{"id":29500,"date":"2023-09-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-28T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=29500"},"modified":"2023-09-30T06:42:29","modified_gmt":"2023-09-30T06:42:29","slug":"senate-recognizes-30-year-state-partnership-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=29500","title":{"rendered":"Senate Recognizes 30-year State Partnership Program"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Lindsey Graham, Senate National Guard Caucus co-chairs, present Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief, National Guard Bureau, with a formal copy of Senate Resolution 308 to recognize the historic significance of the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Department of Defense National Guard Bureau State Partnership Program, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., Sept. 27, 2023. The State Partnership Program was established in 1993 to assist countries emerging from behind the Iron Curtain. It now includes 88 partnerships with 100 nations and the National Guard of every state, territory and the District of Columbia. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. 1st Class Zach Sheely)
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WASHINGTON – After a summer marked by anniversary celebrations, the U.S. Senate formally recognized 30 years of the Department of Defense National Guard Bureau State Partnership Program Sept. 27.<\/p>\n

In a room crowded with Guard leaders, Senate staff members and foreign counterparts, the Senate National Guard Caucus co-chairs, Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Lindsey Graham, presented the National Guard\u2019s top officer with an official copy of Senate Resolution 308 recognizing the historic significance of the 30th anniversary of the founding of the State Partnership Program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t thank you enough for your support,\u201d Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, National Guard Bureau chief, told the senators. \u201cThis program would not exist and have the great impact it has globally without the Senate\u2019s support.\u201d<\/p>\n

The State Partnership Program began in 1993 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. As they emerged from behind the Iron Curtain, former Soviet states looked to reform their militaries and move away from a communist system toward democracy and civilian control of their armed forces.<\/p>\n

The Guard\u2019s legacy as state militias may have appeared less provocative to Russia, and its dual missions to serve as the combat reserve of the Army and Air Force while also postured to respond to disasters at home made it the clear choice to lead these engagements.<\/p>\n

The SPP started with 13 former Soviet states, many of which have since joined NATO.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis program has expanded in ways that have been so beneficial on both sides,\u201d Shaheen said.<\/p>\n

During her remarks, Shaheen asked representatives from partner nations to introduce themselves, say where they\u2019re from and who their state partner is.<\/p>\n

Latvia\u2019s defense attach\u00e9 proudly announced: \u201cMajor General Andis Dil\u0101ns, Latvia, the first ever who signed a State Partnership Program with Michigan.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the SPP was born in the Baltics, it now includes 100 nations on every continent but Antarctica, linked with the National Guard of every state, territory and the District of Columbia.<\/p>\n

The SPP enables between a quarter to a third of U.S. security cooperation engagements \u2014 with just 1% of the security cooperation budget \u2014 making it one of the best, most valuable security cooperation programs in the world, Hokanson said.<\/p>\n

Hokanson and Guard leaders have said they want to selectively add 30 or so more partner nations in the next decade. Recently, Finland and Sweden have expressed interest in joining the SPP.<\/p>\n

Interest from these nations validates the SPP model, Hokanson said, particularly against the backdrop of the current conflict in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur partnerships that we\u2019re here to highlight today are just part of the evolution of the National Guard, especially looking at our relationship with Ukraine and not just the importance of it now, but over the past 30 years,\u201d Hokanson said of the California Guard\u2019s SPP pairing with Ukraine \u2014 one of the program\u2019s charter associations.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur Guardsmen today continue to train Ukrainian soldiers and units in Germany so they can get back into the fight,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd for all our state partners that border Russia and in difficult regions of the world \u2014as we\u2019ve said from the beginning \u2014 partners are partners. We\u2019re here to help each other in every way we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tangibly, Guardsmen collectively participate in more than 1,000 engagements at home and abroad with foreign counterparts every year. With partner nations in every geographic combatant command, through the SPP, the Guard is a local force with global reach.<\/p>\n

Training engagements range from large-scale, multinational, joint exercises to small troop-to-troop subject matter expert exchanges.<\/p>\n

Intangibly, lasting relationships are formed as U.S. and foreign troops gain an awareness and appreciation of one another\u2019s culture, homeland and way of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are bound by a shared commitment to a more stable world, and we must stand together against forces that threaten a free, open, rules-based global order,\u201d Hokanson said. \u201cFreedom and democracy are American values \u2014 but we cannot uphold them alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur National Defense Strategy is clear: Mutually beneficial alliances and partnerships \u2014 like the SPP \u2014 are an enduring strength,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd they will be more critical in the years ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more National Guard news<\/a><\/p>\n

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Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Lindsey Graham, Senate National Guard Caucus co-chairs, present Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief, National Guard Bureau, with a formal copy of Senate Resolution 308 to recognize the historic significance of the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Department of Defense National Guard Bureau State Partnership Program, Dirksen Senate Office Building, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29502,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29500"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29503,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29500\/revisions\/29503"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}