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NEWS FROM THE FRONT 

 April 2017

Mr. Michael Hartmayer, Chief Strategic Analysis Branch, 

Center for Army Lessons Learned (CALL)

Colonel Evan Trinkle, CALL Liaison Officer to U.S. Army Africa

Approved for Public Release

Distribution Unlimited

African Horizons

Planning and engaging in Security Cooperation across 

the three horizons; Partnerships, Time, and Scale
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Overview

African Horizons is U.S. Army Africa’s (USARAF) innovative approach to synchronizing 

Army activities over time to achieve strategic objectives. It links bilateral security

cooperation (SC) activities with key influencers to achieve regional effects that build 

toward continental security in Africa. African Horizons was designed to increase the 

efficacy of USARAF as a theater army, improve readiness of both U.S. and African 

army forces through relevant and demanding training in austere environments, and 

expand the global land power network in Africa.

The purpose of this News from the Front (NFTF) is to share the USARAF story and 

highlight its creative approach to accomplishing SC goals on the continent. To that end, 

this NFTF will address:

 An overview of the African Horizons concept

 USARAF’s regional approach to SC

 An interview with the USARAF chief of staff
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African Horizons

U.S. Army Africa (USARAF), an Army service component command (ASCC) 

headquartered in Italy, is U.S. Africa Command’s (USAFRICOM) key agency for theater 

SC in Africa. The root concept of African Horizons grew from USARAF’s approach to 

engagement with African partners: specifically planning and engaging across these 

three horizons – partnerships, time, and scale. Strong, trusted, and respected 

partnerships between USARAF and African land forces shape and help to sustain 

regional security and stability in Africa. USARAF’s commitment endures beyond 

government transitions in Africa and the United States. A stable Africa, where our 

African partners share a common vision of cooperation and security, helps ensure the 

safety of U.S. citizens and national economic and security interests both at home and 

abroad.

Africa’s vast natural resources and talented populations indicate economic and 

industrial potential that draws interest from major world powers. Unfortunately, social 

turbulence jeopardizes that potential and underlies most of the continent’s unrest today. 

Troubles in each African region inevitably affect the whole continent and challenge the 

security and stability of Europe as well as Africa. Seeing this larger perspective and 

intending to promote peace, the United States cultivates regional partnerships with 

African countries. Their cooperation stabilizes the economies, political institutions, and 

national security in each region. USARAF plays a significant role in this development. 

USARAF is the U.S. Army’s executive agent for the conduct of Title 10 responsibilities 

on the African continent – this includes mission command, support to all U.S. Army 

forces and their activities, and Army support to other services (ASOS). In order to meet 

these diverse requirements that are assigned to every theater army, USARAF employs 

regionally aligned forces (RAF), which include active, United States Army Reserve

(USAR), Army National Guard (ARNG) and the State Partnership Program (SPP), and 

institutional Army personnel. These Continental United States (CONUS) based forces 

are trained and equipped to undertake missions on the continent of Africa – they can do 
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this by deploying to the continent or through reach-back support. These forces provide 

USAFRICOM with the support for both contingency response and theater SC activities. 

Particularly effective is the National Guard Bureau’s (NGB) SPP, which has established 

ongoing relationships with thirteen African countries. These regionally aligned forces 

consistently engage institutional and relationship partners in Africa on behalf of the 

USARAF mission. 

In order to provide regionally specialized forces to U.S. government organizations and 

to African partners needing U.S. Army expertise, a tailored approach, given the 

available resources, is required. By employing the forces available (SPP, RAF, USAR, 

and ARNG) and actively engaging with African security partners in depth across the 

continent, USARAF is the critical link to protecting America’s interests in Africa and at 

home. Considerably smaller than the average theater army headquarters, USARAF 

“punches above its weight class.” In operations and training on the African continent, 

the U.S. Army is developing the next generation of leaders into a force able to win in 

complex and austere environments. When U.S. Soldiers conduct SC activities on the 

continent of Africa, they are able to improve their individual and parent units’ readiness. 

