Nordhaus, Raines highlight global impact of State Partnership Program

SAVANNAH, Ga. - Air Force Gen. Steve Nordhaus, chief of the National Guard Bureau, and Senior Enlisted Advisor John Raines, senior enlisted advisor to the chief, highlighted the State Partnership Program's growing role in strengthening readiness, expanding interoperability and building enduring international relationships during an annual conference last week.

Through the State Partnership Program (SPP), administered by the National Guard Bureau on behalf of the Office of the Secretary of War and executed by National Guard adjutants general in support of U.S. geographic combatant commands, the program has connected U.S. states with partner nations since 1993.

Speaking to an audience of SPP leaders, bilateral affairs officers (BAOs), adjutants general and security cooperation professionals from across the National Guard, Nordhaus described partnerships as a central part of the Guard's approach to warfighting and homeland defense.

"As we think about supporting the warfight and defending the homeland, building partnerships, is critical," Nordhaus said. "Partnerships are a force multiplier."

The SPP connects National Guard elements from every state, three territories and the District of Columbia with partner nations through sustained military-to-military relationships and security cooperation engagements. The program has grown to 117 partnerships across every geographic combatant command, connecting the National Guard with more than 60% of the world's nations.

Over the past year, the Guard conducted more than 1,500 engagements supported by more than 1,000 National Guard members, strengthening interoperability and military capabilities while expanding cooperation in areas including cybersecurity, emergency preparedness, professional development and institutional capacity building. Raines said those efforts directly support the National Guard's priorities of readiness, partnerships and modernization.

"BAOs are the centerpiece," Raines told attendees. "We're talking about readiness, partnerships and modernization. You are all over every one of those."

Raines emphasized that the value of the SPP extends beyond individual engagements. Long-term relationships allow National Guard members and their counterparts to grow professionally together, creating connections that can span decades and continue as leaders advance to increasingly senior positions.

The enduring nature of those relationships, he said, provides an advantage unique to the National Guard.

"There's nothing like a young field grade officer having a partnership with another field grade officer on the U.S. side, and then next thing you know, that field grade officer is an adjutant general," Raines said. "That field grade officer is a chief of defense or a minister of defense. You just can't replace that relationship piece that we can deliver in the State Partnership Program."

Nordhaus and Raines pointed to recent visits to partner nations as examples of how mature relationships can evolve from military exchanges into operational partnerships.

During a June visit to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Raines said they saw some of the program's oldest partnerships demonstrate what decades of cooperation can produce.

The program also continues to expand. Nordhaus highlighted recent partnerships pairing California with Mexico, Ohio with Angola and Colorado with Switzerland.

Raines said the growing interest from nations around the world reflects the success of existing partnerships and the National Guard's ability to sustain relationships as service members progress throughout their careers.

"There are different countries wanting to come into the SPP program because they see the successes that are happening," Raines said. "They see what relationships and the different relationships mean."

Nordhaus also highlighted federal support for the program. He said Congress added $26.3 million for SPP and discussed increased support for the program in the president's budget request. He also pointed to a proposed House amendment that, if enacted, would provide two-year funding authority for SPP, allowing funding to carry across fiscal years and providing greater flexibility for planned engagements.

The support comes as the program places greater emphasis on burden sharing and partners contributing capabilities and resources to shared security challenges.

Nordhaus said those partnerships align closely with national defense priorities, including defending the homeland, deterring China through strength, not confrontation, increasing burden sharing with allies and partners, and strengthening the defense industrial base.

He pointed to partnerships in Europe, Africa, Central America and the Indo-Pacific as examples of Guard relationships directly supporting geographic combatant command objectives.

In Guatemala, Nordhaus said established relationships between Arkansas National Guard leaders and Guatemalan defense officials demonstrate how sustained engagement creates trust that cannot be replicated through short-term interactions.

"The relationships that can stay consistent across decades is through the State Partnership Program," Nordhaus said. "That means something when we're talking about how we do key leader engagements, and that only happens because of these multi-decade relationships that continue to build."

Those relationships are increasingly important as the Guard and its partners prepare for potential future conflicts, Raines said.

"We want our partners there behind us or beside us," Raines said. "We want them well trained and lethal. So therefore, if we have to fight together on the battlefield, we even up those odds when you start talking about the capacity problem."

The conference also recognized outstanding SPP achievements from fiscal year 2025, including engagements focused on preparedness, cybersecurity, military professional development and building partner capacity.

The Washington National Guard received the Preparedness Engagement of the Year Award for its work with Thailand, while the Massachusetts Guard earned awards for cybersecurity cooperation and building partner capacity with Kenya. Michigan received the Military Professional Development Engagement of the Year Award for helping the Armed Forces of Liberia develop and institutionalize its first modern noncommissioned officer professional military education system.

Arkansas and Guatemala received the Strategic Partnership of the Year Award after the Arkansas National Guard conducted 58 engagements with Guatemala during fiscal year 2025 while advancing initiatives aligned with National Guard and U.S. Southern Command priorities.

For Nordhaus, the program's success is rooted in both its global reach and its ability to draw upon expertise throughout the entire National Guard.

"If you're partnered with one, you're partnered with all," Nordhaus said.

He pointed to Minnesota's partnership with Norway as an example. While the Minnesota National Guard operates F-16 Fighting Falcons and Norway operates F-35 Lightning IIs, Wisconsin's F-35 experience provides an additional capability that can be leveraged to support the partnership.

"That exchange works in both directions," Nordhaus said. "We learn as much from them as they learn from us; let's keep learning."

As the SPP continues to evolve, Raines challenged those responsible for executing it to consider how today's work can shape the program for the next generation.

"What's the next thing that we're going to do that somebody's going to be talking about the SPP in the next generation?" Raines asked. "Let's improve our fighting positions and just keep working at it because we need those partners at our back."

Nordhaus closed by recognizing the Guardsmen, adjutants general, BAOs and security cooperation professionals who sustain the program's relationships around the world.

"In this partnership that we have with our nations, it's about building security and defense for our nations - their nation, our nation," Nordhaus said. "Sometimes we do that through cyber. Sometimes we do that through NCO professional development. Sometimes we do that at Combat Training Centers, where we're out actually doing maneuver training with our forces."

Nordhaus thanked the SPP workforce for sustaining relationships that extend across states, combatant commands and partner nations.

"Hats off to all of you throughout the 54 for executing partnerships around the globe," Nordhaus said.