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1 1 (June 16, 2014)

handle is hein.crs/govcbzz0001 and id is 1 raw text is: U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) June 16, 2014 Congress has continued to examine the evolving role and posture of the U.S. military in Africa since AFRICOM became fully operational as the newest U.S. geographic combatant command in 2008. The command is responsible for Department of Defense (DOD) operations, exercises, and security cooperation on the African continent, its island nations, and its surrounding waters. AFRICOM's stated mission is to advance U.S. national interests and promote regional security, stability, and prosperity in Africa, in concert with interagency and international partners, by building defense capabilities, responding to crises, and deterring and defeating transnational threats. AFRICOM Commander General David Rodriguez has stated that the command's most important responsibility is to detect, deter and prevent attacks against the United States, its territories, possessions, and bases and to employ appropriate force to defend the nation should deterrence fail. Before AFRICOM became a stand-alone command in October 2008, responsibility for U.S. military involvement in Africa was divided among European, Central, and Pacific Commands. Its area of responsibility (AOR) does not include Egypt, which remains in Central Command's AOR. Its FY2015 budget request (headquarters, operations, exercises and related programs) is $245 million. Resondngto Thent n AFRICOM's establishment and its evolution reflect a change in policymakers' perceptions of U.S. strategic interests and security challenges in Africa. For some, the justification for a U.S. military command focused on the continent has never been more pronounced. The Obama Administration's 2012 U.S. Strategy toward Sub-Saharan Africa argues that Africa is more important than ever to the security and prosperity of the international community, and to the United States in particular. While the military prepares a strategic rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region, in the near term, African conflicts and extremist threats increasingly occupy military planners' efforts. Despite positive political and economic trends in some countries, armed conflict still plagues parts of the continent and poses threats to regional stability and other U.S. interests. Terrorist threats appear to be increasing in North Africa; in such West African countries as Nigeria and Mali; and throughout East Africa, including in Somalia and Kenya. Violent extremist groups like Al Shabaab, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Boko Haram, Ansar al Sharia and other like-minded groups continue to attract recruits, and are reportedly increasingly sharing training, tactics, and weapons, including those from former Libyan stockpiles. For the foreseeable future, the most direct threat to America at home and abroad remains terrorism.... from decentralized al Qaeda affiliates and extremists, many with agendas focused in countries where they operate. And this lessens the possibility of large-scale 9/11 -style attacks against the homeland, but it heightens the danger of U.S. personnel overseas being attacked, as we saw in Benghazi. It heightens the danger to less defensible targets, as we saw in a shopping mall in Nairobi. So we have to develop a strategy that matches this diffuse threat-one that expands our reach without sending forces that stretch our military too thin, or stir up local resentments. We need partners to fight terrorists alongside us. President Barack Obama at the U.S. Military Academy-West Point May 28, 2014 In Africa, the United States has taken a lower profile approach to countering terrorism that it has in Afghanistan, where the U.S. military deployed in large numbers to pursue Al Qaeda, or in Pakistan or Yemen, where air strikes against terrorist targets have been more frequent. AFRICOM works primarily indirectly, by training, equipping, and sustaining partner forces such as the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) to degrade extremist capabilities. Direct U.S. military action has been limited; examples include Special Operations Forces missions in Somalia and Libya in October 2013 to capture suspected terrorists; the January 2012 rescue of a U.S. hostage in Somalia; and, in a limited number of cases, targeted strikes against members of Al Qaeda in Somalia. AFRICOM's largest military operation to date is Operation Odyssey Dawn, in which it had operational and tactical command of U.S. forces supporting the multilateral effort to enforce a no-fly zone and protect civilians in Libya in 2011. T~,, s kdrex t Aprac The Obama Administration's 2010 National Security Strategy stresses the need to embrace effective partnerships in Africa, highlighting U.S. strategic priorities such as access to open markets, conflict prevention, global peacekeeping, counterterrorism, and the protection of vital carbon sinks. The 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review asserts that our ability to project forces to combat terrorism in places as far away as Yemen, Afghanistan, and Mali-and to build capacity to help partners counter terrorism.. .reduces the likelihood that these threats could find their way to U.S. shores. It outlines DOD's intent to rebalance its counterterrorism efforts toward greater emphasis on building partnership capacity, especially in .O 'T gognpo goo g , q 's a X 11LULANJILiN,

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