As they prepare and execute the U.S. Army’s “Prevent, Shape, Win” strategy, the 

Soldiers and leaders of USARAF and its RAF perform at the cutting edge. 
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USARAF Connects African Leaders in Regional Partnerships

Now more than ever, the U.S. National Security Strategy recognizes the strategic 

importance of Africa regarding the threat of violent extremist organizations (VEOs) and 

envisions a prominent role for USARAF / Southern European Task Force (SETAF)

under USAFRICOM. USARAF, an Army service component command (ASCC) 

headquartered in Italy, is AFRICOM’s key agency for theater security cooperation in 

Africa. As SETAF is hosted by the Republic of Italy, it is the largest Army command 

“south of the Alps.” USARAF exerts influence across three horizons: partnerships, time,

and scale. USARAF actions serve the Army’s priority of readiness in manning, training, 

equipping, and leader development. The 2015 strategy articulates U.S. interests 

regarding Africa in four categories: combating terrorists, supporting partner nations, 

stabilizing economies, and promoting a favorable international order. It observes rising 

trends in African capacity to counter threats.

The rise of Africa's governmental stability, prosperity, and peacekeeping ability depends 

upon accurately countering the transnational forces that threaten each people-group. 

Assessing the threats and matching them with regional assets became the main thrust 

of USARAF's mission. In terms of perceiving threats and challenges, USAFRICOM 

addresses these broadly in five lines of effort (LOE): The first is neutralizing the terror 

group al-Shabab in Somalia, officials said, and transitioning this effort from a mission 

led by the African Union Mission in Somalia to one in which the Somali government 

secures its own territory. The second LOE centers around the failed state of Libya with 

the effort focused on containing the instability in the country. The third line of effort is to 

contain Boko Haram in West Africa. Fourth, AFRICOM will focus on disrupting illicit 

activity in the Gulf of Guinea and in Central Africa. Lastly, AFRICOM to build

African partners' peacekeeping and disaster assistance capabilities. Nested with and 

under these AFRICOM LOEs are corresponding USARAF objectives.
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The cooperative approach is important in Africa. Transnational threats come to the 

attention of USARAF and leaders of its African partner nations, who deliberate on 

courses of action to disrupt threats, and produce collaborative plans for regional Accord 

exercises. After action reviews of the exercises are reported to regional centers of 

excellence and regional commanders (land forces) who integrate information about the 

threats with regional capabilities development. This development takes place by means 

of senior leader engagements, command sponsored visits, training, military-to-military 

exchanges, and institutional development. The results of the development of these 

activities and capabilities informs strategies and operations of the regional politicalmilitary cooperatives. These regional political-military cooperatives include: Eastern 

Africa Standby Force (EASF); Southern Africa Development Community (SADC); Force 

Multinationale de l’Afrique Centrale (FOMAC); and, the Economic Community of 

Western African States (ECOWAS). 

USARAF Investment in the African Land Forces Summit (ALFS) Pays Off

The Africa Standby Force leaders, in conjunction with USARAF, assemble in an annual 

capstone gathering of many political and military leaders representing each region. This 

capstone meeting is of significance to USARAF’s mission; in fact, it forms the 

centerpiece for proof-of-concept. During the fourth annual ALFS, which took place in 

May 2016 in Tanzania, the U.S. Army Chief of Staff and general officers of AFRICOM 

and USARAF conducted discussions with Africa’s key leaders. Their conversations 

produced action plans and conceptual developments for application in activities of the 

African Union (AU). This had an enormous impact and resulted in the AU pledging

substantial military manpower and economic forces to address defined threats. Of great 

significance in the 2016 ALFS, was the first-time participation of South Africa and of 

Angola, which ranks high among nations contributing troops to peacekeeping initiatives. 

USARAF’s partnerships with like-minded African leaders who share concerns about 

regional problems resulted in successful connectedness among Africans. The Summit 

in May proved 42 nations can agree on a strategy and missions to suppress 

transnational threats. 
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During March 2016 in Malawi, military and political leaders signed a landmark Status of 

Forces Agreement (SOFA). The Joint Senior Non-commissioned Officer (NCO)

Academy in Malawi continued for a fourth year, training military leadership for the entire 

SADC. Through the Academy, and similar to U.S. Army methodology, African NCO’s 

develop their potential as key leaders and trainers of their armies. USARAF leadership 

and persistent presence has made a significant impact. 

