| The United States signed a variety of cooperative agreement with Israel dating back to the 1950's, however, Ronald Reagan dramatically expanded the number of areas for possible joint activities. Just as his institutionalized military to military relations through formal agreemets and mutually beneficial projects, so too did he begin to make bureaucracy to bureaucracy relations routine. During the Reagan Administration, agreements were signed or renewed between nearly every U.S government agency, from NASA to EPA to HHS and their Israeli counterparts. In 1987, the Jewish National Fund signed the first of several MOUs with the U.S. Forest Service for cooperation in firefighting, conservation and land management. In 1996 the Department of Energy renewed its agreement with its counterpart and a new MOU was signed between the Security Exchange Commission and Israel's Securities Authority for cooperation in the enforcement of each other's security reguations. The FBI also announced plans to open an office in Tel Aviv to facilitate security cooperation. thought many of these MOUs are little more than pieces of paper, they symbolize an interest in cooperation that is broader and deeper than the United States has with any other nation. THE SHARED VALUES INIYIATIVES undertaken through these agreements also help tangibly reinforce the values the countries do share in areas like protecting the environment, providing education and promoting health. |
