The authors explore the value proposition of expanded security cooperation support for irregular warfare to prevent and counter the coercive and malign activities of adversary nation states. The authors describe how expanded U.S. security cooperation support to the internal defense and national resilience of frontline allies and partners—which is not a core security cooperation mission—could deter adversary nation states from such activities.

Exploring the Strategic Potential of Expanded Security Cooperation Support to American Irregular Warfare

Daniel Egel, Alexander Noyes, Annie Yu Kleiman

ResearchPublished Apr 10, 2025

The United States is in a global competition with China, Russia, and Iran, which are employing asymmetric means against frontline U.S. allies and partners to indirectly achieve strategic ends against U.S. national interests. In this report, the authors explore the value proposition of security cooperation support for irregular warfare as part of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) efforts to prevent and counter the coercive and malign activities of these adversary nation states. The authors describe how expanded U.S. security cooperation support to the internal defense and national resilience of frontline allies and partners—which is not a core security cooperation mission—could create strategic value by deterring adversarial states from such activities.

Key Findings

  • There are two modalities—internal defense and national resilience—through which the United States can combine its security cooperation and irregular warfare activities to support its allies and partners in contesting coercion and other malign influence applied by state actors.
  • Few existing authorities are designed with the purpose of supporting internal defense and national resilience. The implication of this finding is that existing security cooperation and related authorities are inadequate for building, developing, and supporting the internal defense and national resilience capabilities of U.S. allies and partners.
  • DoD—and its partners across the U.S. executive branch generally—should more creatively leverage existing authorities and tools to build the internal defense and national resilience capabilities of partners and allies. Creatively leveraging existing tools is the fastest way to rapidly increase this type of support with the least bureaucratic pushback. However, although this leveraging is a necessary first step, it is not sufficient to fill existing gaps and meet the increasing requirements for blended assistance.
  • The U.S. government should modify and update existing tools to better meet the growing need for internal defense and resilience support.
  • DoD and its partners across U.S. agencies should strongly consider a new interagency approach to strategic competition and irregular warfare in which internal defense and national resilience are key ingredients. This approach would seek to fully integrate and align various interagency efforts, as well as coordinate strategic messaging across the U.S. government and in concert with allies and partners.

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Egel, Daniel, Alexander Noyes, and Annie Yu Kleiman, Exploring the Strategic Potential of Expanded Security Cooperation Support to American Irregular Warfare, RAND Corporation, RR-A2924-1, 2025. As of April 18, 2025: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA2924-1.html

Chicago Manual of Style

Egel, Daniel, Alexander Noyes, and Annie Yu Kleiman, Exploring the Strategic Potential of Expanded Security Cooperation Support to American Irregular Warfare. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2025. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA2924-1.html.
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This research was sponsored by the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Irregular Warfare and Counterterrorism and conducted within the International Security and Defense Policy Program of the RAND National Security Research Division.

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