fragility and preventing, containing, and resolving armed conflict. There are currently dozens of fragile and conflict-affected states. Their numbers are now rising globally, and may continue to do so over the next decade or more. Left unassisted, many of these fragile states, where conflict festers and development stagnates, could become hosts of violent extremism; afford safe havens that transnational terrorists and criminals exploit; generate large flows of refugees and displaced persons that can destabilize neighboring countries and sow regional instability; create humanitarian emergencies; facilitate the spread of pandemic disease; and increase the risk of mass atrocities. The United States has a compelling national security interest in preventing the outbreak, escalation, and spread of conflicts that could contribute to these threats, but we cannot and should not seek to assume that burden on our own. To the contrary, it is in our interest to strengthen international response mechanisms that enable the burden to be shared globally.

Multilateral peace operations, particularly United Nations (UN) peace operations, will, therefore, continue to be among the primary international tools that we use to address conflict-related crises. These operations include a spectrum of conflict prevention, peacemaking, and peacebuilding interventions authorized by the UN Security Council. The scale and scope of activities they now perform have expanded significantly since the issuance of the last formal Presidential guidance on multilateral peace operations (Presidential Decision Directive-25 of May 3, 1994). This memorandum takes into account evolutions in UN peace operations over the last two decades. PDD-25 remains in effect to the extent it does not conflict with this memorandum. (…)

In some instances, these operations are deployed in countries such as Haiti and Liberia, where in the absence of a UN peacekeeping operation, historic and other ties might have led to longer-term deployment of U.S. forces that would entail far greater risks and costs for the United States. The United States derives other indirect benefits from our support to United Nations peace operations, including strengthened military-to-military collaboration, diplomatic, and other ties with countries to which we provide training. United States military, police, and civilian personnel deployed within these missions gain indispensable field experience working alongside personnel from many other nations. Military forces in UN-led peace operations can also replace national or coalition military forces in operations once an area has transitioned from an immediate crisis to a more permissive environment.

The United States has compelling reasons to support the effective conduct of United Nations and other multilateral peace operations, but must be judicious about where we advocate their establishment since they are not the appropriate response in all instances. (…)

Our support for UN peace operations also must entail a consistent and constructively critical review of their shortcomings and where systemic reform is required. It is in that spirit that we will work with other UN member states to evaluate and implement the recommendations of the UN Secretary-General’s High Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations. This Panel recognized in its 2015 report that United Nations and regional peace operations face a number of critical structural, bureaucratic, operational, and political challenges that need to be addressed to maximize their effectiveness in a complex and changing conflict landscape.

The United States is well positioned to play a leading role in driving reform and shaping the future of UN peace operations, working closely with the UN and with partners in every region. As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, we play a key role in crafting and authorizing each operation’s mandate. As the top financial contributor to United Nations peacekeeping, we scrutinize each mission budget and the regulations, rules, and policies that govern the allocation and oversight of resources. As the top provider of training and equipment for military and police contingents, we have a role to play in promoting the highest standards of conduct and discipline. Ultimately, the United States has both significant interests in, and influence on, multilateral peace operations and the systems that support them.

Accordingly, building on the 2015 National Security Strategy, the 2015 Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review, and the 2015 National Military Strategy, it shall be the policy of the United States to strengthen and modernize UN peace operations. We shall do so principally through three core lines of effort:

• Building partner capacity to support UN peace operations;
• Contributing U.S. diplomatic support, enabling capabilities, and personnel; and
• Leading and supporting efforts at the UN for systemic reform.

All executive departments and agencies will ensure that the Presidential priority the United States attaches to effective multilateral peace operations, and these core lines of effort for supporting that objective, are appropriately reflected in national strategy, policy, and planning guidance documents. As we pursue the core lines of effort (and associated actions) outlined below, U.S. policy will continue to be to fulfill our treaty obligations to the UN by paying our assessed dues in full and on time.