Regional (African Security Forces) ASF summoned by the African Union (AU) and 

nations represented in ALFS produce effects desired by each region in turn, through 

cooperation with ECOWAS, FOMAC, SADC, and EASF. Those military effects, 

assessed and interpreted by continuous conversations facilitated by USARAF, gain 

further influence when rehearsed in subsequent Accord exercises and in regional 

leaders seminars. Therefore, the military and political actions taken have a measurable 

effect on precisely the threats and challenges earlier identified. The loop is complete; 

this process continues to stabilize participant countries and regions in their purposes 

and objectives.

Regional Alignment of Force Structures

“Regional” describes the unique nature of USARAF’s place in the geographic-focused 

headquarters: USARAF and Special Operations Command-Africa (SOCAF) are the only 

two components within USAFRICOM that focus entirely on Africa, while the other 

services – such as Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) – look 

both toward Africa and European commands. 

To stabilize Africa requires enormous and sustained effort by Africans themselves, and 

failure has global consequences for trade, order, and especially security. The youth 

population of continental Africa multiplies far more quickly than do most economies and 

job sectors in each region. This makes millions of people susceptible to both criminal 

elements and natural pressures to migrate. This demographic trend will gain momentum 
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if child mortality rates and human immunodeficiency virus-related deaths decline. The 

operating environments of Africa pose serious challenges for logistics because of 

distance and incomplete infrastructures, a factor that works in favor of criminal 

organizations. 

USARAF is committed to long term institution building for the sake of excluding 

ungoverned spaces. For example, during 2016, USARAF established a Cooperative 

Security Location (CSL) in Garoua, Cameroon, to provide the U.S. 160th Special 

Operations Aviation Regiment a staging base from which to conduct operations. This 

required the establishment of joint operations with the U.S. Marines, Air Force, Navy, 

and the Cameroonian Air Force. As CSLs enhance the relationships between U.S. 

entities and the host country, they provide a stability of presence and expectation of 

partnership that pays long term peace dividends. USARAF draws upon the U.S. ARNG 

from various states and cooperates with a diverse array of U.S. Joint Forces. The 

associated SPP equips U.S. troops with valuable experience and also contributes to the 

goal of stability in each region of Africa. Approximately 2,000 U.S. Soldiers are in Africa 

every day conducting USAFRICOM missions and activities, including participating in 

300-400 SC events per year. Through this activity, the U.S. Army’s sustainable 

readiness model is applied in the USARAF area of responsibility and provides U.S. 

Soldiers and joint forces training not available to them otherwise. USARAF, engaged in 

significant real world operations, presents a unique joint, interagency, 

intergovernmental, and multinational environment.

Similarly, USARAF supports the Africa-based training of U.S. officer cadets in the 

Cultural Understanding and Language Proficiency program (CULP). During the 2016 

summer CULP in Madagascar, USARAF personnel accompanied 70 cadets as 

mentors.
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Regional Solutions to the “Tyranny of Distance”

Continental Africa comprises 54 countries and more than 2,100 languages. Its 

geographic size and its immensity of scale daunts SC experts who must plan to address 

threats by moving material, personnel, and strategic communications to where a 

prescribed effect can be achieved. To gain an appreciation for the scale of African 

Horizons, the African continent is the equivalent of the combined territory of China, 

Mexico, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, India, Japan, Iberia, and the United States. 

From this understanding, USARAF and its partner agencies assess U.S. interests. They 

also interpret global power influences from China, Russia, Iran, and other nation-states. 

USARAF’s mandate from USAFRICOM requires an understanding of all these factors in 

order to develop a proactive security posture.

The “Tyranny of Distance” refers to the immensity of Africa in relation to the nations, 

noted in the previous paragraph, that want to exert influence in Africa. Each of these

non-African nations nurtures a certain self-interest. For example, China has expressed 

interest in acquiring a number of different resources that Africa holds and wants to 

develop markets there for Chinese goods. India likewise wants to develop markets in 

Africa for its own population of service-providers and industrial production. European 

nations and the United States have national interests in securing Africa’s political 

stability in order to reduce migrantion and to mitigate the threat of terrorism and to 

enable commercial transactions which benefit both Africans and their commercial 

partners. 

