Security force assistance

[1] Given the ending of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, with US-led multinational missions to train and equip the militaries of weak states for counterinsurgency and counterterrorism purposes, the US (and many other Western militaries) have increasingly shifted towards SFA programs that make host-nation security force more capable of conducting Large Scale Combat Operations (LSCO).

Where FID was carried out for decades by special operations forces during the Cold War, the United States developed SFA beginning in about 2006.

Although SFA is relatively new as a concept within western military doctrine, it has been practiced as long as states have had the technology and power to carry it out.

[8][9] The US Army Special Forces were enlarged and directed to focus on FID by President John F. Kennedy to counter the global influence of the Soviet Union and to prevent Communist insurgencies gaining power abroad, motivated by thinking based upon domino theory.

[21][22] Similarly, the United Kingdom established both the 11th Security Force Assistance Brigade and British Army Ranger Regiment in 2021, both of which specialize in SFA and FID.