The accelerated proliferation of legislative authorities for the Department of Defense (DoD) in Public Law and Title 10 of the U.S. Code since September 11, 2011, has created an increasingly unwieldy and complex catalog of statutes, which has generated severe challenges to DoD's security cooperation activities. The large set of authorities for security cooperation has become known as a "patchwork" because of the need to patch together multiple authorities and associated yet unsynchronized processes, resources, programs, and organizations to execute individual initiatives with partner nations. As defense headquarter staffs shrink and planning grows increasingly complex, the risk of canceled or ineffective events has grown significantly. Moreover, policymakers and congressional staffers face growing challenges providing guidance and oversight and evaluating progress toward larger objectives.
David E. Thaler,Michael J. McNerney,Beth Grill,et al. From Patchwork to Framework: A Review of Title 10 Authorities for Security Cooperation. 2016-01-01.