Assessing the U.S. Air Force Unified Engagement Building Partnerships Seminars

Abstract : USAF s UE BP Seminars, managed by its wargaming division (AF/A5XS), are designed tosupport the USAF s biannual Title 10 wargame, Unified Engagement. These seminars focus primarily on incorporating the insights of countries that do not formally participate in the larger wargame by eliciting their reaction to a number of supporting scenarios through tabletop exercises during the seminars. To date, BP Seminars have taken place only in the areas of responsibility of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe and U.S. Pacific Air Forces. We used RAND s security cooperation assessment framework to assess these seminars. This framework looks at six specific elements: guidance, programs, authorities, stakeholders, levels of analysis, and indicators and metrics for assessment. With it, we assessed the seminars held in Sweden in 2009 and in Estonia in 2010. Both seminars successfully strengthened cooperation among the United States and its partners in the Baltic region. However, in applying the framework, the RAND team identified several ways to significantly enhance the BP Seminars: As with similar programs, the BP Seminars could benefit from the institutionalization that authoritative documentation, such as an Air Force instruction, would provide. Establishing clearer links to combatant command guidance would, among other things, provide measurable objectives for each seminar. Such objectives are critical for post-seminar assessments. Cost reduction is possible through both identifying and involving other potential stakeholders at the outset of planning a future BP Seminar. After-action reports would be highly beneficial for capturing seminar insights, honing the relevance and value of future events, and demonstrating the importance and effectiveness of the BP Seminars to critical stakeholders.