According to the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review Report, a component of DOD’s strategy to prevent and deter conflict is to help build the capacity of partners to maintain and promote stability, and such an approach requires working closely with U.S. allies and partner nations to leverage existing alliances and create conditions to advance common interests. Such “building partner capacity initiatives” comprise a broad range of security cooperation and security assistance activities. Security cooperation is the broad term used by DOD for those activities taken to build relationships that promote specified U.S. interests, build partner nation capabilities for self-defense and coalition operations, and provide U.S. forces with access both in peacetime and during contingencies. These activities are carried out under various statutory authorities. For example, DOD may conduct activities with partner nations, such as sending out military liaison teams, exchanging military personnel between units, or conducting seminars and conferences in theaters of operations under Title 10 U.S. Code. DOD also conducts security cooperation activities through security assistance programs authorized by Title 22 U.S. Code. These Title 22 programs are a part of U.S. efforts to provide foreign assistance through military assistance and sales. The five Regional Centers for Security Studies (Regional Centers) support DOD’s objective to build the defense capacity of partner nations. The Regional Centers’ activities include education, exchanges, research, and information sharing. The Regional Centers conduct in-residence courses, in-country seminars, and conferences, among other activities, that address global and regional security challenges such as terrorism and maritime security. DOD policy states that a core Regional Center mission is to assist military and civilian leaders in the region in developing strong defense establishments and strengthening civil-military relations in a democratic society.coordinate with the department’s geographic combatant commands in developing and implementing activities for their region. Table 1 lists the five Regional Centers, the year in which each was established, their locations, and their corresponding geographic combatant commands. DOD provides training and education opportunities to U.S. and foreign participants by means of various institutions, among which are the five Regional Centers; professional military education and degree-conferring institutions; and professional development institutions. For our review, we analyzed training and educational programs and activities administered by 17 selected DOD institutions, and compared them with those administered by the Regional Centers for the following three attributes: curriculum topics, targeted audience, and program format. (See appendix I for a full list of institutions in our review.) The main similarities and differences we observed in comparing them are described below. DOD provides U.S. and foreign participants with a variety of training and educational programs and activities through its five Regional Centers, its professional military education and advanced degree-conferring institutions, and its professional development institutions. For example, the Regional Centers, in accordance with DOD Directive 5200.41, support departmental policy objectives with activities designed to enhance security, foster partnerships, improve national security decision making, and strengthen civil-military relationships through education, exchanges, research, and information sharing. Professional military education and advanced degree-conferring institutions aim to develop U.S. military personnel (enlisted and officer) with expertise and knowledge appropriate to their grade, branch, and military professional specialty. Examples of professional military education and advanced degree-conferring institutions include the National Defense University and the Naval Postgraduate School, respectively. DOD also administers training and educational programs and activities to U.S. and foreign participants through various professional development institutions for the purpose of providing developmental opportunities and enhancing their mission- related knowledge, skills, and experience. Examples of DOD’s professional development institutions include the Defense Acquisition University and the Center for Civil-Military Relations. Programs and activities administered by the Regional Centers and other DOD professional military education and advanced degree-conferring institutions as well as professional development institutions have similar features in that they all offer curriculum topics intended to help participants enhance knowledge and skills on security and military matters; target members of the military; and feature program formats that include in-residence courses; seminars, conferences, workshops; distance learning; and in-country instruction. However, some differences exist among the Regional Centers and the other programs administered by DOD organizations. Specifically: Regional Centers focus on bringing participants together for courses intended to foster understanding of regional security challenges and to strengthen the professional skills needed to develop effective strategies. In contrast, professional military education institutions generally focus on military operations and leadership; and advanced degree-conferring institutions and professional development institutions generally focus on professional knowledge, skills, and experiences. The Regional Centers’ audience is generally civilian and military officials from other countries. In contrast, professional military education institutions and advanced degree-conferring institutions target U.S. military officials. The Regional Centers’ program format is generally shorter than an academic year, and its completion does not count toward an academic degree. In