Joint Political Military Group

The JPMG's formal structure was set out in a Memorandum of Agreement signed on April 21, 1988.[2] The document described the group as a binational, interagency forum for discussing and implementing cooperative efforts under existing arrangements—including combined planning, joint exercises, and logistics—and for addressing current political-military issues of mutual strategic concern. It specified that the group was co-chaired by the Director General of Israel's Ministry of Defense and the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Politico-Military Affairs and normally met twice a year, alternating between Israel and the United States.[2]

An earlier account characterized the JPMG as a consultative forum in which the two governments exchanged assessments and concerns about Middle Eastern security developments while refraining from operational planning.[5] On the U.S. side, participants have included representatives from the State Department and the Pentagon; Israel has been represented by officials from its Foreign and Defense Ministries.[6] A related military-to-military group met periodically to support implementation of ongoing projects and to acquaint senior officers from both countries' services with one another.[5]

The JPMG was also identified, alongside the U.S.-Israel Joint Counterterrorism Group and the annual Military-to-Military discussion, in a 2009 U.S.-Israel memorandum concerning prevention of arms supplies to terrorist groups as a mechanism supporting military and intelligence cooperation.[7]

The strategic relationship that produced the JPMG grew from an earlier framework: a memorandum of understanding signed on November 30, 1981, by U.S. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and Israeli Minister of Defense Ariel Sharon established a basis for continued consultation and cooperation between the two countries.[8] Its implementation was suspended weeks later and remained suspended through most of 1983, but U.S.-Israeli strategic ties were revived in November 1983 without a new signing ceremony or formal memorandum.[5]

On November 29, 1983, President Ronald Reagan and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir announced agreement to establish the Joint Political Military Group.[4] Its initial agenda centered on the threat posed by increased Soviet involvement in the Middle East and on combined planning, joint exercises, and the prepositioning of U.S. equipment in Israel.[3][4] A Congressional Research Service report characterizes the JPMG as the vehicle formed to implement most provisions of the 1981 memorandum of understanding.[8]

The group's informal creation gave both sides flexibility despite differences in their motivations for cooperating: the United States framed the partnership primarily around the Soviet threat, while Israel could engage without being required to invoke the USSR explicitly.[5] A contemporary Jerusalem Post report portrayed the announced cooperation as a message to Syria, the Soviet Union, and others in the region while noting a U.S. official's denial that it constituted an anti-Arab military axis.[9]

At the January 1984 JPMG meeting, the parties reached the group's first recorded accord, an agreement on military medical cooperation.[5] Joint air and sea exercises began in June 1984, and the United States constructed facilities in Israel to stockpile military equipment.[8] The Sixth Fleet began regular port visits to Haifa, carrier aircraft practiced on Negev firing ranges, and routine joint anti-submarine exercises were established during this early period.[3]

Three months after the January 1984 meeting, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Arens and U.S. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger signed a separate memorandum of understanding covering joint planning, combined exercises, and the prepositioning of arms and ammunition for U.S. military use in a crisis.[5] Joint planning under that agreement was limited to the Mediterranean portion of the Middle East; contingencies involving the Persian Gulf were excluded following pressure from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the armed services, and U.S. Central Command.[5]

By the mid-1980s, the JPMG was discussing the program's general direction and considering new cooperative ventures.[5] Its focus evolved from the original emphasis on countering Soviet involvement to encompass bilateral concerns, including chemical-weapons and ballistic-missile proliferation.[4]

The JPMG has functioned as a recurring structured venue for U.S.-Israeli political-military dialogue across multiple administrations.[1][10] Topics discussed over its history have ranged from Israel's qualitative military edge and regional arms transfers to Iran's nuclear program, Lebanon, Gaza, the peace process, Iraq, and Yemen.[10] The U.S. State Department has described its purpose as promoting shared policies, addressing common threats and concerns, and identifying new areas for security cooperation.[1]

A May 2002 State Department briefing described the JPMG as a regular meeting held twice a year on strategic-cooperation issues. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage also met with Israeli Defense Forces General Moshe Yaalon at that time to discuss the regional situation, efforts to end violence and terrorism, and progress toward resuming political dialogue.[11]

