The effectiveness of U.S. training efforts in internal defense and development : the cases of El Salvador and Honduras / Michael Childress.

Format:

Book

Government document

Author/Creator:

Childress, Michael T.

Contributor:

United States. Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.

National Defense Research Institute (U.S.)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Military education--United States.

Military education.

Internal security--El Salvador.

Internal security.

Internal security--Honduras.

Military assistance, American--El Salvador.

Military assistance, American.

Military assistance, American--Honduras.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxii, 101 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Santa Monica, CA : RAND Corporation, 1995.

Summary:

To evaluate U.S. military training and advisory programs for teaching internal defense and development (IDAD) skills to the militaries of El Salvador and Honduras, this report examines whether U.S. training provided to foreign military students in the subject countries promotes human rights, professionalism, democratic values, national development, and appropriate civil-military relations, as well as meeting the general goals of the International Military and Education Training (IMET) program. Drawing on interviews with trainers, U.S. Embassy personnel, and an extensive review of periodicals and books, the author concludes that a causal relationship between U.S. training efforts and improvements in human rights and other values is difficult, if not impossible, to establish. Indeed, the author suggests that the influence of the country's culture, history, and politics may override U.S. training efforts intended to alter students' behavior. In short, the taproot cause of the behavior of these two countries' militaries is structural factors--factors that U.S. training efforts typically do not address. The report presents a comprehensive bibliography of background sources.

Notes:

"Prepared for the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy."