Author Description

This study investigates the creation of the Security Force Assistance Brigades (SFAB) and analyzes how the Army can provide effective support to the unit's mission. This is significant due to the absence of current academic research pertaining to the SFAB. The intent of this research is to identify the sustainment challenges that the SFAB may encounter and present possible solutions for the Army to overcome them. In order to understand how to provide effective support, this study explains the SFAB mission, force structure, and the operational environments where SFA forces will doctrinally be employed. A qualitative research methodology is used to analyze this data through a collective case study design. The two case studies selected for this research represent the two types of operational environments where the SFAB will be employed and uses an embedded analysis to identify the sustainment challenges in each. The end result is a comprehensive understanding of the SFAB, the sustainment challenges that the unit will encounter, and possible solutions for overcoming them.This compilation also includes a reproduction of the 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community.The American people expect the military to be ready to respond to future challenges while being stewards of the resources given to them. Because of this, military leaders are constantly balancing "what they want to do" with "what they must do." The Budget Control Act of 2011 significantly reduced the force structure of the Army (U.S. Congress 2011). Leaders have to think critically in order to ensure that the Army is effectively and efficiently using its limited resources. According to the Atlantic Council, a U.S. policy think tank, "an adverse effect [of using Brigade Combat Teams (BCT) for Security Force Assistance (SFA), is that] it creates temporary makeshift organization with limited skills for this vital and complex long-term missions, and it destroys the readiness of the entire