10 U.S.C. § 344 — Participation in multinational centers of excellence

(a) With the Secretary of State's agreement, the Secretary of Defense may let members of the armed forces and Department of Defense civilian employees take part in any multinational center of excellence. This is meant to help U.S. and partner-nation forces work together in joint exercises and coalition or international military operations, and to improve interoperability with friendly foreign militaries. (b) Participation must follow one or more memoranda of understanding, signed either by the Secretary of Defense (with the Secretary of State's agreement) or by the Secretary of State, together with the foreign nation or nations involved. If Defense Department facilities, equipment, or money support a center, the memorandum must spell out any cost-sharing or funding arrangement. (c) Defense Department operation-and-maintenance funds may be used to: pay the U.S. share of a center's operating costs, and pay the costs of U.S. participants, including their expenses. These funds may never be used to pay the salaries of the armed forces members or civilian employees who take part. (d) Defense Department facilities and equipment may be used to support multinational centers of excellence that the Department hosts. (e) At least 30 days before the Secretary approves participation in a new multinational center of excellence, the Secretary must notify the congressional defense committees. (f) A "multinational center of excellence" means: an entity sponsored by one or more nations that NATO's Military Committee has accredited and approved as offering expertise to people through education and training, better interoperability and capabilities, doctrine development, and testing concepts through experiments; or the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats, set up in 2017 in Helsinki, Finland; or the International Special Training Centre, set up in 1979 in Pfullendorf, Germany.