During the past year, four Regional Leader Seminars (RLS’s) connected the African 

land force commanders to each other and to USARAF partners, while setting up for 

significant regional exercises (Accord series in each of four regions of the continent). 

These seminars are fortified by the annual African Land Forces Summit of regional 

leaders. ALFS equips African partners by developing relationships and enabling 

cooperation on critical issues of military ethics and consistent antiterrorism strategy. 

Just as importantly, the ALFS processes of personal interaction enable U.S. 
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commanders to hear directly from their African counterparts, leading to the targeted 

shaping of USARAF actions. Regional alignment provides regional expertise, habitual 

relationships, and enduring partnerships.

Regional Alignments produce synergistic benefits

Each of four regions in continental Africa (excluding Egypt and South Africa) presents a 

distinct array of stabilization and security opportunities for regional partnerships to 

develop. Currently USARAF works most closely with African partner nations whose 

leaders welcome international cooperation to stabilize their “neighborhoods.” In some 

cases, active participants such as Angola, Tanzania, and Cameroon contribute to more 

than their own natural region. For example:

Southern Region

The Southern Accord 2016 in Malawi was a disaster response exercise linked with a 

peacekeeping scenario, a first-ever combination for any of the Accord series. The timing 

was ironic. In April 2016, floods ravaged 15 districts in Malawi. The exercise involved 

hundreds of soldiers from African Southern African Development Community (SADC)

countries, the Land Operations Support Command of the Netherlands, and the U.S. 75th

Training Command. SADC’s Standby Brigade was initiated in 2007 in Zambia with 13 

signatory nations. Southern Accord 16 enabled the SADC to build, test, and refine plans 

to reduce violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Such a joint exercise 

demonstrates the resolve, capability and collaboration of African armies that can 

intimidate potential adversaries. Participant nations included Botswana, Namibia, 

Malawi, Swaziland, Mozambique, Angola, and Tanzania.

Western Region

The Western region partnerships include those in the Lake Chad Basin Initiative, a 

coordinated series of bilateral partnerships with Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon. 
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This initiative targets the violent Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, which threatens

to destabilize the entire region. Policy direction comes from the U.S. State Department 

through USARAF and the U.S. Special Operations Command Africa (USSOCAF). 

Western Accord exercises were designed to develop the ECOWAS Standby Forces’ 

capacity for peacekeeping operations. Western Accord 2016 centered on Burkina Faso. 

Here, the new president personally involved himself, which achieved an improved level 

of cooperation among all the partner nations. The Base Operations Support-Integrated 

(BOS-I) project in Garoua, Cameroon, significantly advanced partner capacity during 

2015-2016. U.S. personnel from the19th Special Forces Group (ARNG), while assigned 

as USARAF’s regionally aligned force, conducted advanced infantry training in Nigeria, 

producing mutual benefit. ECOWAS includes: Ghana, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Côte 

d’Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mali, Senegal, Niger, Burkina 

Faso, Gambia, and Cape Verde.

Central Region

Illicit trafficking of people, weapons, and narcotics sets up conditions for corruption and 

threatens the stability of governments throughout the region. The Africa Bureau of the 

U.S. State Department, through USAFRICOM and then USARAF, administers a 

regional plan to particularly address the destabilizing threat of trafficking. Participants 

include multiple agencies (“whole of government” approach) from the U.S. and various 

African partner nations. USARAF’s African partners in the Central Region include 

FOMAC contributors Angola, Rwanda, Sao Tome, Principe, Chad, the Central African 

Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo (where USARAF has pioneered an 

important logistics school with help of the U.S. Training and Doctrine Command), U.S.

Army Reserve components, and Gabon. 

Eastern Region

The Eastern Africa Standby Force (EASF) emerged as a response to threats posed by 

Lord’s Resistance Army, Al-Shabaab, and transnational trafficking cartels. Its members 
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are Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, 

and Uganda. EASF shares a common logistics base in Ethiopia and a planning element 

in Kenya. 

Africa Rising with USARAF Involvement

Because USARAF successfully connected African military leaders and filled gaps in 

expertise, analysts predict that key African nations will progress toward security and 

stability over the next five years. Energized by its whole of government approach, 

USARAF supports multinational organizations such as the African Union and SADC as 

they play a greater role in subduing VEOs, organized crime, and transnational threats. 

