U.S. Paves Way for African Counterdrug Cooperation, Success

By Donna Miles

American Forces Press Service

STUTTGART, Germany – When U.S. Africa Command was garnering unprecedented international attention in October during its campaign to protect Libyan civilians from Moammar Ghadafi’s violent crackdown against a rebellion, the command achieved another, less headline-dominating victory.

Police in Cape Verde, a small group of islands off Africa’s west coast, seized an estimated 3,300 pounds of cocaine in the country’s largest-ever drug bust. The cocaine had originated in South America and was transiting through Cape Verde bound for Europe, Africom officials said.

And as confirmed by an International Institute for Strategic Studies report in April, proceeds from shipments like this one are a major funding source for terrorist activities.

Thanks in large part to the new Africom-funded Counter-Narcotics and Maritime Security Operations Center in Cape Verde, profits from the $100 million in captured cocaine there never made it into terrorists’ hands.

The center, built with about $1.5 million from Africom and formally presented to the Cape Verdean government in May 2010, is enabling the country’s police, coast guard and military to collaborate more closely to crack down on illicit trafficking, piracy and other transnational threats, U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Mark Huebschman said.

“We feel that interagency center was a key asset that helped facilitate this very significant drug seizure,” Huebschman, chief of Africom’s counternarcotics and law enforcement assistance division, told American Forces Press Service.

The center features inter-island communications relays that give Cape Verdean government agencies and offices the ability to share information and coordinate their activities against narco-trafficking and other illegal activities, Huebschman explained.

To complement its operations, the United States also helped Cape Verde upgrade its tiny, four-craft patrol boat fleet and donated another small high-speed vessel.

As a result, Cape Verde is better equipped to monitor and patrol its vast territorial waters and economic exclusion zone, with the United States providing only a supporting role, Huebschman said.

Army Gen. Carter F. Ham, Africom’s commander, called these efforts an example of the capacity-building initiatives that are helping Africans to solve African problems.

Testifying before the House Armed Services Committee in February, Ham called narcotics trafficking a destabilizing influence throughout Africa, particularly in West Africa.

“The Africans are not the overall consumers of these drugs that are coming from Central and South America,” he told the House panel. “But they are the transit point for the narcotics that go into Europe.”

Yet the consequences impact Africa directly, he said, breeding corruption and undermining good governance wherever illegal narcotics flow.

“That,” he told Congress, “works contrary to our national interests.”

As traffickers move cocaine shipments through West Africa, their counterparts in Afghanistan and Pakistan are increasingly funneling heroin shipments through East Africa, Huebschman reported. In addition, traffickers are beginning to pay couriers in drugs rather than cash, he said, creating new local markets for drugs on the continent.

Africom is working with its African partners to confront  drug trafficking head-on, while also drawing on resources and expertise from its staff representatives from the Drug Enforcement Agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, FBI and Coast Guard, all of which have reach-back to their agencies in the United States.

“This is really a problem we have approached through a whole-of-government effort,” Huebschman said.

The efforts run the gamut, from training to building capacity within partners’ civilian law enforcement agencies or equipment for them to operate, to minor construction projects to establish bases for their operations.

“We also do projects that promote information sharing, like computer systems and telecommunications systems,” Huebschman said. “All are geared toward providing these law enforcement agencies with an enhanced capability to be able to attack these drug-trafficking organizations.”

For example, officials used high-tech full-body scanners provided by Africom and ICE-led training to interdict a drug courier at one of Nigeria’s international airports almost immediately after putting the system into operation, Huebschman reported. The scanners have proven so successful in supporting Nigeria’s counternarcotics efforts that the United States last year removed Nigeria from its list of major illicit drug-producing and drug-trafficking countries.

Meanwhile, Africom continues to promote cooperation among its African partners so they can provide a unified front to address the problem.

For example, law enforcement officials from seven West African countries met in Sierre Leone in December to explore ways to curtail drug trafficking in the region. The conference, organized by the U.S. State and Justice departments under the auspices of the West Africa Cooperative Security Initiative, focused heavily on the need to combat transnational organized crime activities, particularly corruption, in West Africa.

A new strategy document developed through that initiative is designed to take this effort to the next level by leveraging ongoing efforts by international partners and organizations: G8 partners, The European Union, the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States, among them.

“We’re trying to approach this problem from an international perspective, and to leverage all the resources and capabilities that these various countries and agencies bring to this challenging problem,” Huebschman said.

Meanwhile, rather than basking in the glory of their recent cocaine interdiction, the Cape Verdeans are continuing to exercise with their counterparts from the United States and Europe to improve their maritime security operations.

