Members of the Albanian Armed Forces receive military equipment from the New Jersey National Guard in Tirana, Republic of Albania, September 14, 2025. (Photo by Maj. Jose Eduardo Couselo, U.S. Army National Guard)
BYTE-SIZED PROBLEMS, BILLION-DOLLAR CONSEQUENCES: FIXING THE FOREIGN MILITARY SALES DATA DILEMMA
by Ryan Doll
Foreign military sales, or FMS, is a cornerstone of U.S. security cooperation, enabling partner nations to acquire American military equipment and services. Beyond supporting the U.S. Defense industrial base, FMS strengthens alliances, promotes regional stability and improves operational interoperability between U.S. and allied forces.
DISORGANIZED AND OUTDATED DATA SYSTEMS
FMS data is fragmented across multiple databases managed by different military services, contractors and agencies. These systems often operate in isolation, limiting efficiency and collaboration. This fragmentation causes significant challenges including slow, error-prone reporting, delayed decision-making and burdensome case management.
Program managers face the brunt of these inefficiencies. They must access multiple disconnected databases, manually scrub data for errors, duplicates and assemble a usable dataset before meaningful analysis can be produced. Processes that should be straightforward become labor-intensive, delaying critical decisions and limiting operational effectiveness.
A 2020 audit by the Department of Defense (DOD) Office of Inspector General titled “Audit of the Department of Defense Process for Developing Foreign Military Sales Agreements,” identified significant issues with data accuracy in the Defense Security Assistance Management System (DSAMS), which serves as the primary FMS case management system. The report states, “The Military Department Implementing Agencies did not accurately record receipts of foreign partner Letters of Request in the Defense Security Assistance Management System (DSAMS) for 72 of 80 sampled cases.”
CURRENT MITIGATION EFFORTS
Recognizing the limitations of existing systems, the Data Manager for Project Manager, Maneuver Ammunition Systems International Office created a Power BI dashboard that aggregates data from multiple sources. The dashboard improves data visibility and helps personnel manage cases and track key metrics.
The dashboard demonstrated significant value and is now being elevated across the Joint Program Executive Office for Armaments and Ammunition (JPEO A&A) to enhance data visibility and case management. This expansion reflects the tool’s effectiveness at the working level, where the ability to quickly access reliable and integrated data is critical.
However, while beneficial, the dashboard remains a temporary workaround rather than a comprehensive fix. It still depends on manual data pulls, requires ongoing maintenance and does not resolve the underlying issues of fragmented systems, inconsistent data and lack of standardized governance. If scaled beyond JPEO A&A particularly to higher echelons of the FMS enterprise, these challenges will not disappear. Instead, they are likely to be magnified. Manual processes will become increasingly burdensome, data errors and collisions will propagate, and maintenance requirements will grow exponentially. This reality underscores the urgent need for a foundational, enterprise-wide solution, rather than continued reliance on localized, ad hoc tools.
New Jersey National Guard Soldiers and Airmen in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, September 12, 2025, load equipment bound for the Republic of Albania as part of a key DSCA and National Guard Bureau initiative to use National Guard flights for transport of Building Partner Capacity materials to State Partnership Program participants. (Photo by Capt. Kyle Marr, U.S. Army National Guard)
LEGACY SYSTEMS AND WEAK GOVERNANCE
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) manages multiple legacy systems, including the Consolidated Item and Services Information Logistics System, the Case Management Control System, the Security Assistance Management Information System, the Materiel Inventory System for International Logistics, the DSAMS and the Defense Information Financial System, through its Security Cooperation Information Portal (SCIP). However, these systems were originally developed independently without standardized interoperability, leading to persistent data fragmentation and management challenges. According to the Security Cooperation Information Portal Overview by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, SCIP serves as a consolidated access point for these legacy systems but does not fully resolve integration issues.
A 2023 RAND Corporation study, titled “Optimizing Foreign Military Sales Roles, Responsibilities, and Authorities,” found DSCA’s authority over the military departments is limited. The report stated that, despite being the lead agency for FMS, DSCA often must rely on consensus rather than directive authority to influence implementing agencies. This has contributed to inconsistencies and delays across the enterprise.
MODERNIZING AND SIMPLIFYING THE SYSTEM
Addressing these long-standing data challenges requires a comprehensive, technology-driven and governance-focused approach. First and foremost, the FMS enterprise must move toward a centralized and secure data environment. Consolidating data into a unified platform with standardized formats and governance policies would improve accuracy, accessibility and accountability across all stakeholders.
In addition, systems must become interoperable through the use of application programming interfaces, allowing databases to communicate seamlessly and reducing the need for manual consolidation, a major source of errors and inefficiency. A strong data governance framework is equally essential, including clearly defined policies around data ownership, access controls, quality assurance and compliance responsibilities. This would help eliminate duplication, improve integrity and ensure consistency throughout the case management process.
Finally, the adoption of advanced analytics tools such as artificial intelligence and machine learning would enable the automation of routine tasks like data cleaning, accelerate insight generation and support more predictive and evidence-based decision making. Together, these measures would not only modernize the FMS data environment but also improve its ability to respond to the increasingly complex demands of global security cooperation.
CONCLUSION
The current management of FMS data represents a strategic vulnerability that undermines efficiency, delays critical decisions and risks compromising vital partnerships. Modernizing the program’s data systems is not simply a technological upgrade; it is a critical operational and strategic imperative. By implementing a secure, centralized and interoperable platform with strong governance and advanced analytical capabilities, the U.S. can enhance responsiveness, strengthen alliances and secure the long-term effectiveness of the FMS program in an increasingly complex security environment.
For additional information, go to https://jpeoaa.army.mil/Project-Offices/PM-MAS.
RYAN DOLL is the data manager for the Project Manager Maneuver Ammunition Systems International Office, at Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey. He has 10 years of experience in data management, including nine years in product data and one year in FMS data.
