INTERNATIONAL TRAINING AND EDUCATION

REGIONAL DEFENSE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM

The Regional Defense Fellowship Program (RDFP) was established in the Fiscal Year 2004 National Defense Authorization Act as the Combating Terrorism and Irregular Warfare Fellowship Program (CTIWFP) under 10 U.S.C. § 345.  It is a key element of how the Department of Defense provides foreign military officers and government security officials with strategic and operational education to enhance partners' capacity in irregular warfare (IW) and other critical concepts pertaining to U.S. national security interests and objectives.

The RDFP helps the geographic combatant commands to foster regional and global cooperation to develop global coalitions to address irregular warfare challenges by:

  1. Educating and training mid- and senior-level partner defense and security officials.
  2. Ensuring programming aligns with the National Defense Strategy (NDS), the NDAA and the Irregular Warfare Implementation Guidance (IWIG).
  3. Building and strengthening a global network of IW and counterterrorism (CT) experts and practitioners at operational and strategic levels.
  4. Supporting partner nations' institutionalization of IW and CT through applied knowledge at the operational and strategic levels of military planning to support campaigning, integrated deterrence, and armed conflicts.
  5. Providing partner nations with flexible, proactive, and risk-informed programs supporting resource-sustainable IW requirements and countering ideological support to terrorism.


The Office of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict, Irregular Warfare and Counterterrorism (OASD SO/LIC IWCT) performs program oversight and prioritization of the RDFP and DSCA performs its program management.  RDFP is funded annually by annual appropriation.