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Foreign Area Officer Program Revitalized in Latin America

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS080207-27
Release Date: 2/7/2008 4:54:00 PM

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class (SW) Holly Boynton, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command Public Affairs

MAYPORT, Fla. (NNS) -- U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force and Marine Corps members stationed throughout Latin America learned about the reincarnation of the Navy's Foreign Area Officer (FAO) Program Jan. 28 during the Navy Section Chiefs conference hosted by U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command (NAVSO) at Naval Station Mayport.

The FAO program is in its second rendition. The program was originally conceived in the 1990s and was extremely small and considered a risky career move for many officers. The current version of the program was designed in 2005 and implemented in September 2006. A significant difference between the old program and the new is the establishment of the FAO community, complete with its own career path and promotion opportunities. FAOs are trained to be region experts to include language skills and cultural insight.

"We are the enablers of the portion of the Maritime Strategy that says 'can't surge trust'," said Cmdr. Bill Reynolds, FAO community manager. "We are the long-term relationship builders. We focus on an area, build relationships and return to that area to continue fostering those relationships."

For NAVSO, a main mission goal is building relationships with Latin American partner nations. NAVSO FAO, Lt. Cmdr. Pat Paterson's area of expertise includes the countries along the Andean ridge and the Southern Cone.

"Navy Foreign Area Officers are part operator, part intelligence officer, and part political advisor," said Paterson. "The majority of future Navy FAO assignments will be as attachés or military group officers who work in U.S. Embassies in overseas assignments and collaborate closely with partner nation navies."

Reynolds said FAOs offer area commanders important skills.

"(FAOs have) the cultural understanding and history of the countries we want to partner with and can use that understanding to shape our interactions and our message to achieve the commander's goals," added Reynolds.

NAVSO's area of focus includes the waters surrounding South America, Central America and the Caribbean. NAVSO's primary mission is Theater Security Cooperation, or developing relationships with partner nations in the region to improve interoperability among our Navies. Interoperability directly affects the level of security maritime forces provide within an area.

"Our ability to communicate and build relationships with our partner nations is vital to ensuring theater security," said NAVSO Director of Exercises and Theater Security Cooperation, Capt. Steven Blaisdell. "As the FAO community grows, we look forward to integrating additional officers into the staff who possess this important skill set."

For more information on U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command, go to http://www.cusns.navy.mil .

For more information on the Navy's FAO community visit the FAO home page on Navy Knowledge Online, https://wwwa.nko.navy.mil – search for N13F FAO.

For more news from Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command, visit www.navy.mil/local/cusns/.