Good morning . Good morning . How are
you ? Yeah ,
good morning and welcome . Thank you
all for coming today . We're here with
the Director , Strategy Plans and
Policy and International Affairs ,
Major , General William Zana and he
will discuss the state partnership
programs 30th anniversary conference
happening here in the national capital
region . 17 and 18 , July . I'm Captain
John National Guard Bureau of Public
Affairs and I'll be moderating today's
media roundtable . We will have 30
minutes today . So I'd ask that you
please keep your questions focused on
the topic of the state partnership
program and its anniversary events .
General Zana has a brief opening
statement and then we'll open it up for
questions and to ensure we have time
for everyone to participate , we will
limit everyone to one question and a
follow up . And then if there's
additional time at the end , we'll open
it up for additional questions . I have
a list of the media joining us remotely
and we'll call on you by name and I
know some of you in the room but not
everyone . Um So if you're in the room
and I call on you , please uh announce
your name and your outlet before asking
your question . And with that , I will
turn it over to General Zana for his
opening remarks . General , thanks
Captain John and and good morning ,
ladies and gentlemen , thanks for the
opportunity to talk a little bit about
the 30th anniversary of the state
partnership program . A program that
began in 1993 with just 13 countries
and has now grown to 100 countries
program's growth and evolution . As we
look at , this is truly just quite
remarkable . Today's National Guard is
a ready , capable and vital part of our
national defense strategy . The
importance of allies and partners is a
theme that runs deeply through our
national security strategy , our
national defense strategy , our
national military strategy and I would
argue is deeply and cultured within
what we do as the US military , how we
operate in our values . The SPP is a
program that clearly demonstrates our
nation's enduring emphasis on working
side by side with willing partners .
The state partnership program provides
an unparalleled opportunity where we
the National Guard in close cooperation
with both the dod Department of State
and our nation and state partners build
enduring and trusting relationships
with partner nations around the world .
The Guard is currently partnered with
more than half of the world's nations
and we expect to see continued growth
in the coming years . We've got
capacity within the Guard to be able to
support additional partnerships and
additional missions , training
opportunities and exercises as many of ,
you know , the National Guard State
Partnership Program will celebrate our
30 years of building and growing these
successful long term relationships with
allies and partners in a conference
scheduled for next week , July 17th and
18th at the Gay Lord National
Convention Center National Harbor here
in Maryland . This event will host
approximately 600 participants from
more than 90 nations with many
ministers of defense chiefs of defense
ambassadors , combatant Command
Commanders , State Adjutant General ,
senior enlisted leaders and a variety
of speakers and panelists from across
our whole of government , including the
White House Department of Defense and
Department of State . It's truly
remarkable turnout for this at the
conference , we will commemorate the
program's many achievements . But I
think more importantly , we're going to
focus on sharing discussion uh to help
shape the program's future , the
evolution as we go forward , an event
of this magnitude is unprecedented in
the program's history and it's gonna
provide us an opportunity to do at the
highest level what the program does
every day worldwide and that's to share ,
learn and grow with one another . We
invite you to RSVP uh to one or more of
the 30th anniversary conference events .
The agenda is available and will be
shared with you . Invited speakers
include chairman of the Joint Chiefs ,
General Mark Milley , our J CS member ,
General Daniel Hokenson , Chief
National Guard Bureau , many other high
ranking us and foreign defense
officials . We hope you will join us
and thanks again for your interest uh
in this vitally important program . I
look forward to some questions and
discussion . Thank you , General Zana .
I will now open it up for questions
here in the room . I will start with
John with the defense scoop . Thank you .
