 Welcome to the Naval War College, the Navy's home of thought. We are excited to present a new series titled NWC Talks, where we showcase our world-class experts in discussing national security matters. We hope you enjoy the conversation. In 2010, I was mobilized as a Navy reservist and I served in Afghanistan for a year. But I was not alone. Officers and enlisted from 49 countries were there with the United States in an international effort to stabilize Afghanistan. And the same is true throughout the world today. That there's an international effort to promote peace and security, whether that's through the United Nations peacekeeping organization or regional security alliances such as NATO or bilateral military partnerships such as the U.S.-Japan relationship attempting to deter North Korea. And if conflict does break out, as we see conflict today is in Syria, the Middle East, East Africa, the United States does not fight alone. On every modern battlefield, warfare is international warfare. And to make all of this work, military partnership is essential. I'm Derek Revron and this is NWC Talks, military partnership. Partnership is a fundamental tenet of U.S. defense strategy and we're reminded again today of this through the Secretary of Defense which says we must maintain our alliances and build partnerships. But we've been doing this a very long time. France provided material and equipment and men to help fight the American Revolution and George Washington got great assistance from the Marquis de Lafayette. Our Chief of Naval Operations today tells us again that our nation's history is replete with examples where the Navy has advanced the diplomatic element of power. And being here in Newport, the best case is in 1853, Commodore Matthew C. Perry set sail from Newport to Japan and opened up modern trade relations that still continue today. Looking at conflict, battlefields are internationalized. And in World War I, our President of the Naval War College at the time, William Sims, went to London and organized all naval forces. At the end of the war he was promoted to Admiral and also set in precedent that in order to protect international commerce and operate on the high seas, international partnership is essential. When General Pershing arrived in World War I, a couple months later with the American Expeditionary Force, he chanted in the streets of Paris, Lafayette, we have returned, noting the essential dimension of partnership between the United States and France. And the U.S. now would help France protect its sovereignty and preserve its way of life, much like France did, helped set the American Revolution on the course of independence. In World War II, partnership continued. The United States gave weapons to the Soviet Union. We coordinated military actions throughout Europe, based in London and out in Asia. During the Cold War, again, partnership was a central tenet of how the United States fought communism. In Columbia, for example, Columbia assisted the United States in the Korean War, and again, ensuring that essential dimension between the partnership between the United States and Columbia. And so when Columbia needed assistance during the 1990s as the insurgent group FARC, the terrorist group FARC, was overwhelming the Colombian military, the United States responded in the 2000s with Plan Columbia, setting Columbia on a path to peace that they enjoy today. Partnership is fundamentally in U.S. defense DNA. In 1982, Ronald Reagan told us security assistance programs are the most cost-effective means of enhancing the security of the United States. It's much more effective for the United States to deter conflict by bolstering other militaries rather than waiting until conflict breaks out, governments collapsing, and the U.S. attempting to intervene. Prevention is a key dimension of all of these programs. And when I look at today's wars, partnership is on display. In Afghanistan today, there are dozens of countries. In Syria, many countries. In Iraq, many countries. As we look out at operational activity, it's not unusual for U.S. aircraft to get fuel from a French tanker in the Mediterranean. It's not unusual to see Japan refueling American destroyers in the Pacific. Partnership is essential and works in both directions. In general, the American public supports this line of thinking because the public sees the United States must play a global role in international security. And this is reflected in strategic documents. For example, in the national security strategy, the document notes we'll give priority to strengthening states where state weakness or failure would negatively impact the American homeland. It's better to fight terrorism in Somalia or Yemen than it is in the United States. And the defense strategy continues this important dimension and notes mutually beneficial alliances and partnerships are critical to our strategy. Every day, our allies and partners join us in defense of freedom, deterring war, and maintaining the rules which underwrite a free and open international order. We note naval forces are stronger when we operate together. Just like Sims learned in World War I, the same is true today. And in Bahrain, this is on display