Noncombatant Evacuation Operations (NEOs) are military operations executed at the request of and led by the Department of State in order to remove American citizens and other designated personnel from a host nation where the security environment is no longer at a level in which their safety can be ensured. The Department of State has conducted numerous drawdowns of personnel from host nations without the assistance of the Department of Defense and has only requested support from the Department of Defense on a handful of occasions. What has led to so few NEOs actually occurring?