Uh Thanks for doing this General . I
was wondering to what extent Cyber uh
plays a role in this program ? And are
you looking to expand any of those
initiatives of some of these partner
nations ? And John , thanks for the
question on Cyber . What we see is
there are a lot of um if you look over
the history of the program , you see an
evolution of the things that really
focus on and training . Uh Cyber
information operations has been
something that's emergent . There's a
great demand signal for uh one of the
breakout sessions or one of the uh
panel discussions that we've got during
the event is focused specifically on
Cyber . We see a great demand signal
from our partners to to grow the
capabilities . We face many of the same
challenges both in terms of adversaries
and in terms of the efforts that we put
at this over the last couple of years ,
we've seen a tremendous growth in the
number of things that we do , both
exchanges , exercises and events that
are either related to state partnership
program or more broadly , what we do
within the Guard with our partners in
security cooperation . I see continued
growth in that , in other areas , one
of the other areas that we see a lot of
discussion on and I think it's driven
by what many people are seeing in the
news , uh unmanned aerial systems . Uh
We see uh tremendous interest in space
activities and operations as well . Uh
We also see growth and I think
opportunities within uh areas like
women , peace and security . I think
there's a number of um of our partners ,
uh , who we have both shared with and
are learning from in terms of best
practices across all those areas .
Thank you . I was wondering , does this
program , uh , play at all into the so
called Hunt forward operations that
cyber comm does is , is the guard part
of that ? And is it at all connected to
this program or is that a totally
separate thing ? Totally separate thing ?
But what I would say is , uh , within
the , the State Partnership program ,
you've got , um , it's a mill to mill
relationship initially , but really
that's just the opening of the door ,
uh , to all sorts of other activities .
Um , we see that , uh , often the , the
trust that's built within these
relationships helps us , uh , to
partner in many different ways with ,
with partners . Thanks . OK . We'll
take our next question virtually .
We'll go to Phil Stewart with Reuters .
Hey there . Um , I know you're focused
on the State Partnership Program . Uh ,
my questions are , are related to
Taiwan wondering , uh , you know , how
uh how , how easily uh you know , you
would be able to incorporate Taiwan
into the State Partnership program .
What challenges uh you would face in
doing so , Hawaii has been cited as a
possible uh state to do that . Um And
also could you bring us up to speed on ,
on where uh guard uh training is with
the , with the Taiwanese uh right now ?
And what kind of cooperation exists ?
Thanks , Phil , Thanks for the
questions . And what I would say first
off , uh the focus for today is
strictly on state partnership program .
Taiwan is not . Um uh There , there
have been discussions about admission
there . The process that we work with
uh every nation is that there has to be
a request from the nation . Um This has
worked closely with the Department of
State Representatives . Uh It comes
back to dod and there's a partnership
that occurs in a dialogue at every step
of the way it could be premature to
talk about anything with Taiwan . Uh We
have other nations that we partner with
that are outside of the state
partnership program uh every day . And
we've got relationships that uh have
more recently come into the program .
An example would be uh with Norway and
Minnesota , a partnership that existed
not within the realm of the state
partnership program , but with combined
operations and exercises over 50 years
and just formalized last year . Thanks
Bill . Take another one virtually , we
will go to Chris Gordon with Air and
Space Forces magazine . Hi , thank you ,
sir for doing this . Um I just as you
look forward for the next 30 years of
uh state partnership programs , um is
there gonna be an increasing role uh to
train partner nation um Air
Forces and uh and to allude to
John's point earlier . Um Is there any
uh plan to conduct some space training
as well ? Um With partner nations ,
Chris , thanks for the question . And
first to lead off about the part for 30
years , one of the things we often talk
about as we reach this very important
milestone of 100 countries at , at 30
years , there was no goal for us to ,
to get to that . It's just kind of how
the program has evolved as we look
forward . One of the things that I talk
about in the future is we don't expect
the next 30 years to simply be adding
another 100 countries and slap the
table . And we're done , we look at
really the evolution of , of the
relevance uh and the uh the focus areas
of , of training and partnership with ,
with all the different nations , what I
would say is uh while some of the
initial um partnerships featured a lot
more activity that were associated with
land forces over the arc of the program
in the last 30 years , we see a
tremendous increase in the partnering
uh across Air Force and Air Guard . Uh
and I think uh we just expect that to
continue uh further and this goes back
to John's questions . We absolutely see
a demand signal from our partners um
and an opportunity to work with them
much more closely on space . We see
that uh at scale and at different
levels , different nations are either
directly involved in some of the things
that um that they want to do for their
own interests in terms of space or that
uh other nations , in some cases ,
adversaries have an interest in their
capabilities . Um So it's a great
opportunity for us to both learn , grow
and , and share with partners . And I
think that access and influence is a
very important part of the program .
