The security sector actors could be classified into three categories: 1) uniformed services mandated to use force (armed forces, the police, or paramilitary forces); 2) elected and appointed civilian officials with responsibility for SSG (executive branch officers, legislators, justice and security ministers, civil service employees, organs of control (national ombudsman, inspector general office); and 3) civil society and private sector actors that monitor the state (i.e. media, civil society organizations, academia and researchers, and special commissions). Two other sets of actors that USAID doesn’t program with, but who influence the security environment, include: non-state actors (militias and illegal armed groups outside of the state’s control), and external constituencies (actors outside the country that have a keen interest in security, e.g. neighboring states, national and international donors, and regional organizations or actors).