The International Military Education and Training (IMET) program is a low cost, key funding component of U.S. security assistance that provides training on a grant basis to students from allied and friendly nations.
Managed by DSCA, the IMET program is an investment in ideas and people which has an overall positive impact on the numerous students trained under the program. IMET has provided training to more than 7,000 students from 130 countries.
The IMET program exposes students to the U.S. professional military establishment and the American way of life, including amongst other things, U.S. regard for democratic values, respect for individual and human rights and belief in the rule of law. Students are also exposed to U.S. military procedures and the manner in which our military functions under civilian control.
Mobile IMET education teams also have begun deploying to other countries to provide training tailored to their specific needs. The impact can be significant, because a single team can train 50 to 100 students at a time. Last year, mobile training teams provided about half of all IMET training.
The IMET objectives are achieved through a variety of military education and training activities conducted by the DoD for foreign military and civilian officials.
These include:
- formal instruction involving over 2,000 courses taught at approximately 150 military schools and installations;
- on-the-job training; orientation tours for key senior military and civilian officials;
- and mobile education teams which takes the curriculum to the host country.
IMET is expanding its scope to provide more non-commissioned officer education and training, particularly for countries working to build professional NCO corps.