Thanks . Are there any questions here
in the room , Jim ? Hi , sir . Good to
see you again . Great to see you , Jim .
Um You know , I , there , I haven't
spoken to a combatant commander who
hasn't praised the state State
Partnership program to the , I mean ,
they , they believe it's a , it's a
very good expenditure of funds . Um And
they want more . Is there any way to
speed up the process ? And I'm thinking
specifically in these um you know ,
commands like Africa command or uh or
in , in some of the island nations of ,
of the Indo Pacific command , any way
to speed that process up ? Is that a
problem with just uh the process or is
that , is that a problem that you now
are getting sort of limited with who
you can add . Uh Jim , great to see you
again . And , and thanks for the
question . I could spend probably an
hour just on this and expanding , but
I'm gonna focus on a , a couple of
aspects of it . Um We benefit um
by the interest and the support from
the combatant commanders , the service
component commands . One of the great
things about the program , my job is uh
everyone wants more of this and the
participants , both when you look at
this down , at the tactical level , the
soldiers and the airmen who are
involved in this every day . Uh Up to
our most senior leaders , they
recognize the value uh in the return on
investment uh that return investment
piece . One of the metrics they often
share . It's 1% of the nation's
security cooperation budget results in
20 to 30% of the touch points or
engagements that combatant commands
have . So they inherently see that
value and that the multipliers that go
with that . Um When we look at uh this
demand signal for both more
partnerships , which is one aspect of
it , but also more resources to go
towards the partnerships that we have .
It's uh it's kind of a multi pronged
thing that we've got to work . Uh The
first part in terms of the um of the
year to year edition of Nations , this
past year was uh was unprecedented and
adding five nations unprecedented since
the beginning of the program , but it
was the right time and the right fit .
And as we looked at the cooperation
with the Department of State and
Department of Defense , it just made
sense to do that . We normally would
look at adding just a couple of
partners a year , look across the globe
at which nations have requested it .
That's a key part of it , which nations
are ready to embark on this . And we
see a kind of an emergence of many
other nations who probably wouldn't
have had an interest 20 years ago who
have a keen interest . Now look no
further than what's going on in Ukraine
and Russia , we see great interest from
our Nordic partners and other partners
in Europe . Enduring interest from
Africa and having spent two the last
four years on continent Africa , I saw
the manifestation of how important
those programs were to many of the uh
of the smaller nations that we deal
with when I say smaller in terms of
their overall capacity to defense
budget . The other part to your
question that I'd like to , to just
engage on . Um we're limited only by ,
by resources and , and imaginations .
Uh Often times some of the most
creative uh activities and the things
that happen with the program are an
expansion beyond Mill to mill or the
creativity that goes with our soldiers ,
airmen and their counterparts from
other countries . Uh that said there
are limitations with the funding of the
program , the funding processes that we
have . It's about a $50 million program .
We've often relied very largely each
year on congressional ads . That ,
that's great . And we appreciate that
support from the hill . The reality is
getting this into base budgets , uh is
something that would normalize the
processes and allow us , especially
when we're operating under continuing
resolution . A better planning horizon
working with our partners . When do you
think about what it takes for a state
or territory district within the US to
coordinate through a combatant command
with a foreign partner ? That just the
admin and logistics of that to make it
happen ? It's a challenge and we make
it very difficult . We look at nearly
100% execution of funds last year .
It's just because of those efforts that
said with shortfalls in budget this
year , we've got hundreds of events
that we've either had to cancel or
postpone . And these are all events
that are very much aligned with our
national defense strategy and very much
aligned with our partners and our
combatant commands theater strategies .
