{"id":47563,"date":"2019-12-13T22:18:34","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T22:18:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/12\/13\/pentagon-eyes-big-expansion-of-foreign-military-training-program\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:03:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:03:13","slug":"pentagon-eyes-big-expansion-of-foreign-military-training-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/flashpoints\/2019\/12\/13\/pentagon-eyes-big-expansion-of-foreign-military-training-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon eyes big expansion of foreign military training program"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Secretary of Defense Mark Esper wants to drastically expand the foreign military training program despite fallout stemming from the deadly shooting at Naval Air Station <a href=\"https:\/\/www.navytimes.com\/news\/your-navy\/2019\/12\/10\/fbi-pensacola-gunman-bought-the-glock-that-killed-three-sailors-from-a-licensed-gun-dealer\/\" target=_blank>Pensacola<\/a>, Florida, that claimed the lives of three service members and wounded eight others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations on Friday, Esper described America\u2019s foreign military training program as a \u201ccritical long-term investment\u201d that \u201cmakes for great partnerships.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI want to increase that by 50 percent over the coming five years,\u201d Esper said Friday at CFR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There there are roughly 5,181 foreign students from 153 countries in the United States for security cooperation training, the Pentagon told Military Times \u2014 852 of those students are Saudi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Federal authorities say Saudi Air Force 2nd Lt. Mohammed Alshamrani shot and killed three and wounded eight others with a handgun aboard the Pensacola base on Dec. 6.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/12\/12\/no-new-foreign-military-students-allowed-in-the-us-until-better-checks-says-dod-spokesman\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"239\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP19344755278578.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">No new foreign military students allowed in the US until better checks, says DoD spokesman<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">No new international military students will come to the United States for training until new screening procedures are in place, the Pentagon said Thursday in the wake of the deadly shooting last week by a Saudi Arabian aviation trainee at a Florida Navy base.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott called for a review of U.S. military programs that train foreign nationals following the deadly shooting aboard Pensacola.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019m extremely concerned by reports that this shooter was a foreign national training on a U.S. military base in Florida,\u201d Scott said in a statement Dec. 6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cToday, I\u2019m calling for a full review of the U.S. military programs to train foreign nationals on American soil. There is no reason we should be providing state-of-the-art military training to people who wish us harm,\u201d Scott said in the statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But military leaders attending the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, Dec. 7 defended the U.S. military\u2019s foreign military training program and hoped fallout from from the shooting wouldn\u2019t obscure the importance of the program, Military Times reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThat\u2019s an advantage we bring as a military,\u201d said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein at the Reagan National Defense Forum. \u201cWe have allies and partners, and often our adversaries don\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMy biggest concern would be that we would walk away from those key relationships, folks we know that we need when we go into combat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link smg-interstitial-link--fallback wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/12\/07\/service-chiefs-back-training-of-foreign-military-students-after-deadly-florida-base-attack-by-saudi-pilot\/?utm_campaign=Socialflow+AIR&#038;utm_source=facebook.com&#038;utm_medium=social&#038;fbclid=IwAR1xzuq3oN1IVQx5jeZj6ynB9rjQFKoHTCD9gsn6GX-Ct9mLTZx8EcztYk8\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__fallback-link\">Service chiefs back training of foreign military students after deadly Florida base attack by Saudi pilot<\/a><\/aside>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAll of us have forces in other countries, and theirs in ours,\u201d Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger told audience members at the Reagan National Defense Forum, Military Times reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. military has suspended operational training for Saudi students across U.S. bases and no new international students will come to the U.S. for training until new vetting procedures are in place, according to the Pentagon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Johnathan Hoffman told reporters Thursday that about 12 Saudi students who were close to the Saudi gunman are confined to the Pensacola base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Pentagon has not detailed what the new vetting procedures will entail but they are expected to be in place soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Esper said at CFR that there were somethings the U.S. \u201ccould do better\u201d to vet incoming foreign military students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of those things is \u201ccontinuous monitoring\u201d for foreign students when they go home and come back, Esper said Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Secretary of Defense Mark Esper called America&#8217;s foreign military training program a &#8220;critical long-term investment&#8221; that he wants to increase by &#8220;50 percent over the coming five years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":29107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":13,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,13,24,88,16,26,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3412],"class_list":["post-47563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-home","category-left-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"6FIU3PWMUZFC7MC75XYYXWDMEE","arc_canonical_url":"\/flashpoints\/2019\/12\/13\/pentagon-eyes-big-expansion-of-foreign-military-training-program\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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