U.S. Government Provides Tactical Vehicles to the Lebanese Armed Forces

March 25, 2009 This week, the U.S. Government delivered another forty Humvees and nine sport utility vehicles to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) through the port of Beirut.  To date, the United States has given the LAF 397 Humvees and will be deliver another 200 by the end of the year.
The LAF will use these modern tactical vehicles to carry out its key responsibilities, including its joint operations with UNIFIL in south Lebanon to support the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 and for quick deployment of LAF personnel throughout Lebanon.
The overall goal of U.S. military assistance to Lebanon is to strengthen the LAF and increase its capacity to defend Lebanon's territory.  Since 2006, the United States has provided over $410 million in equipment and training to the LAF.  The United States is committed to building the capabilities of the LAF and it will continue to support the government of Lebanon and the LAF to safeguard the peace, unity and sovereignty of Lebanon.

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U.S. Special Operations Forces Trains the Lebanese Armed Forces

March 23, 2009
The United States continues to provide assistance to increase the capacity of the Lebanese Armed Forces.  On March 20, Ambassador Michele J. Sison participated in the graduation ceremony for thirty senior enlisted members of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) who received training from the U.S. Special Operations Forces.   The month-long training focused on skills such as marksmanship and battlefield medicine.
The instruction included training the LAF participants in how to be trainers.  "Training the trainers" means that several other members of the LAF will learn the same skills.  The Special Operations Forces is planning future training programs with its LAF counterparts. 
This training is one component of a comprehensive and multi-faceted U.S. military assistance program to Lebanon.   The U.S provides training in areas the LAF leadership identifies.  Training , like other aspects of the assistance program, are implemented in accordance with LAF requests, focused on areas LAF leadership identifies as necessary. 
The overall goal of U.S. military assistance to Lebanon is to strengthen the LAF and increase its capacity to defend Lebanon's territory.  Since 2006, the United States has provided over $410 million in equipment and training to the LAF.  The United States is committed to building the capabilities of the LAF and it will continue to support the government of Lebanon and the LAF to safeguard the peace, unity and sovereignty of Lebanon.

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Internal Security Forces’ Officials Benefit From Executive Leadership Seminar in Texas

March 11, 2009

Six Brigadier Generals from the Internal Security Forces (ISF) participated in a two week Executive Leadership Seminar at the Center for American and International Law's Institute for Law Enforcement Administration at Plano, Texas from February 9 to 20, 2009.   This seminar was part of the on-going partnership between the ISF and the U.S. Government
The Institute for Law Enforcement Administration is one of the United States premier learning centers for law enforcement executives, managers and supervisors, preparing course participants for today's challenging management and ethical issues. The U.S. Embassy and the ISF worked with the Institute for Law Enforcement Administration to tailor a customized curriculum to incorporate the unique requirements of the ISF as Lebanon's national police and law enforcement agency.
The visit offered a unique opportunity for the Lebanese Generals to complement the leadership and management training they received by observing U.S. police Emergency Operations Centers and Dispatch Centers as well as operational methods at the Dallas, Plano and McKinley Police Departments.  A visit to the Texas Collin County Fusion Center showed how a state-of-the-art data sharing and analysis system can bring together information from a wide variety of sources in order to detect and display relationships between people, places and events to uncover potential threats and investigate unsolved crimes.
Prior to their departure to the U.S. the Brigadier Generals attended a day-long pre-departure session at the U.S. Embassy, and were fully briefed on the current Lebanon Police Training program, the curriculum that would be covered in Texas, a comparison of the U.S. and Lebanese law enforcement sectors, and a short cultural education session about visiting the U.S. 
Brigadier General Anwar Yehya, head of the ISF Judicial Police Bureau, followed up his participation in the February Executive Leadership Seminar with two days of meetings in Washington DC.  with officials in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Department of State to discuss on-going investigative programs and new training opportunities for ISF officers to strengthen their professional capacity. 

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