The United States has been party to multilateral and bilateral agreements addressing the status of U.S. Armed Forces while present in a foreign country. These agreements, commonly referred to as Status of Forces Agreements (SOFAs), generally establish the framework under which U.S. military personnel operate in a foreign country. SOFAs provide for rights and privileges of covered individuals while in a foreign jurisdiction and address how the domestic laws of the foreign jurisdiction apply to U.S. personnel. SOFAs may include many provisions, but the most common issue addressed is which country may exercise criminal jurisdiction over U.S. personnel. The United States has agreements where it maintains exclusive jurisdiction over its personnel, but more often the agreement calls for shared jurisdiction with the receiving country. A SOFA is not a mutual defense agreement or a security agreement, and generally does not authorize specific exercises, activities, or missions. SOFAs are peacetime documents and therefore do not address the rules of war, the Laws of Armed Conflict, or the Laws of the Sea. The existence of a SOFA does not affect or diminish the parties' inherent right of self-defense under the law of war. In the event of armed conflict between parties to a SOFA, the terms of the agreement would no longer be applicable. The United States is currently party to more than 100 agreements that may be considered SOFAs. While a SOFA as a stand-alone document may not exist with a particular country, that does not necessarily mean that the status of U.S. personnel in that country has not been addressed. Terms commonly found in SOFAs may be contained in other agreements with a partner country and a separate SOFA not utilized. As contracts, SOFAs may be subject to amendment or cancellation. With the exception of the multilateral SOFA among the United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries, a SOFA is specific to an individual country and is in the form of an executive agreement. The Department of State and the Department of Defense, working together, identify the need for a SOFA with a particular country and negotiate the terms of the agreement. The NATO SOFA is the only SOFA that was concluded as part of a treaty. The Senate approved ratification of the NATO SOFA on March 19, 1970, subject to reservations. The resolution included a statement that nothing in the Agreement diminishes, abridges, or alters the right of the United States to safeguard its own security by excluding or removing persons whose presence in the United States is deemed prejudicial to its safety or security, and that no person whose presence in the United States is deemed prejudicial to its safety or security shall be permitted to enter or remain in the United States. The Senate reservations to the NATO SOFA include four conditions: (1) the criminal jurisdiction provisions contained in Article VII of the agreement do not constitute a precedent for future agreements; (2) when a servicemember is to be tried by authorities in a receiving state, the commanding officer of the U.S. Armed Forces in that state shall review the laws of the receiving state with reference to the procedural safeguards of the U.S. Constitution; (3) if the commanding officer believes there is danger that the servicemember will not be protected because of the absence or denial of constitutional rights the accused would receive in the United States, the commanding officer shall request that the receiving state waive its jurisdiction; and, (4) a representative of the United States be appointed to attend the trial of any servicemember being tried by the receiving state and act to protect the constitutional rights of the servicemember. The NATO SOFA is a multilateral agreement that has applicability among all the member countries of NATO. As of June 2007, 26 countries, including the United States, have either ratified the agreement or acceded to it by their accession into NATO. Additionally, another 24 countries are subject to the NATO SOFA through their participation in the NATO Partnership for Peace (PfP) program. The program consists of bilateral cooperation between individual countries and NATO in order to increase stability, diminish threats to peace, and build strengthened security relationships. The individual countries that participate in the PfP agree to adhere to the terms of the NATO SOFA. Through the NATO SOFA and the NATO PfP, the United States has a common SOFA with approximately 58 countries. Then-Secretary Rice and Secretary Gates stated that the United States has agreements in more than 115 countries around the world. The NATO SOFA and NATO PfP SOFA account for roughly half of the SOFAs to which the United States is party. Department of Defense Directive 5525.1 provides policy and information specific to SOFAs. The Department of Defense policy is "to protect, to the maximum extent possible, the rights of U.S. personnel who may be subject to criminal trial by foreign courts and imprisonment in foreign prisons." The directive addresses the Senate reservations to the NATO SOFA by stating even though the reservations accompanying its ratification only apply to NATO member countries where it is applicable, comparable reservations shall be applied to future SOFAs. Specifically, the policy states that "the same procedures for safeguarding the interests