And from my viewpoint , one of the
things I often cite you have so many
stakeholders in this program , but all
of the stakeholders see the richness
and the goodness of this . You could
almost draw a ven diagram of what a
nation partner wants to do , kind of
plot those points , what a chief of
mission and ambassador , his or her
staff want to do in terms of their
focus . Look at what a combatant
command wants to do . Look at our
strategy and look at the capabilities
within the guard . All those things
come together in a little bit of a
sweet spot where you then target , what
is it that builds the most readiness
within our formations ? Uh And how do
we leverage that working with our
partners ? The fact that it can adjust
uh year to year event to event exercise
to exercise that dynamic part is , is
important . I'd suggest that if we had
full funding from the services and that
those congressional ads , and again ,
we appreciate that support are focused
on those things that are emergent to
the combatant commanders within a year
of execution . We look at what's going
on within Ukraine right now and
supporting our partners who are
supporting that fight . This is a vital
way that the program got 30 years of
trusted relationships and partnerships
that go back to all the countries that
are most directly involved in this uh
recent discussions with our Polish
counterparts or Romanian counterparts
or Ukrainian counterparts . It's just
you see the uh the importance of the
program . So additional , um I think um
the the resources having uh a process
that we can uh we can depend on a
little bit more soundly , year to year
is helpful and then continued measure
growth . And I think that goes in
partnership again with the department
of State Department defense . Thanks .
And if I could just have a little bit ,
you , 30 years , some of you , some of
you guys have grown up with your
partners . I mean , that has to , that
has to be worth something there alone .
Yeah . So , one of the keys that I see
and I've , I've been , uh , the person
who's gone into different nations or
worked on different exercises and
events where it's a short duration
partnership and both sides of this ,
you still want , you , you bring
goodwill uh to that , but it's not the
same as having um , a relationship that
has endured over many , many years
where you , you know , you exchange
information outside of this families ,
know one another , you've broken bread
uh on both sides of an ocean , uh that
trust , uh , you , you can't build that
overnight . Uh Those seeds that are
planted . Um I think it's something
that is we as , uh as United States
military particularly good at and our
partners are really good at . Uh The
other piece is that if you look across
the forces , there are so many soldiers
and airmen on uh both the US side or
our counterparts side who have only
known an existence , a context for
their military service in which they
had a partnership . So they look back
and this is as much a part , it's kind
of the lore or the legacy within units
that they hear this from the people who
went before them , they hear stories uh
about the events that they did , the
challenges in training . Uh The the
shared aspect of this , we wouldn't
have realized when the uh program first
started that it would then years later
result in co deployments , um forces
from the National Guard , deploying in
harm's way and losing service members
alongside partners , the richness of
those connections , it , it can't be ,
can't be overstated . And it's one of
those things that I think has made the ,
the program um both uh both popular in ,
in this enduring enthusiasm for it .
Just take another virtual question and
we'll go to Carla Bab with voices of
America General carload with Bo A . Um
Thanks for doing this . I just want to
follow up on what you said about
Ukraine . Can you talk about how the
spill over from the war in Ukraine has
affected the California partnership ,
for example , and not just that
partnership , but the partnership um
with the , with the surrounding
countries like Moldova like Poland ,
like Romania , I appreciate the
question . And I think this has been
one of the things that has really
brought for many people , the State
Partnership program into the news and
into the vision of folks who may have
otherwise not realized the depth and
the breadth of the relationships . So
in advance of Russia's invasion of
Ukraine , we were doing close
partnerships , not just with the , with
California and Ukraine . One of the
things we often refer to is you marry
one state , but you get the whole
family with a guard . So when there is
a capability that doesn't exist within
one guard , army guard or air guard
within a state , we reach across the 54
states territories and district to be
able to get additional resources or
capability . This sort of dynamic shift
really plays well to being able to
support our partners needs it demands
and expectations . In real time , we've
got some flexibility that's built in by
scaling this across the 54 in advance
of Russia's invasion , we were working
closely . And if you think about some
of the things that have been , I think
sources of great success in Ukraine's
success in defending itself against
this unjust illegal invasion . Um You
see the the manifestation of that on ,
on the battlefield . Uh Some examples
of that , that I would cite that I
think are very important . The emphasis
that we place on um on unit and
tactical level leadership driven by non
commissioned officers , ensues and
enlisted professional development ,
that culture within the US military and
within many of our partners and allies
is not something that is , has been an
aspect or strength within all countries .