contrast, professional military education institutions and advanced degree-conferring institutions offer degree and certificate programs that can take over a year to complete. Table 2 summarizes a comparison of programs and activities administered by DOD’s Regional Centers, professional military education and advanced degree-conferring institutions, and professional development institutions, in terms of curriculum topics, targeted audience, and program format. The checkmarks in the table indicate that we found the attribute is generally descriptive of the category, as we found exceptions to the attribute in some cases. To further elaborate on the information in table 2, the following paragraphs describe similarities and differences for each of the attributes we reviewed. We found that the Regional Centers, professional military education and advanced degree-conferring institutions, and professional development institutions are similar in that they all offer programs and activities to help a participant understand security and military matters and to enhance his or her knowledge and skills. The Regional Centers focus their programs and activities on addressing OUSD Policy and geographic combatant command priorities and bringing participants together to understand regional security challenges and to develop cooperative strategies to address them. For example, the Asia- Pacific Center for Security Studies administers a Comprehensive Security Responses to Terrorism course designed to broaden knowledge and improve skills in assessing terrorism threats in the Asia-Pacific region and to develop a community of professionals to collaborate on regional and global issues. Another example is the Africa Center’s African Executive Dialogue, which brings together African and U.S. senior officials to discuss how African countries can work together and with external stakeholders on Africa’s key security challenges. A further example is the Marshall Center’s Seminar on Trans-Atlantic Civil Security, which is designed to improve the homeland defense capacity and skills, across the whole of government, needed to prevent and respond to natural or man- made disasters or terrorist attacks. Moreover, each of the Regional Centers devotes significant programmatic effort to establishing, developing, and sustaining alumni networks. For example, officials at the Asia-Pacific Center told us that they track the progress of and provide support for the establishment of alumni chapters in Asia-Pacific countries, as well as helping to coordinate alumni events sponsored by these chapters. According to its program plan for fiscal year 2013, the Near East South Asia Center plans to conduct 10 alumni events in the region to promote continual engagement with and among participants who have attended the center’s core programs and promote collaboration on current regional security issues. In contrast, professional military education institutions’ programs and activities focus on instructing U.S. servicemembers in military operations and leadership in support of the U.S. national security strategy. For example, the National Defense University administers a Combating Terrorism Strategies and Policies course in which students examine the ongoing challenge to U.S. national security posed by the threat of international terrorism and the ways in which the United States is attempting to prevent future terror attacks. The advanced degree- conferring institutions focus on instructing U.S. military professionals on security-related knowledge and skills, such as operations research, logistics, and information system management. For example, the Naval Postgraduate School administers an Applied Mathematics Course in which students learn advanced mathematical techniques applicable to game theory and network design. The professional development institutions address professional security-related knowledge, skills, and experiences, such as consequence management, law enforcement, and decision making. For example, the Defense Acquisition University administers a variety of training courses that members of the defense acquisition workforce can use toward certification in various acquisition fields, such as systems acquisition, cost analysis, and contracting. In another example, the Defense Institute for Medical Operations administers an Emergency Management Strategies for Senior Leaders course to review and exercise executive-level principles for emergency management, disaster planning, and corrective action plan implementation. In terms of target audience, we found that the Regional Centers, professional military education and advanced degree-conferring institutions, and professional development institutions are similar in that all of them include institutions that target programs and activities to members of the military. We found that the Regional Centers are distinct in that participants in their programs and activities are generally from other countries, either civilians or members of the military. In 2012, 82 percent of the participants at the five Regional Centers were civilians or members of the military from other countries. According to officials and participants with whom we spoke, the preponderance of foreign participants provide U.S. participants with the unique experience of being in the minority during the discussion of U.S. security policy decisions and their impacts around the world. Further, officials stated that the Regional Centers intentionally invite executive- level civilian officials as well as representatives from nongovernmental organizations, international organizations, and the private sector to ensure a broad, whole-of-government audience. Past participants of the Africa Center for Strategic Studies have included six current and former heads of state. By contrast, professional military education and advanced degree- conferring institutions are primarily attended by members of the U.S. military at all career levels.