ARLINGTON, Va. – The Department of War National Guard Bureau State Partnership Program, or SPP, now has a standardized mechanism to track, code and professionally develop its personnel across the country’s 54 states and territories, the result of standardizing a training and certification pathway for the SPP workforce.
The SPP has been officially designated as a distinct functional area within the Department of War’s Security Cooperation Workforce Certification 2.0 Program, which is managed and implemented by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency’s Defense Security Cooperation University, or DSCU. It is a significant move to codify the Department of War’s global partnerships.
The creation of the dedicated SPP functional area, which took two years to complete, recognizes the unique role the National Guard plays in executing the U.S. National Security Strategy. DSCU’s Certification 2.0 curriculum ensures that personnel can effectively implement, integrate and sustain SPP activities critical to the Department of War's security cooperation, enabling partners to work with the United States to achieve strategic objectives in an ever-evolving geostrategic environment.
“The National Guard Bureau is utilizing this rollout to build a permanent cadre of experienced Security Cooperation professionals,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Andrew Chilcoat, chief of International Affairs, National Guard Bureau SPP. “The institutionalization of this functional area aims to attract top-tier talent across the 54 states and territories into the SPP and security cooperation workforce.”
The Security Cooperation Workforce Certification 2.0 Program is mandated by U.S. Code Title 10 Section 384 and aligned with the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act.
The implementation of Certification 2.0 relies heavily on accurate manpower management. Timelines for initial certification begin the day an individual is coded to a security cooperation workforce position in the individual’s respective system of record. To meet readiness requirements, members engaged in or tracking toward SPP assignments should work with their state manpower sections. Once coded, personnel can log into the learning management system, myDSCU, to access competency-based SPP courses.
The framework is divided into four tailored proficiency levels determined primarily by rank and grade: Level I Foundational, Level II Practitioner, Level III Expert and Level IV Executive.
The certification program represents a fundamental pivot toward long-term institutional readiness rather than short-term compliance, with an emphasis on continuous learning.
“The certification program is more than a training, certification or development program; it is a strategic investment in U.S. national security," explained Dr. Jason E. Fritz, DSCU president. “We must validate that the 17,000 security cooperation workforce billets are in the right place with the competency-based training and education to perform their security cooperation duties.”
Defense Security Cooperation University Public Affairs contributed to this article