{"id":86609,"date":"2026-01-14T15:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T15:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/86609\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T15:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T15:35:10","slug":"cooperation-keystone-pennsylvania-ivory-coast-pair-up-in-national-guard-partner-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/86609\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooperation keystone: Pennsylvania, Ivory Coast pair up in National Guard partner program"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"Soldiers<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tPennsylvania Army National Guard soldiers stand in formation during a ceremony at Fort Mifflin, Penn., on Nov. 22, 2025. The Pennsylvania National Guard will be paired with Ivory Coast, a West African country, through the National Guard Bureau’s state partnership program. (Du-Marc Mills\/U.S. Army)
\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The Pennsylvania National Guard is adding an African country to its portfolio under a Pentagon arrangement that matches U.S. states with militaries around the world. <\/p>\n

Ivory Coast joins Lithuania in being paired with Pennsylvania under the State Partnership Program, the National Guard Bureau said Tuesday in a statement.<\/p>\n

A formal signing ceremony with Ivory Coast is expected later this year, the statement said. Pennsylvania was added to a growing list of states that have more than one State Partnership Program relationship. <\/p>\n

Created in the early 1990s in the aftermath of the Cold War, the program aims to build mutually beneficial relationships through exchanges, training and other activities. <\/p>\n

With nearly 18,000 soldiers and airmen, the Pennsylvania National Guard is one of the largest in the country. Its pairing with Lithuania dates to 1993.<\/p>\n

The tandem of Pennsylvania and Ivory Coast represents the 107th partnership established under the program, according to the National Guard Bureau. <\/p>\n

\u201cTogether, we will enhance our capabilities, strengthen regional stability and create enduring bonds of friendship and cooperation,\u201d Maj. Gen. John Pippy, adjutant general\u00a0of the\u00a0Pennsylvania National Guard, said in the statement.<\/p>\n

U.S. and allied military access has narrowed in northern and western Africa following a wave of coups. American forces withdrew from Niger in 2024<\/a>, and French forces have departed from several countries in the Sahel, a region along the Sahara Desert that stretches across North Africa.<\/p>\n

A West African country of about 32 million people, Ivory Coast has emerged as one of the region\u2019s more stable partners on the continent.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania\u2019s new pairing was announced the day after the Illinois National Guard and European ally Portugal formally established a new State Partnership Program relationship.<\/p>\n

Army Maj. Gen. Rodney Boyd, the adjutant general of the Illinois National Guard, said the partnership comes at a critical time for NATO.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe threats to our NATO allies and partners are increasingly complex, combining conventional and unconventional tactics, terrorism, cyberattacks and information warfare designed to destabilize alliances,\u201d Boyd said in a statement. <\/p>\n

Planned areas of cooperation between Illinois and Portugal include cybersecurity, defense industry engagement, aircraft and technology modernization, academic partnerships, public safety and disaster response, according to the National Guard. <\/p>\n

Unlike short-term exercises or deployments, State Partnership Program relationships are designed to span decades and emphasize sustained engagement. <\/p>\n

The program relies heavily on National Guard soldiers and airmen, whose dual state-federal role allows them to share both military expertise and civilian skills such as emergency management, engineering, cyberdefense and medical response.<\/p>\n

Guided by State Department foreign policy goals, the program is a key element of U.S. military engagement abroad, particularly in regions where Washington seeks to maintain influence without large, permanent troop deployments, according to the National Guard Bureau.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania Army National Guard soldiers stand in formation during a ceremony at Fort Mifflin, Penn., on Nov. 22,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86610,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[43313,43325,43326,43318,43317,28,30,43314,8005,29,43312,43315,43324,43319,43321,43320,43322,43323,43316],"class_list":["post-86609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-ivory-coast","tag-ivory-coast-military","tag-ivory-coast-pa-national-guard","tag-list-of-national-guard-spp-pairs","tag-list-of-state-partnership-program-matches","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-ivory-coast-partnership","tag-pennsylvania-national-guard","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-state-partnership-program","tag-state-partnership-program-pennsylvania","tag-troop-pullout-niger-impact","tag-us-engagement-west-africa","tag-us-foothold-sahel-region","tag-us-military-engagement-africa","tag-us-military-partners-africa","tag-west-african-allies-of-west","tag-what-is-point-of-spp-national-guard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}