Washington briefing: U.S. developing security pact with Georgia

by Emil Sanamyan

Published: Saturday December 20, 2008

U.S. and Georgian officials are discussing a security agreement along the lines of the 1998 U.S.-Baltic charter, according to a RFE/RL report on December 18. The charter became a precursor to the Baltic states' membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 2004.

Georgian officials said that talks over the agreement are "intensive," suggesting an agreement may be reached even before the Bush administration leaves office.

The incoming chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Kerry (D.-Mass.) and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matt Bryza were both in Georgia in recent weeks.

Also on December 18, the New York Times published portions of leaked classified U.S. military assessment of the Georgian army ordered following the August war with Russia and conducted in October and November.

According to the report, in spite of 10 years of U.S. aid and several years of budget allocations of nearly $1 billion a year, the Georgian military remains "substandard" and "mismanaged."

"Their command and control is a mess [and] they have no ability to process and analyze strategic information and provide it to decision makers in a systematic way," the newspaper quoted an anonymous U.S. officer as saying.