They recently took part in the multinational Saharan Express 2012 exercise, part of the Africa Partnership Station mission focused on combating illicit activities -- such as illegal fishing, narcotics-trafficking and piracy -- that are endangering the maritime security in many of the participant nations.

Ten regional militaries participated in the training, conducted off the coasts of Cape Verde, Mauritania, Senegal and The Gambia, with scenarios that included visit, board, search and seizures, search-and-rescue scenarios, medical casualty and radio communication drills, and information management practice techniques.

“We live in a world that is confronted with many problems like piracy, drug trafficking, terrorism, organized crime,” said Col. Alberto Ferdandes, chief of staff for the Cape Verde armed forces. “It’s necessary for each of us to find a solution to respond to these problems in an efficient manner, we need to have a communal response and it is important that we are all prepared so we can produce a unified action.”

“We all know that illegal fishing threatens the food security of our countries,” agreed Senegalese Chief of Naval Staff Adm. Mohamed Sane. “Illegal acts like immigration, arms trafficking, pollution, piracy and terrorism threaten social stability. No maritime power can face these challenges alone.”

(Navy Lt. Nathan Potter, public affairs officer for U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet, contributed to this article.)

Kenyan-American Soldiers Compete at Olympic Trials

By Tim Hipps

U.S. Army Installation Management Command

WASHINGTON – The “Kenyan Connection” struck twice for the U.S. Army on June 25 at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Team Trials at historic Hayward Field here.

U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program distance runners Spc. Augustus Maiyo and Spc. Robert Cheseret, both Kenyan-Americans, advanced to the finals in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and 5,000 meter run, respectively.

Cheseret, 28, finished fifth in the first heat of the 5,000-meter preliminaries with a time of 13 minutes, 49.42 seconds.

Lagat, 37, is considered the most-dominant distance runner in U.S. history. He is the American record holder in the 1,500 meters, the mile, 3,000 meters, and 5,000 meters indoors, as well as the champ in 1,500-, 3,000- and 5,000-meter outdoor competition. He also is the Kenyan record holder at 1,500 meters outdoors.

Lagat also is a 12-time medalist in World Championship and Olympic competition, including five gold medals.

Maiyo’s 8:29.29 clocking here was the fourth-fastest time in two preliminary heats of the 3,000-meter steeplechase. He coasted across the finish line in fourth place in the fastest heat.

“The first two laps, I felt it was going hard,” Maiyo said. “At the middle is when I started settling in, I guess. From there, my mileage carried me because I have been running a lot. On the gun lap, I knew I could hang on with those guys. That’s when I decided to get to No. 3. It’s exciting to get to the finals but I don’t have a lot of expectations.

“I came just to enjoy the race, not to add pressure to it,” he continued. “I just wanted to see where I am with these guys.”

Without WCAP, Maiyo would not have been in Eugene for the Olympic Trials.

“When I graduated from Alabama, I didn’t want to run anymore,” said Maiyo, who had taken nearly a three-year break from the track. “When I joined the Army, they gave me the chance, so I started running again last year.”

Cheseret was harder pressed to make the 5,000-meter final. With 200 meters remaining in his qualification heat, no less than eight runners had a shot at six guaranteed spots in the final.

“I had to push a little bit harder,” Cheseret said. “It was almost like an all-out sprint because I saw three guys out there and there were three more guys next to me. I wanted to be in the top six so I had to sprint all the way through to the line.

“The last 600 [meters], the race started to pick up, and I knew that [the top] six [times] automatically qualify,” he added, “so I was trying to count three guys ahead of me and to make sure two more people didn’t pass me. I tried to stay relaxed as much as possible.”

Cheseret acknowledged that he feels the pressure to qualify for the Olympics at the trials here.

“The most pressure was to qualify for these trials because we were chasing the [Olympic] ‘A’ standard,” he said. “That’s the most pressure. Right now, they told us not to worry about anything else, just feel free and relaxed. That’s how you do your best, by running relaxed. There’s a little bit of pressure to make the team, but at the same time you try to tell yourself to stay relaxed.”

Cheseret and Maiyo are joined in WCAP by fellow Kenyan-American Joseph Chirlee, who finished 15th in the 10,000 meters at the Olympic Trials on June 22.

“Actually, that is the greatest thing that has ever happened to us,” Cheseret said. “Coming from Kenya, we went to school here. After school, we joined the Army. The Army helped us get our citizenship, and we’re able to represent the Army and represent the U.S. and we’re also training together as three guys from Kenya.”

“That is the best thing the Army has ever done for us,” he added. “We are really happy for that.”

More Firefighting Aircraft Activated for Colorado Effort

From a 153rd Air Expeditionary Group News Release

CHEYENNE, Wyo., June 29, 2012 – Beginning tomorrow, eight military C-130 aircraft, each equipped with the U.S. Forest Service’s Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System, will be operating out of Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., to assist with firefighting efforts in the Rocky Mountain region.