A cable from November 2009 documenting the 40th JPMG reported that participants covered Iran's nuclear program, Lebanon and the Lebanese Armed Forces, regional arms transfers, Israel's qualitative military edge, Gaza, the peace process, Iraq, and Yemen.[10] Israeli Defense Ministry Director General Pinchas Buchris described the session as "perhaps the most important JPMG to date," citing the threat of a nuclear Iran.[10] U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Andrew Shapiro expressed his intention to re-energize the group and return strategic issues to its agenda.[10]

In a July 2010 speech, Shapiro confirmed that the JPMG and other structured dialogues had been re-energized during the preceding year and that maintaining Israel's qualitative military edge was first among the political-military topics the group addressed.[6]

The 48th JPMG convened in Washington on October 25, 2022, led by U.S. Counselor of State Derek Chollet and Israeli Ministry of Defense Director General Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel.[12] Delegations included officials from the U.S. Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy's Near Eastern Affairs office, and the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, as well as Israeli foreign- and defense-ministry officials and Ambassador Michael Herzog.[12] Discussion covered security cooperation and regional stability, Israel's growing cooperation with Abraham Accords partners, the war in Ukraine, maintaining Israel's qualitative military edge, Iran, violence in the West Bank—known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria—and counterterrorism.[12] Chollet and Eshel affirmed a shared commitment to maintaining a credible military threat to deter Iran.[12]

The JPMG is one institutional component of the broader U.S.-Israeli security relationship, providing regular consultations on shared policies, threats, and opportunities for cooperation.[1] Broader bilateral security cooperation has included combined military planning and exercises, prepositioning of U.S. equipment in Israel, joint research and weapons development, and U.S. military purchases from Israel.[1][13] The JPMG operates alongside complementary mechanisms, including the Joint Economic Development Group and the Joint Security Assistance Planning Group.[14]

An American Jewish Committee document described ongoing U.S.-Israeli military cooperation as "well established through the Joint Political/Military Group," distinguishing it from economic cooperation through the Joint Economic Development Group.[13] The same document situated that cooperation within a wider relationship that also saw U.S. military aid shift from a half-grant, half-loan formula to an all-grant arrangement.[13] The Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs has argued that the full resumption of strategic cooperation in 1983 marked a decisive deepening of the alliance after the earlier suspension of the 1981 memorandum.[15]

The JPMG's record has not been without interruption. When the Israeli government under Yitzhak Shamir accelerated construction of housing in new and existing Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria in 1989, the Bush administration emptied the JPMG and Joint Security Assistance Planning Group meetings of meaningful content.[5] The meetings regained some significance in late 1990, after the settlement disagreement was overtaken by the Gulf crisis.[5]

A second suspension occurred in 2003, reportedly at U.S. initiative amid tensions over Israeli arms sales to China.[8] Talks resumed at the State Department on November 28, 2005, after that issue was resolved, and the JPMG itself convened in Tel Aviv on January 11, 2006, for the first time since 2003.[8] These episodes illustrate how the forum, while durable, has at times reflected tensions in the broader political relationship between the two governments.

Sources are not fully consistent on the JPMG's founding date. The Jewish Virtual Library's list of formal U.S.-Israel agreements dates an agreement creating the Joint Political Military Group and the Joint Security Assistance Program to April 6, 1979.[16] Other Jewish Virtual Library accounts place the group's establishment in 1983.[4][17] A Washington Institute study and a Congressional Research Service report likewise describe the group as established or formed in November 1983, while the April 1988 Memorandum of Agreement reaffirmed an already-existing JPMG and formally defined its structure.[5][8]

A 2002 Globes report, however, described the JPMG, the Joint Economic Development Group, and the Joint Security Assistance Planning Group as work groups launched on April 21, 1988.[14] Taken together, the sources distinguish the group's 1983 establishment from its 1988 codification, while leaving the 1979 list entry unexplained.[16][2] The group's name also appears in slight variations—including "Joint Political and Military Group," "Joint Political Military Planning Group," and "Joint Political Military Group"—although the April 1988 agreement used the last form.[5][2]