of U.S. personnel subject to foreign jurisdiction" be applied when practicable in overseas areas where U.S. forces are stationed. There are no formal requirements governing the content, detail, and length of a SOFA. A SOFA may address, but is not limited to, criminal and civil jurisdiction, the wearing of uniforms, taxes and fees, carrying of weapons, use of radio frequencies, license requirements, and customs regulations. The United States has concluded SOFAs as short as one page and in excess of 200 pages. For example, the United States and Bangladesh exchanged notes providing for the status of U.S. Armed Forces in advance of a joint exercise in 1998. The agreement is specific to one activity/exercise, consists of five clauses, and is contained in one page. The United States and Botswana exchanged notes providing for the status of forces "who may be temporarily present in Botswana in conjunction with exercises, training, humanitarian assistance, or other activities which may be agreed upon by our two governments." The agreement is similar in its scope to the agreement with Bangladesh and is contained in one page. In contrast, in documents exceeding 200 pages, the United States and Germany entered into a supplemental agreement to the NATO SOFA, as well as additional agreements and exchange of notes related to specific issues. The issue most commonly addressed in a SOFA is the legal protection from prosecution that will be afforded U.S. personnel while present in a foreign country. The agreement establishes which party to the agreement is able to assert criminal and/or civil jurisdiction. In other words, the agreement establishes how the domestic civil and criminal laws are applied to U.S. personnel while serving in a foreign country. The United States has entered agreements where it maintains exclusive jurisdiction, but the more common agreement results in shared jurisdiction between the United States and the signatory country. Exclusive jurisdiction is when the United States retains the right to exercise all criminal and disciplinary jurisdiction for violations of the laws of the foreign nation while the individual is present in that country. Shared jurisdiction occurs when each party to the agreement retains exclusive jurisdiction over certain offenses, but also allows the United States to request that the host country waive jurisdiction in favor of the United States exercising criminal and disciplinary jurisdiction. The right to exert jurisdiction over U.S. personnel is not solely limited to when an individual is located on a military installation. It may cover individuals off the installation as well. The right to exert jurisdiction can result in complete immunity from the laws of the receiving country while the individual is present in that country. The United States entered into an agreement regarding military exchanges and visits with the Government of Mongolia. As part of the agreement, Article X addresses criminal jurisdiction of U.S. personnel located in Mongolia. The language of the agreement provides, "United States military authorities shall have the right to exercise within Mongolia all criminal and disciplinary jurisdiction over United States [p]ersonnel conferred on them by the military laws of the United States. Any criminal offenses against the laws of Mongolia committed by a member of the U.S. forces shall be referred to appropriate United States authorities for investigation and disposition." The agreement allows the Government of Mongolia to request the United States to waive its jurisdiction in cases of alleged criminal behavior unrelated to official duty. There is no requirement for the United States to waive jurisdiction, only to give "sympathetic consideration" of any such request. The NATO SOFA, applicable to all member countries, is an example of shared jurisdiction. Article VII provides the jurisdictional framework. The SOFA allows for a country not entitled to primary jurisdiction to request the country with primary jurisdiction waive its right to jurisdiction. There is no requirement for the country to waive jurisdiction, only that it gives "sympathetic consideration" of the request. Under the shared jurisdiction framework, each of the respective countries is provided exclusive jurisdiction in specific circumstances, generally when an offense is only punishable by one of the country's laws. In that case, the country whose law has been offended has exclusive jurisdiction over the offender. When the offense violates the laws of both countries, concurrent jurisdiction is present and additional qualifications are used to determine which country will be allowed to assert jurisdiction over the offender. While the NATO SOFA provides extensive language establishing jurisdiction, the United States has entered numerous SOFAs that appear to have a very basic rule for determining jurisdiction. Some agreements contain a single sentence stating that U.S. personnel are to be afforded a status equivalent to that accorded to the administrative and technical staff of the U.S. Embassy in that country. The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of April 18, 1961 establishes classes of personnel, each with varying levels of legal protections. Administrative and technical staff receive, among other legal protections, "immunity from the criminal jurisdiction of the receiving State."