Two MAFFS-equipped C-130s from the Wyoming Air National Guard’s 153rd Airlift Wing and Air Force Reserve Command’s 302nd Airlift Wing have been working out of Peterson Air Force Base, located in Colorado Springs, Colo., since June 25.

Yesterday, the U.S. Forest Service requested that the remaining four MAFFS units be activated for the Rocky Mountain region. U.S. Northern Command, the Defense Department organization responsible for providing civil support, approved the request and agreed to activate the units late last night.

The California Air National Guard’s 146th Airlift Wing, from Channel Islands, and the North Carolina Air National Guard’s 145th Airlift Wing, from Charlotte, will join the 153rd and the 302nd.

This is the first time since 2008 that all eight military aircraft have been activated at one time, said Air Force Col. Jerry Champlin, 153rd Air Expeditionary Group commander. In that year, the aircraft were stationed at McClellan Airpark in Sacramento, Calif., to fight fires in that state.

Champlin, a member of the Wyoming Air National Guard, has tactical control over the MAFFS aircraft.

Although all eight C-130s will operate from Peterson Air Force Base for now, where they will drop fire retardant depends on the daily situation in the region, officials said. The U.S. Forest Service also may choose to base one or more aircraft in other operating areas.

“They are assigned to fires on a priority basis for each day,” said Scott Fisher, with the U.S. Forest Service. “Air tankers may also be reassigned during the day, based on a shift in priority for the Rocky Mountain coordination center.”

During the first five days of the military’s activation, the four MAFFS-equipped C-130s have dropped 138,398 gallons of fire retardant on two fires in Colorado: the Waldo Canyon Fire, near Colorado Springs, and the Flagstaff Fire, near Boulder.

The C-130s are aiding the effort through a joint Defense Department and U.S. Forest Service program designed to provide additional aerial firefighting resources when commercial and private air tankers are no longer able to meet the Forest Service’s needs.

MAFFS is a self-contained aerial firefighting system owned by the Forest Service that can discharge 3,000 gallons of water or fire retardant in less than five seconds, covering an area one-quarter of a mile long by 100 feet wide. Once the load is discharged, it can be refilled in less than 12 minutes.

Panetta: Partnerships Bolster National Security

By Amaani Lyle

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 29, 2012 – Collaboration, as much as military might, should play a key role in national security, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said here last night.

In remarks as part of the United States Institute of Peace’s Acheson lecture series, Panetta outlined a blueprint for building 21st-century partnerships and improving security cooperation across several areas.

“We must be bold enough to adopt a more collaborative approach to security, both within the United States government and among allies, partners, and multilateral organizations,” he said, adding that the United States must place even greater strategic emphasis on building the security capabilities of others.

Panetta underscored the need to maintain comprehensive and integrated capabilities in key regions to confront critical security challenges.

"Unlike past defense drawdowns when the threats the country was facing appeared to diminish, we still confront many challenges,” the secretary said.

Destabilizing behavior of nations such as Iran and North Korea, the rise of new powers across Asia and the ongoing need to deter aggression in the Middle East and North Africa, Panetta said, have made partnership a critical component of peaceful and cooperative international order.

“Our new strategy prioritizes the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East – the areas with the most significant security challenges,” he said. “We will retain … our military presence, … but we are also going to help more nations share the responsibilities and costs of providing security by investing in alliances and partnerships.”

These partnerships will include engagement in exercises, training and innovative rotational deployments, the secretary added.

Panetta acknowledged that the United States must face these challenges while grappling with a deficit and debt problem that has led Congress to seek nearly half a trillion dollars in defense savings over the next decade. This, he added, requires reshaped priorities that will include a leaner, agile and quickly deployable force on the cutting edge of technology while continuing to develop key capabilities.

“We will … continue to invest in the capabilities of the future such as cyber, unmanned systems, space, special operations forces, and the ability to quickly mobilize and maintain our industrial base,” he said.

Panetta said his strategies built on many enduring philosophies put forth by Dean Acheson, for whom the lecture series is named. As secretary of state from 1949 to 1953, Acheson was a leading proponent for bolstering America’s military might and was a principal architect of America’s foreign policy.

“Acheson strongly believed that America should not seek to shoulder the burden and costs for global security alone,” the secretary said. “Instead, he understood that a key part of a strong defense was to build the security capacity of allies and partners.”

Panetta praised Acheson’s forward-thinking in policy from Western Europe and NATO to South Korea, from the Truman Doctrine to the Nixon Doctrine, and the statesman’s involvement with key allies and regional partners to build a sound U.S. national security strategy after World War II.