Building partner capacity

Subject to applicable law, United States efforts to build partner capacity will be guided by the following division of labor, prioritization, and general principles:

• Conflict Mediation and Resolution. The Department of State will increase U.S. support, including by seeking increased funding, for United Nations mediation, preventive diplomacy, and other conflict prevention and resolution capacity-building activities, recognizing that UN peace operations can rarely be successfully mounted or terminated in the absence of viable political processes and sustainable solutions.

• Leadership. The Department of State and the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, in coordination with the Department of Defense in the case of military personnel, will attach high priority to working with the United Nations, troop contributing countries (TCCs), and police contributing countries (PCCs) to ensure strong civilian, military, and police leadership teams are in place in every peace operation, absent which efforts to improve operational capacity will not succeed.

• Well-trained and well-equipped high quality military forces. The Department of State, in coordination with the Department of Defense, will prioritize the need to develop, for United Nations and regional peace operations, skilled, deployment-ready, high quality forces and enablers, with capable leadership at the contingent, brigade, battalion, and company levels. United States peacekeeper training and other peacekeeping support programs will continue to be calibrated with these priorities in mind. Such United States capacity-building efforts will be consistent with Presidential Policy Directive-23 of April 5, 2013, on Security Sector Assistance.

o The Department of State will seek to increase funding for programs, as appropriate, to support U.S. efforts to enhance troop contributing countries capability consistent with the needs articulated by the United Nations.

o The Department of State, in coordination with the Department of Defense, will focus on ways to increase the ability of troop contributing countries to provide critical enabling capabilities and support functions, including maintenance and sustainment of provided equipment.

o The Departments of State and Defense will work together to ensure the various security sector assistance programs they are undertaking are being appropriately leveraged to help meet critical capabilities gaps faced by peace operations and the host government security forces to which peacekeepers must ultimately transfer responsibilities. Both departments will also deepen cooperation with foreign partners on peacekeeping capacity-building efforts to mobilize additional resources for this enterprise and reduce redundancies in its implementation by multiple donors.

• Gender diversity. All executive departments and agencies will promote gender diversity in leadership teams, and will work closely with our United Nations and international partners to promote gender diversity in the leadership ranks (and all levels) of United Nations peace operations.

• Joint Exercises. The Department of Defense will conduct regular military exercises with invited TCCs that feature preparing for peace operations as a major component. In select cases, the Department of Defense will deepen military-to-military relations and security cooperation with committed troop contributing countries as an incentive for them to enhance contributions.

• Police. The Department of State and the U.S. Mission to the UN will work with the UN and PCCs to expand the pool of police contributing countries ready and able rapidly to deploy Formed Police Units and Individual Police Officers with specialized skills needed by UN peace operations. United States assistance to police contributing countries will prioritize the elements required for timely deployment and effective performance, including: doctrine, recruitment and selection, training, leadership, command and control, equipment, logistics and maintenance, and accountability mechanisms. We will emphasize the development of the capacity of police contributing countries to prepare and sustain independently police deployments, including to meet operational requirements.

• Joint training, assessment, planning, and doctrine development. The Departments of State and Defense will seek to make available to the United Nations, regional organizations, troop contributing countries, and PCCs, upon request and as appropriate, United States expertise gained as a global leader in pre-deployment training, leadership education and training, joint planning, and doctrine development and implementation. This will include remaining ready to provide current or increasing levels of assistance in the following areas, to the extent permissible under domestic law: building standards of training and performance of troop and police contingents; providing assessment, planning, and analytic support to UN peace operations; strengthening the UN’s ability to plan and train for scenarios and contingencies that occur in conflict-zones; and developing and sharing U.S. doctrine and training on the protection of civilians in peace operations.

