Offices and Departments
U.S. Liaison Office (USLO)
The primary mission of the U.S. Liaison Office (USLO) is to serve as the Security Assistance Organization (SAO) responsible for administering and supervising the U.S. Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Program in the UAE. As such, the USLO maintains liaison between Department of Defense (DoD) Agencies, American Embassy Abu Dhabi, and the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces.
Our goal is to enable the UAE Government to acquire information concerning the acquisition, use, and required training involved in obtaining defense articles and services from the United States.
USLO performs the following SAO functions: equipment and services case management; training management; program monitoring; evaluation and planning of UAE military capabilities and requirements; administration; and promoting standardization, and interoperability between the U.S. and UAE Armed Forces.
The USLO also provides functions exclusive of advisory and training assistance. USLO works closely with the Foreign Commercial Service to support the commercial sale of defense equipment. USLO supervises two attached DoD elements...the Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM) Field Office and the Apache TAFT...which provide technical advisory and training assistance to the UAE Armed Forces for the HAWK Air Defense Program and the AH-64A Apache Helicopter Program.
The USLO Chief serves as the U.S. Defense Representative and, as such, is the Chief of Mission's single point of contact for coordinating administrative and security requirements for all DoD elements in the UAE. The USLO Chief also serves as the U.S. Central Command Country Representative, responsible for implementing and executing the Commander-in-Chief's Theater Engagement Plan. As such, he is responsible for coordination of bilateral and multilateral operational plans and coalition contingency operations. The USLO also supports official meetings of high level Department of Defense visitors when traveling to the UAE.