And I think it's something that we've
shared . If you look at the small unit
tactics and success within Ukraine , I
think part of that is attributed back
to much of the work that was done
between Ukraine , California and other
partners in the region . I'd also say
that when we look at the US focus on
building readiness and capabilities and
the building blocks , how we manage
training , whether this be army or air
of individual , lower level collective
and building that I think you can see
the evidence that Ukraine has leveraged
this to great effect against Russian
forces . Similarly , I think that this
is really supercharged the effort for
the neighbor nations there both in
advance of the invasion . And certainly
afterwards , we see a galvanizing of
the relationships in NATO . And I think
a galvanizing and the support across
the state partnership program . One of
the things that the state partnership
uh program brings to the combatant
commanders and dod writ large is a
connection of not just these bilateral
relationships but multilateral
relationships . I say the multilateral
because often if there is a um
combatant command exercise or event or
service component command uh event ,
the state partnership becomes a
multiplier to , to bringing in
additional partners and players from
other nations who may have otherwise
not been a part of that , the richness
of growing those capabilities . Then I
think it manifests in , in growth and
capabilities on , on all sides . Uh One
of the examples they often use . Um and
this is indirectly related to what
we're talking about . We have a small
state , uh Vermont that has three state
partners , their oldest North Macedonia
now celebrating 30 years , uh 15 year
old relationship with the nation of
Senegal and Africa and the first year
relationship with Austria . Seeing now
the interaction between those three
nations , some of that which occurs
completely out of the realm of what we
do with state partnership becomes a
multiplier for each of those partners .
And we definitely see that in Eastern
Europe Carlo . Thanks for the question .
Do we have any uh questions here in the
room or follow ups ? Ok . Thanks . Uh
Just a quick follow up . Uh with regard
to Ukraine has the partnership program
been paused essentially since the
Russian invasion . Are you providing
any assistance , you know , remotely
and then just kind of looking ahead ,
you know , long term assistance to
Ukraine has been a big topic of
discussion at the ongoing NATO summit .
Are you looking to expand that
relationship in the future specifically
through this program or just through
the guard writ large in terms of
improving Ukraine's long term security
posture ? Sure , John , I'll take that
in two parts . First off , we've
continued to do training and support
both for Ukraine and other partners .
Obviously , things have had to shift to
areas where we could do that training
safely . And I think as we look at
equipment that's been fielded in
support of Ukraine's efforts and not
just equipment but capabilities that
are needed to grow to support both the
fight and then the support from nations
we're helping with everything from
logistics training , all the things
that it takes to bring the capability
to be on the battlefield that has
continued and will continue there . I
think the , to me it seems that there
will be a growth in the demand signal
from our partners in a number of ways .
First off , our partners have paid a
tremendous price in supporting and
providing equipment . Um Much of the
equipment that they had uh that was not
uh obviously backfilled or they didn't
have ready backfill for types and
pieces of equipment . Uh that is going
to have to be that demand signal is
going to have to be met . So I think
there will be new that there will be an
opportunity . Uh the Guard Army and Air
uh do an exceptional job of doing new
equipment , training and new equipment
fielding . It's kind of a bread and
butter for something that happens
across the 54 every day . And it's a
logical expansion to help our partners
uh as they field replacement equipment
and train up in that . I think the two
way street aspect of it , we always
look at this as being kind of a
shoulder to shoulder . We learn from
our partners and they learn from us ,
we share best practices and I think
this is an opportunity as we look to
the future and hopefully at some point ,
peace in the region that there will be
a reset that's needed for all the
militaries who have done so much to
support Ukraine . And indeed with
Ukraine themselves . And I think we
will be , you know , posture to be able
to support that working very closely
with the combatant commander and across
the department . Thank you . We have
time for one more question . Uh We have
a virtual one in the queue . Uh We will
go to Gina Cavallaro with army magazine .
