The United States and Bahrain Sign Comprehensive Security Integration and Prosperity Agreement

On September 13, 2023, the United States and the Kingdom of Bahrain signed the Comprehensive Security Integration and Prosperity Agreement (C-SIPA).¹ Characterized by the White House as a “binding international agreement,” but not a “treaty,”² C-SIPA seeks to “bolster Middle East regional security, stability, and prosperity by enhancing deterrence and defense integration and interoperability.”³ The agreement provides security assurances to Bahrain, an important U.S. military partner in the region, beyond those presently given to its neighbors, though not as strong as those included in mutual defense pacts. For years, Arab Gulf states, including Bahrain, have sought security guarantees from the United States against the threats posed by Iran and its proxies, such as the Houthis. Complex negotiations with Saudi Arabia in particular, encompassing normalization of ties with Israel among other issues, have been ongoing in an attempt to consolidate a broad U.S.-backed regional security order to deter Iran.⁴ C-SIPA is all-but-acknowledged as a prototype for possible future agreements with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other states, with this goal in mind. At the signing ceremony, U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken hinted at this, commenting: “We're looking forward to using this agreement as a framework for additional countries that may wish to join us in strengthening regional stability, economic cooperation, and technological innovation.”⁵

Bahrain has extensive and longstanding military and trade relations with the United States. The U.S.-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement, in force since 2006, has strengthened economic ties between the two countries, with trade nearing $3 billion in 2022.⁶ Bahrain signed a Defense Cooperation Agreement with the United States in 1991 and was designated a major Non-NATO ally in 2002.⁷ It participates in U.S.-led regional security initiatives, including the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, the Combined Maritime Forces coalition to counter piracy and terrorism, and the International Maritime Security Construct, and it supported the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.⁸ It was named a Major Security Partner by the United States in January 2021.⁹ Most importantly, Bahrain hosts the U.S Navy's Fifth Fleet and the headquarters of the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command.¹⁰

A concise document, C-SIPA sets out three areas of cooperation: defense and security; economic, commercial, and trade; and science, technology, and network security. In its most elaborate provisions, the agreement establishes the ways in which Bahrain and the United States will “work together to help deter and confront any external aggression against [each other's] territorial integrity.”¹¹ Specifically, it states that, if there were “[a]ny external aggression or threat of external aggression against the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of” either country, it would “be a matter of grave concern to the other.”¹² In such a circumstance, Bahrain and the United States will “immediately meet at the most senior levels to determine additional defense needs and . . . develop and implement appropriate defense and deterrent responses as [they] decide[] . . . , including in the economic, military, and/or political realms.”¹³ To this end, both countries agree, as well, to: “further integrate air and missile defense capabilities, special operations forces, intelligence capacity, cyber security, strategic communication, and mutual awareness of emerging threats”; “further bolster their defense and security cooperation as a means of continuing to strengthen their military and defense capability and improve interoperability”; and “coordinate on a regular basis . . . on military and defense matters . . . [especially] to deter and confront threats of external aggression.”¹⁴ Secretary Blinken said that “[t]his agreement will strengthen coordination between our armed forces and the integration of our intelligence capacities, allowing us to even better deter and respond to threats as they arise.”¹⁵ The White House also underscored that “C-SIPA will help formalize steps being taken by U.S. Central Command to integrate the region's air and missile defense systems and increase maritime domain awareness.”¹⁶

C-SIPA's trade and investment and science and technology articles are less elaborate. On economic matters, the parties make only general commitments. They agree to “[d]eepen and strengthen the[ir] economic partnership . . . to advance economic integration.”¹⁷ They agree as well to “[i]dentify strategic investment opportunities . . . , develop projects that enhance bilateral and multilateral economic and trade cooperation, . . . and support economic development globally.”¹⁸ The commitments on scientific and technological cooperation, only modestly more detailed, emphasize the “development and deployment of trusted technologies that further the national security of the Parties.”¹⁹ Secretary Blinken lauded these, remarking that “at a moment when technology holds so much potential to better our lives, this agreement advances scientific and technical cooperation between our countries, including through increased information sharing and exchanges between our people.”²⁰ “This agreement,” he said, “is also the first binding U.S. international agreement of its kind to promote cooperation in developing and deploying trusted technologies, which are vital to protecting our critical systems and our peoples’ privacy—all of this from bad actors.”²¹ “[T]rusted technologies,” according to the White House, “refers to things such as emerging tech, infrastructure, the AI revolution, looking ahead to quantum computing—everything from 5G, telecom, chip exports.”²² “Bad actors” alludes to concerns that the United States has with China as a technology provider.

Human rights activists criticized the agreement. In 2011, Bahrain violently suppressed political protests that sought the establishment of a constitutional monarchy.²³ In response, the Obama administration instituted holds on security assistance, but exceptions were quickly made.²⁴ The holds were dropped in 2015, although the administration acknowledged that it continued to “think that the human rights situation in Bahrain is [not] adequate.”²⁵ Some arms sales were conditioned thereafter, but these limits too were lifted by the Trump administration in 2017.²⁶ Allegations of repression and serious human rights violations, including torture, continue to the present.²⁷ In the wake of the C-SIPA announcement, Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, the director of advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, said that “[t]he U.S. administration [is] siding with the Bahraini regime and abandoning political prisoners and the most basic desire for human rights.”²⁸ Secretary Blinken remarked that the United States and Bahrain would “continue our dialogue on the full range of human rights issues which are a core pillar of . . . [U.S.] foreign policy . . .[,] includ[ing] ensuring that fundamental freedoms are protected, which contributes to Bahrain's progress.”²⁹

C-SIPA seeks to move forward the longstanding U.S. goal of regional security cooperation and integration to counter Iran.³⁰ It comes amid increasing Chinese and Russian diplomatic efforts in the Middle East. In March 2023, China facilitated the restoration of diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia.³¹ Saudi Arabia is also reportedly in discussions with China and Russia regarding the development of a civilian nuclear energy program.³² Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates received invitations to join the BRICS group in August.³³ The United States has sought to negotiate a normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. (Bahrain signed the Abraham Accords in 2000.)³⁴ Saudi Arabia has linked normalization with the provision of “NATO-style” security guarantees by the United States.³⁵ C-SIPA serves as a potential blueprint for possible U.S. commitments to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf allies, and it explicitly provides for the possibility that additional countries could be invited to join the agreement.³⁶ According to an administration official, the agreement “can serve as . . . [a] kind of a cornerstone for [a] broader grouping of countries over time that share our common vision on deterrence, diplomacy, economic and security integration, and de-escalation of conflicts.”³⁷ It is unclear how Hamas's attack on Israel in October 2023 and the war that followed will affect U.S. plans.