• High performance standards. The Department of State will prioritize support for professional troop contributing countries and PCCs that have demonstrated the will to implement UN Security Council mandates, including those for the protection of civilians, with full respect for the human rights and safety of individual members of civilian populations. The United States remains committed to the promotion and protection of human rights. The Department of State vets potential foreign security force-unit recipients of U.S.-funded training, equipment, or other assistance, consistent with applicable law, and the United States restricts the provision of such assistance to units for which it has credible information that such units have committed a gross violation of human rights. Additionally, the Departments of State and Defense will strongly consider withholding, suspending, or reducing peacekeeping capacity-building assistance from those troop contributing countries and police contributing countries that repeatedly field non-performing units. The Departments of State and Defense will directly raise non-performance with the troop contributing countriesand police contributing countries concerned in diplomatic, defense, and military-to-military engagements. The United States will also continue to support strongly the repatriation by the United Nations and troop contributing countries and police contributing countries of non-performing and poorly performing contingents. At the same time, the United States also believes that the UN should work more closely with troop contributing countries and PCCs to ensure the missions and mandated tasks their troops are asked to assume are better aligned with their levels of risk tolerance.

• Accountability and oversight. The Departments of State and Defense, as well as the U.S. Mission to the UN, will work with the UN and regional organizations to achieve heightened accountability and recognition for troop and police performance. The United States will continue to support an active mechanism that conducts regular, critical, and independent monitoring and evaluation of missions’ performance and efficiencies; the adequacy of pre-deployment training and readiness; additional financial incentives and disincentives relating to performance; and significantly enhanced structures and measures to address sexual exploitation, trafficking, abuse, and corruption to help safeguard the security, safety, and human rights of local populations.

• Ending Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (see here).

• Force Generation for Key Gaps. The Departments of State and Defense and the United States Mission to the UN will urge, through senior-level engagement in diplomatic and defense channels, fulfillment of commitments made by member states and the United Nations at the 2014 UN Summit on Peacekeeping Operations and 2015 Leaders’ Summit on Peacekeeping and at future high-level engagements; encourage, in partnership with the United Nations, capable militaries and police forces to increase their participation in UN peace operations and contributions of needed capabilities, in particular those that enable United Nations peace operations to protect civilians and implement robust mandates; elevate requests for TCC and police contributing countries contributions in our regular diplomatic, defense, and military-to-military engagement with our allies and partners, including annual dialogues; and intensify efforts to increase the number of female military and police personnel in United Nations missions.

• Partnerships with Regional Organizations. The Department of State will intensify consultations with relevant international partners on how the United Nations and other organizations — including the African Union, the European Union, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization — can better cooperate in expanding the collective pool of high caliber, rapidly deployable troops and police for United Nations and other multilateral peace operations. These consultations should also include identifying where non-UN bridging forces may be required to establish the conditions for follow-on UN missions.

Contributing U.S. diplomatic support, enabling capabilities, and U.S. personnel

In addition to the capability-building efforts outlined above, the United States will also seek to provide direct contributions and enabling support to UN peace operations. The United States Government will review its authorities and funding to support these lines of effort. Our immediate priorities for such support — which take into account existing U.S. global commitments to fulfill our top national security requirements, our areas of comparative advantage, and the UN’s priority needs — will be in the following areas:

• Support for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (see here)

• Technological and other enabling support. The United States will, consistent with our national security interests, authorities, and available resources, increase the provision of material support to the UN. In particular, the United States will seek to become a leading “technology contributing country” to United Nations peace operations. The Departments of State and Defense will seek to assist the United Nations, regional organizations, troop contributing countries, and police contributing countries to integrate technologies into, and apply innovative concepts to address operational requirements and capability gaps in, its operations in areas such as expeditionary basing and logistics, protection of forces and civilians, information-led operations, situational awareness, planning, training, and medical support.

• Direct personnel contributions to UN peace operations. The United States will strongly consider providing military, police, and civilian personnel to support or participate in United Nations peace operations, if such support would: (1) constitute a capability in which the United States has specialized expertise or capability; (2) have the potential to improve substantially the overall effectiveness of the UN mission, particularly one with significant implications for U.S. national security; and (3) not adversely impact current or projected U.S. operations elsewhere. As determined in PDD-25, the President retains and will not relinquish command of U.S. forces but, as Commander in Chief, has the authority to place U.S. forces under the operational control of a foreign commander when doing so serves U.S. national security interests, as Presidents have done numerous times in U.S. history.

