The National Guard State Partnership Program links US states with partner countries' defense ministries and other government agencies for the purpose of improving bilateral relations. Following dramatic political, socio-economic, and military changes after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the concept of providing assistance to the emerging democracies through Military Liaison Teams (MLTs) through cooperation between the US European Command and National Guard Bureau (NGB). Originally implemented in 1993, the program has the following objectives:

• Demonstrate military subordination to civilian authority
• Demonstrate military support to civilian authority
• Assist in the development of democratic institutions
• Foster open market economies to help bring stability
• Project and represent US humanitarian values

The first MLTs, in the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, served as bilateral military-to-military contacts. The success, and expansion, of the program has resulted in today's hybrid engagement tool, allowing interaction in social and economic--as well as military--spheres.

The value of the State Partnership Program is its ability to focus the attention of a small part of the Department of Defense (DoD)--a state National Guard--on a single country or region in support of overall US policy and strategy. This concentrated focus allows for the development of long-term relationships and a mechanism to catalyze support from outside DoD which otherwise would not occur, but which, nonetheless, compliments US policy.

The National Guard's dual federal and state missions make it the ideal choice for the State Partnership Program, serving as a valuable model of capability and cost-effectiveness. The example of the Guard's citizen-soldier underscores the role of the military in a democratic society.