PrintSecurity Sector Reform Working Group
part of the Centers of Innovation
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In seven years, the Afghan National Police forces have grown to 68,000 personnel, with a target end strength of 86,000. The ANP includes the uniformed police force, which is responsible for general police duties, and specialized police forces, which deal with public order, counternarcotics, terrorism, and border control.
Program Specialists
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Senior Program Officer, Centers of Innovation and Center for Post-Conflict Peace and Stability Operations
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Security Sector Reform (SSR) is vital to global peace and security. In peace and stability operations, the reform of the security sector is the precondition for political reconciliation and economic development, as other reforms cannot succeed without security. A competent indigenous security sector also is essential to the exit strategy for the intervention force and the peacekeeping mission. Yet despite its importance, achieving competence in SSR remains an unmet challenge for the UN and the international community. For the U.S., SSR remains an area where the concerned agencies have yet to agree on a common policy. A common SSR doctrine is urgently needed.
Robert Perito is the director of the SSR Working Group. Meetings of the SSR Working Group feature presentations by international agency representatives, recognized experts on SSR and by State, DOD and USAID. The goal of previous meetings has been to create a community of interest and to inform participants about the views of various agencies on SSR. Present meetings focus on working with agency representatives and the U.S. military to formalize the U.S. government’s policy on SSR and to develop principles, guidelines and strategies for SSR activities. The SSR Working Group meets monthly.
- On October 29, 2009, the working group held a public meeting to discuss The Congressional Role in Military and Police Reform. Speakers addressed the role of Congress and Parliaments in overseeing their defense forces and building capacity of overseas parliaments to conduct oversight, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan.