Create a specialized military advisers corps

No sign of movement

Updated: Thursday, January 14th, 2010 | By Kevin Robillard

The idea of a special corps of military advisers has grown in popularity as U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan began playing larger and larger roles in training those nations' police and military forces. While the idea had been around for some time, a June 2007 report for the Center for a New American Security by John Nagl, then an adviser to Gen. David Petraus, led to a lot of press coverage of the concept of a dedicated set of troops to train, teach and advise foreign militaries.

The idea didn't have universal support, though. A 2007 article in the Los Angeles Times said both Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, then Gates' top military aide, were opposed to the concept, arguing the military didn't have enough resources to spin off a dedicated advisory corps. Special operations forces, Chiarelli wrote in an Army academic journal, should remain in charge of training foreign soldiers.

After extensive research, we can't find any record of any progress being made toward creating a corps, but we also couldn't find anything indicating the idea was dead, either. There was nothing on the White House Web site, nothing in the 2010 Defense Authorization Act and the Pentagon didn't return phone calls about the issue.

With no evidence of movement in either direction, we rate this promise Stalled.

Sources:

Center for a New American Security, Institutionalizing Adaptation: It's Time for a Permanent Army Advisor Corps, John Nagl, June 27, 2007

Federal Register, Fiscal 2010 Defense Authorization Act, PL 111-84

Los Angeles Times, Rethinking the U.S. Army, By Peter Spiegel and Julian Barnes, October 10, 2007