How to Strengthen Security Sector Assistance

The objective of U.S. security sector assistance is to help build effective, accountable, responsive, transparent and legitimate security sectors in partner nations to address common security risks. Such actions ultimately benefit U.S. national interests, but despite successes, policymakers and practitioners are confronting an effectiveness gap between what they want security assistance to achieve and what is happening in the field. To close this gap, it is important to take a hard look at a recurring yet overlooked phenomenon: elite capture, whereby elites use security sectors to pursue gains contrary to the public interest.

Since 2019, USIP — in partnership with USAID — has convened a working group to study how elite capture in security sectors contributes to violence. Using case studies from Afghanistan, Mexico, Uganda and Ukraine, the working group’s newly released final report, “Elite Capture and Corruption of Security Sectors,” distills the phenomenon of elite capture and examines how U.S. assistance affects the dynamics, rationales and tactics of elite manipulation.

On May 5, USIP hosted a conversation with the working group’s co-chairs as they present findings from the final report. The discussion examined how elite capture of security sectors abroad can undermine the effectiveness of U.S. security sector assistance and drive violence — and what policymakers can do to make security sector assistance more effective.

For more information about this event, please visit

Speakers:

Lise Grande, opening remarks

President and CEO, U.S. Institute of Peace

Ambassador Anne Patterson

Former U.S. Ambassador to Colombia, Egypt, El Salvador and Pakistan; Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs

Ambassador Dawn Liberi

Former U.S. Ambassador to Burundi

Ambassador Karl Eikenberry

Former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan; Former Lieutenant General, U.S. Army (retired)

Ambassador William Taylor

Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine; Vice President, Russia and Europe Center, U.S. Institute of Peace

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Connect with us!

Newsletters

The United States Institute of Peace is a national, nonpartisan, independent institute, founded by Congress and dedicated to the proposition that a world without violent conflict is possible, practical and essential for U.S. and global security. In conflict zones abroad, the Institute works with local partners to prevent, mitigate, and resolve violent conflict. To reduce future crises and the need for costly interventions, USIP works with governments and civil societies to build local capacities to manage conflict peacefully. The Institute pursues its mission by linking research, policy, training, analysis and direct action to support those who are working to build a more peaceful, inclusive world. Learn more about USIP