Malign global actors are using increasingly novel methods to attack the U.S. and its partners in the gray zone and compete below the threshold of armed conflict. The National Defense Strategy's concept of integrated deterrence requires the DoD to improve its ability to withstand, fight through and recover quickly from disruption in multiple domains and use security cooperation to "assist Allies and partners in doing the same." Recent gray zone attacks against partners and allies reveal the importance of using all DoD assets to achieve the security cooperation objectives of the United States, including National Guard capabilities enabled through the State Partnership Program (SPP).
However, the SPP's ability to keep pace with novel gray zone threats is impeded by ambiguity in 10 U.S.C. 341's definition of SPP "activities." The proposed amendment will enable the National Guard's SPP to build capability and interoperability and assist partner nations investigate, respond to, and recover from novel gray zone incidents.