• The United States Government remains committed to protecting our personnel and will continue to seek protections for our military and civilian personnel participating in UN peace operations or other UN-authorized missions. As appropriate, this would include confirming with the host nation that any applicable Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with that nation applies to such U.S. personnel or seeking a SOFA with the host nation, and otherwise seeking other appropriate protections.

• Recognizing the significant impact that participating U.S. uniformed and civilian personnel regularly have on the effectiveness of peace operations, the relevant departments and agencies will proactively identify priority positions in UN field missions, and work with the Department of State to facilitate the placement of United States military, civilian, and police personnel in these positions. The United States will also support UN Headquarters with subject matter experts, upon request and as appropriate. The U.S. Mission to the UN will work with the UN to ensure timely and appropriate requests for United States personnel, and the Departments of State and Defense will substantially reduce the timeline from a UN request to secondment of any U.S. personnel that the United States Government may decide to make available.

• The United States recognizes the essential role that UN peace operations can and should play in helping conflict-affected countries address key deficits in law enforcement, criminal justice, and corrections systems to support these countries on a path toward sustainable political and economic transitions. To that end, the United States will reinforce its role as a significant PCC, by sending United States police officers and criminal justice experts to serve in management, advisory, and training positions in UN field missions. We will also increase our engagement with the UN Secretariat and member states on policing, law enforcement, and criminal justice requirements, to strengthen coordination, policies, and standards for effective management and implementation of policing and the rule of law in peacekeeping operations.

• The Departments of Defense and State will seek to find ways to credit, professionally reward, and more readily track UN mission experience and expertise of United States military and civilian personnel within their respective personnel systems. The Department of Defense will also develop a cadre of military personnel able to serve in leadership roles in UN Headquarters and field missions.

Leading and supporting efforts at the UN for systemic reform

(…) Given the implications for U.S. national security interests and resource commitments, the United States must continue to lead the drive for reform of United Nations and regional peace operations. The United States will strongly advocate for the following reforms, both with the UN directly and in diplomatic, defense, and military-to-military engagements with member states:

• Development of prioritized and sequenced United Nations Security Council mandates for UN operations, drawing on best practices and lessons learned across missions, but also tailored to the unique circumstances of each country concerned;

• Rigorous UN Security Council oversight of mission mandate execution complemented by regular, rigorous, critical review of mission performance by the United Nations Secretariat;

• Strong, capable leadership in field missions and merit-based leadership selection;

• Further professionalization of mission planning and assessment, including more systematic contingency planning for crises, and clearer, conditions-based articulation of the critical path towards mission closure and transition to host government responsibilities;

• Strengthened in-theater rapid response capabilities for missions deployed in high-risk environments, including for medical and casualty evacuation and for force protection;

• A strategic UN force generation system, with an improved standby arrangement process geared towards the most needed capabilities;

• An improved assessments process for troop readiness, including equipment verification;

• Enhanced efforts to improve troop and police performance once deployed in the field;

• Strong mechanisms to ensure greater accountability, particularly in relation to SEA;

• A sustained effort to implement protection of civilian mandates;

• Improved human resources management and procurement practices that enable missions to deploy more quickly, effectively, and flexibly;

• Greater use of inter-mission cooperation to leverage efficiencies and assets across peace operations;

• Options for United Nations cooperation with and support to regional peace operations over the longer term;

• Greater coordination among UN missions, the UN peacebuilding architecture, and bilateral donors to promote peacebuilding and sustainable capacity building;

• A more rational peace and security bureaucracy at UN Headquarters that efficiently manages and supports the full spectrum of peace operations and is more focused on effectively and expeditiously meeting the requirements of personnel in the field.”