Military assistance has a bad reputation. Large-scale attempts to build partner militaries in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Vietnam cost the United States billions of dollars and ended ignominiously, with the collapse of local forces as American troops withdrew. Arms transfers of sophisticated, American-made weapons often appear to do more harm than good. Yet military assistance and support—operating indirectly through partners—when done right, can deliver remarkable strategic results for the United States and its partners. How to work effectively with partner militaries is one of the most pressing national security challenges for the United States today.
In this event at CISSM, Rick Bennet offers a systematic look at military assistance in the twenty-first century, examining a frequently deployed but often misunderstood set of tools that allows the United States to leverage partner militaries to achieve national security objectives. Bennet posits that two main factors—the degree of interest alignment on security issues and the level of institutional capacity of the receiving force—will be the most important variables in Washington’s ability to build militarily effective partners.
About the Speaker
Richard Bennet is a senior research associate at the Center for International and Security Studies (CISSM). He is a subject matter expert on strategic competition and a leading voice in developing approaches that evaluate the effectiveness of national security and defense activities. Bennet has coordinated assessments and program evaluation at multiple U.S. combatant commands, advising operations and conducting security cooperation with key allies and partners.
He has been a global fellow at the Wilson Center and has held research positions at Princeton University, the Council on Foreign Relations, and in an adjunct capacity for the RAND Corporation. His fieldwork has included research in Somalia, Brazil, Indonesia, Egypt, South Africa, Georgia, Kosovo, Nigeria, Colombia, Kenya and the southern Philippines and his writing on national security topics has appeared in a variety of publications.
Bennet is the author of the forthcoming book "War at Arm's Length: How America Can Build Effective Partners Through Military Assistance" (Yale University Press, June 2026). He holds a PhD and a master’s degree from the Department of War Studies at King's College London and a bachelor’s degree from Yale University.