By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
STUTTGART, Germany, July 2, 2012 – As
the Defense Department was embracing a counterinsurgency strategy that
recognized the need for “whole-of-government” solutions in Iraq and then
Afghanistan, U.S. Africa Command was busy putting the model into practice on
the African continent.
Africom stood up five years ago as a new
model of interagency cooperation: a U.S. combatant command representing a
cross-section of military, diplomatic and other U.S. government capability able
to bring all elements of national power to regional challenges.
And although budget realities kept
Africom from fully achieving the initial vision of a half military, half
interagency organization, officials at the command’s headquarters here say it’s
still become a gold standard in collaboration. Its staff includes four Senior
Foreign Service officers in key positions, as well as more than 30
representatives from throughout the federal government.
The goal at Africom is to work in tandem
with other U.S. government agencies and international partners to help African
nations deal with African challenges, Army Gen. Carter F. Ham, the Africom
commander, told American Forces Press Service.
Toward that goal, the command supports
military-to-military programs and military-sponsored operations aimed at
promoting a stable, secure Africa, the general said. But equally important, he
emphasized, is Africom’s work using non-DOD authorities and resources and
carried out by the interagency.
To keep a clear-eyed focus on this
effort, Ham relies heavily on two deputy commanders: one responsible for
military operations and the other for civil-military activities. This
composition reflects an understanding that while defense is vital to the
African continent, it’s just one part of the so-called “three-D” formula that
also embodies diplomacy and development, Ambassador J. Anthony Holmes,
Africom’s civilian deputy commander, told American Forces Press Service.
“It represents a recognition of the
reality that what we do to protect U.S. security interests in Africa is part of
a much broader ‘whole-of-government approach’ to representing all our interests
on the continent,” he said. It also acknowledges, he added, that traditional
U.S. military solutions aren’t always the best answer to Africa’s security
challenges.
“Security challenges in Africa are
inextricably bound up with the development challenges in Africa,” Holmes said.
“They are inherently related to the challenges of development or
underdevelopment and economic, political and social development.”
Short-term solutions can’t resolve these
challenges, he emphasized. “You have to be very patient. You have to address
them in a long-term manner.”
This creates a tension between
immediate, sometimes kinetic responses to security challenges that the military
typically delivers and “soft-power” solutions that take a longer-term view
toward resolving the underlying political, economic and social development
causes, the ambassador noted.
“So it is a question of achieving a
balanced approach that takes our security imperatives in the short term, but
recognizing that our short-term approaches should not undermine our longer-term
interests,” he said.
“I think it is widely recognized,
particularly in Africa, that the military brings certain skill sets to
addressing the challenges we face,” agreed Army Maj. Gen. Charles J. Hooper,
Africom’s director of strategy, plans and programs. “But we can’t possibly address
the comprehensive spectrum of challenges,” particularly those stemming from
economic problems, social instability or educational shortfalls.
Hooper noted the activities by Africom’s
interagency partners and nongovernmental organizations that are helping to
address some of the root causes of instability on the continent.
“So the NGOs address some of those
nonsecurity-related, social-related issues. Our interagency partners address
some of the educational [and] economic root causes. And we [in the military]
address security,” he said. “That triumvirate … works together in concert to
present a broad-spectrum solution to address the challenges that we face here.”
To support that effort, Holmes focuses
on creating relationships, building partners in the region and identifying
common interests and common ground for cooperation.
The goal, he said, is to work together
to develop a capacity in so African nations can create the institutions and
achieve security themselves. As a result, individual nations, the region, the
continent, and ultimately, the United States, will benefit from improved
security there, he said.
Ham acknowledged that budgetary
constraints have kept non-DOD agencies from providing the representation
initially envisioned for the Africom headquarters staff. Instead, a smaller
contingency of senior-level members from the departments of State, Agriculture,
Energy, Commerce, Justice and Homeland Security, the Coast Guard, the U.S.
Agency for International Development and the intelligence community support the
mission here, all with reach-back to additional resources and expertise in the
United States.
“All of that is intended to make sure
that we don’t take an exclusively military view to the problems and the
challenges we encounter,” Ham said. “Instead, our actions [and] our plans are
informed more broadly by those who have different experiences, different
perspectives and different capabilities than most of us who grow up in the U.S.
military.”
“You are bringing in talented leaders
who don’t think the same way you do,” agreed Army Brig. Gen. Arnold
Gordon-Bray, Africom’s director of operations. “So when a plan is finished, it
normally incorporates angles you may not have considered. And sometimes those
angles are exactly the angles that the threat [you are countering] may have
chosen to use.”
Hooper called the opportunity to work as
part of an integrated, interagency team at Africom one of the best rewards of
the job here. “This is what is new and what is different about U.S. Africa
Command,” he said. “And it is quite exciting.”
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