State Partnership Program

Montana Disaster and Emergency Services is proud to support the Montana National Guard’s relationship-building initiative under the State Partnership Program (SPP).  MT DES staff and leadership have provided emergency response subject matter expertise to our partner countries both in Montana and abroad.

State Partnership Program Background
The State Partnership Program (SPP) has been successfully building relations for more than 30 years and now includes 89 partnerships with 106 nations around the globe. Beginning as a program to assist countries emerging from behind the Iron Curtain, the SPP now involves more than 50% of the world’s countries paired with the National Guard of every U.S. state and territory. Most of the earliest SPP partner countries in Europe have gone on to become U.S. allies in NATO, and many of them credit the SPP, and their National Guard state partners, with helping make that possible. This cost-effective, small footprint program delivers a significant return on investment by broadening the pool of foreign security partners.

Montana’s State Partnership Program
Montana has a State Partnership Program (SPP) with four countries: The Kyrgyz Republic; Turkmenistan; Sri Lanka; and the Maldives. This is a federally funded joint initiative between the partnered countries, the Department of State, DoD and Montana that has brought $685,000 to our state. SPP directly supports the interests of the United States by engaging partner nations through military and civilian contacts at all levels. The program held 50 official events in 2022.

This cost-effective program is administered by the National Guard Bureau, guided by State Department foreign policy goals, and executed by the state adjutants general in support of combatant commander and U.S. Chief of Mission security cooperation objectives and Department of Defense policy goals.

Through SPP, the National Guard not only conducts military-to-military engagements in support of defense security goals, but also leverages whole-of-society relationships and capabilities to facilitate broader interagency and corollary engagements spanning military, government, economic, and social spheres.

Montana SPP works on security issues ranging from military disciplines to disaster response, and the program is continuing to expand its relationships to include a whole-of-government approach. The SPP is a flexible and innovative program capable of having strategic effects for the United States, Montana, and our partners.