Thank you . Um Thanks General Zana for
doing this . Um You said there were
five nations added in the last year and
that , that was uh the most uh a , a
big year for adding nations . What do
you see in the coming year or the
coming five years ? And can you also um
I guess in closing um for the
uninitiated uh uh make a statement
about why the National Guard is the
right way for this program to continue .
Thanks for the question . Um So , first
off uh this year , the way things
worked out to add three African
partners , uh Malawi and Zambia will be
a combined partnership and we're
currently evaluating the applications
uh for multiple states who wish to uh
to uh be a part of that . Uh Gabon and
another African nation which will be
added . We added both Samoa uh to an
existing partnership with um uh with
Nevada and then Norway and Minnesota ,
I mentioned the formalization of this
partnership that's existed for 50 years .
If you look to the future , I think we
look at uh the capacity to expand the
program as being a couple of nations a
year and I purposely don't , uh put a
specific number on it because it's
dependent upon both what uh the nations
request , the combatant commanders and
Department of State support and then it
is on , on funding . We don't want to
spread ourselves so thin that we're not
able to , I have the depth of the , of
the training operations , exercise and
exchanges that , that each of these
partners deserve . And our uh the
evolution of this , I think is going to
continue . There will be some years
where there'll be a slightly larger and
a slightly less number . So I think
over the , the five years , um we'll
see that evolve the , the second part
and I think the guard is , is just
uniquely suited to this program . And
there's a lot of different ways you can
look at that uh first off uh citizen
soldiers , uh this whole idea of , of
having both civilian capabilities , a
connection back to state and community
and a community based force a lot of
times with our partners , this is um
this is a more approachable or an
easier construct um for them to engage
with . You often find that we have
civilian skill sets across the guard .
This is true for the rest of the
reserve components and security
cooperation . But the guard really
excels at this , those civilian skills
which then translate to something that
you can do on the ground . An example
that I provided for a couple of years
deployed in Africa . I saw there were
often things that were asked for by our
partners that weren't necessarily
strictly a military capability , but
there was a civilian experience that ,
that we could bring to bear to help the
partner in that . So often as we start
with a mill to mill engagement that
expands into the whole of government
and the whole of government part is
really , I , I describe it as a special
sauce for the uh for the program . You
start having things like municipalities
working um as sister cities and towns
with one another . You look at state
government doing engagements . We've
had many foreign partners visiting uh
their states . Uh and similarly
governors and officials from states
going to their state partners , uh
academic to academic think tank to
think tank , uh economic uh first
responder , all of these things add a
richness to this whole of government
experience that I think the guards
uniquely suited to , to fill . Uh when
we see the very best of the programs ,
the programs that expand into this
space in a way that is authentic to
both the capabilities and needs of both
the state and the nation . There's just
this richness in this relationship that
occurs and then it's where the
imaginations go . And typically , um
these things are , are not things that
um that we're funding from the
Department of Defense . They're ,
they're a bonus that starts building
trust and confidence and deepening
those roots when I look at some of the
pairings and I saw this uh both in , in
uh deployments uh within the Centcom uh
UAR and , and with a Aor , you
see that there are um relationships
between a state and a nation that start
building um an understanding that our
nations and our states uh have so much
in common in terms of their desire for
having peace and security opportunities
for prosperity , the opportunities to
um to educate and , and have safety for
families . When we get folks together
from both sides of this equation , we
often see that we're far more alike and
we have so much in shared values . Uh
That is one of those things that really
goes to building trust . And I think
building a warmth that exists in so
many of these relationships and just
something that the Guard does well and
our nation partners really respond well
to . Thanks for the question , right .
Thank you General and thank you to all
those in the room and online for
joining us today . Please feel free to
send additional questions to the
National Guard Bureau media desk and we
will follow up on those and any taking
questions as soon as possible . Thank
you . So , is there ever
going to be