where an American admiral fills a coalition role, leading three task forces of about 33 countries to reduce piracy, elicit trafficking, and improve maritime security in the Indian Ocean and in the Persian Gulf. The relationships have been growing for the last 20 years. In 2000, for example, about 40 countries agreed to host U.S. forces. Today, it tripled to about 120. And in all of these cases, there's no shortage of countries that are willing to support and host the United States military. And this is something China and Russia can't even imagine. And in many of these cases, it's U.S. allies that host these countries, that the top supporters of U.S. forces are allies such as Japan, South Korea, Germany, and Italy. And U.S. forces work side by side with these countries to strengthen regional stability. To make all of this work, you can't wait until the wars begin. But we want to prevent conflict. And we do this through training and education. The United States operates international training facilities around the world. The two prominent ones are the Marshall Center in Germany, which provides training from personnel from about 150 countries, and the Asia-Pacific Center for Strategic Studies in Honolulu, which provides training for officers and other personnel from about 33 countries in the Indo-Pacific region. Here at the Naval War College, international officers are a key dimension of who we educate. And they sit side by side with American officers from the Navy, the Army, the Air Force, the Marine Corps, and the Coast Guard. And we ensure that we're educating our students in a way that takes into account international perspectives. And our officers who sit side by side with the American ones do this with us. And as a testament to the quality of the officers who come study with us in Newport, about 20% of the World Sea services are headed by U.S. Naval War College graduates. And something similar can be said by Air War College graduates or Army War College graduates. There are a tremendous number of benefits that the United States gains by being the partner of choice. First is base access. And this includes basing U.S. forces in Europe, the Middle East, and Northeast Asia. Second is sharing technology. And technology sharing moves in both directions. For example, the United States Navy and Air Force have been evaluating whether a Brazilian supertacano would be a good fit for U.S. force structure. There's also an imperative to promote self-defense among other countries. And so in law, the United States must ensure Israel maintains a qualitative military edge against its neighbors. And so the United States exports F-35 and Apache helicopters to ensure Israel can support its self-defense. And this has important benefits for the United States. It's not only an important export of about $47 billion in 2018, but it also has important implications because it lowers the cost when the U.S. military buys equipment. So for every F-35 that Japan buys, that's not only one war in theater to deter China and North Korea, but it also lowers the cost when the U.S. Navy or Air Force buys F-35. Same thing can be true with Patriot air defense systems or the P-8 maritime surveillance system. Fundamentally, this is also about deterring regional conflict. And when American bombers can be escorted by Japanese fighters, that ensures partnership is solid and deters Chinese regional aggression because the U.S. seeks to empower its partners to confront their own security challenges in an effort to stabilize international security. Now, I've written books on international partnership. I've served in uniform and international coalitions. I'm personally a deep believer in the importance of international partnership and I don't want to gloss over the challenges associated with all of these programs. First and foremost is balancing all U.S. national security interests against security interests. The U.S. wants to support Saudi Arabia and does support Saudi Arabia to deter Iranian aggression, but it also has concern about Saudi governance. Related, the U.S. has to mind regional balances of power. If the U.S. sells one weapon system to one country and forms a partnership, it could upset a regional balance of power causing a crisis escalation. And finally, we have to protect sensitive technology. The U.S. is the international partner of choice. Today's partner could be tomorrow's adversary and we have to be careful to protect sensitive technology. And the case of Iran is illustrative because Iran was a partner of the United States until 1979, has American-made aircraft, but of course the relationship soured in Iran is a key challenge facing the United States. As we reflect on the importance of military partnership, I really wanted to conclude with Presidential Policy Directive 23, which notes that we share security responsibilities with other nations and groups to help address security strategies in their countries and regions, whether fighting alongside our forces, countering terrorist and international criminal networks, or participating in international peacekeeping operations. U.S. partnership is essential for global stability. I'm Derek Revaron and this was NWC Talks, Military Partnership.