“Military Engineer Support to Security Cooperation Operations” is a new article co-written by APCSS Army Fellow Lt. Col. John Lloyd  and Captain Chad Livingston published in the Army Engineer Magazine .

The article looks at ways to improve the current degree of synchronization between various agencies including the U.S. Department of Defense. According to Lloyd, “(agencies) must redefine their roles in security cooperation and develop a “whole-of government” approach.”

It addresses how U.S. military engineers should best implement Interagency Planning for Security Cooperation activities, and how engineers should redefine their role in security cooperation to better encompass 21st century challenges.

“The role of military engineers in security cooperation activities could be very similar to the roles identified for engineers in stability operations,” they state.

“This expertise is vital to ensure that these developments in infrastructure function from an engineering perspective-without this aspect, eventually, the governance aspect will fail as well. When citizens witness infrastructure that quickly fails, or never works, often their perception of governance legitimacy fails as well. Engineer efforts to improve disaster management also will improve host-nation legitimacy; an organized response to disaster demonstrates competency to the citizenry at a time when they need it most.”