Political trends are shifting gradually toward fair elections and peaceful transfers of 

power. However, ethnic conflicts, massive unemployment, and institutional immaturity 

will present chronic challenges. USARAF’s proven process of involvement will serve 

U.S. national interests and the long term good of its African partners.
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Interview with USARAF Chief of Staff COL Steve Maranian

 Describe the state of security cooperation (SC) in the region from a theater 

SC and exercise perspective and where do African Horizons SC activities need to 

proceed?

 African Horizons is a construct for the USARAF Commanding General’s vision to 

be considered a valuable and trusted partner to African Nations. It is an overarching 

construct to enable and articulate the Command’s Campaign Support Plan to the 

USAFRICOM commander and his LOEs and how USARAF is going to accomplish 

these efforts. The state of security cooperation in the region varies from a robust and 

excellent security environment to the non-existent. There are some high end 

experienced armies with large numbers of soldiers and a Western style structure, such 

as Ethiopia where we deal with a couple dozen divisions. On the other end of the 

spectrum, there are armies like Liberia that have an armed force of less than 2000 

soldiers emerging as a brand new force. So, there is a vast range of capacity with 54 

difference nations, all with their own varying goals and ambitions, as well as how each 

interact with other nations on the continent. Security cooperation is based on each 

country and the individual history USARAF has with each country. USARAF’s exercise 

program is a vehicle for interaction. There is the Accord series of exercises, which focus

on the east, west, central and southern African regions. Also, annually, there are three 

joint exercises conducted as computer-assisted command post exercises (CPX). One is 

a CPX combined with a field training exercise (FTX) which enables U.S. Soldiers to 

maneuver at the platoon and company levels with partner nations that have chosen to 

participate in the exercise. When conducting a CPX, it incorporates from one to a dozen 

officers from different countries joined together as an international staff, usually focused 

on a United Nations (UN) mission that countries in that region are contributing to. It 

provides a vehicle to discuss interoperability, relationship building, and to facilitate 

meaningful dialogue with those countries. Under the guidance of Major General 

Williams, a regional leadership seminar was added at the end of each regional exercise. 

The seminar was facilitated by USARAF’s Security Cooperation Division and moderated 

by the Commanding General with the assistance of the host nation’s senior 
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representative. The information discussed in these RLSs focused on what is important 

to those armies represented at the seminar. As a result, the state of security 

cooperation cannot be answered holistically, but must be addressed regionally and 

focused on each nation.

 You mentioned that the continent of Africa was broken down regionally. 

What is USARAF trying to influence regionally?

 Fundamentally, what does the U.S. want to get out of its relationships in Africa? 

Africa is often seen as a monolithic continent, but it is a continent with people speaking

over 2,000 languages. Our relationships have to be put into a larger construct of what it 

is that we hope to accomplish and what is the U.S. national interest. Otherwise, there is 

not a proper focus on what is being accomplished. Keep in mind, USAFRICOM is a 

relatively new command, USARAF has only been in existence for less than a decade as 

the ASCC for USAFRICOM. USAFRICOM (a four-star headquarters) was established to 

put greater emphasis, energy, time, and becoming more regionally attuned to what is 

taking place on the continent. For us as a nation, we have to define why we want to 

have relationships with the African nations. Do we want to develop them into 

international security partners or are we looking for them to have regional stability within 

their country and surrounding nations? Are we also looking for them to look upon us 

favorably? In the area of international trade, the emerging non-African international 

powers such as Russia or China are our competitors. There are a number of ways we 

can define what the U.S. national interest is on the African continent. Once that interest 

is defined in the U.S. national strategy, a plan can then be developed to support it. The 

theater campaign plan lays out a number of different LOEs which lead to dealing with 

many challenges, from the east with Al Shabaab, to the north with the instability based 

on the vacuum left with Libya, and now ISIS, and Boko Haram in the Lake Chad basin. 

These challenges are being addressed in the campaign support plan, but we are also 

building partners that can contribute to UN missions and be participants in the solutions 

to some of the challenges on the continent.
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 What challenges has USARAF faced as the ASCC for AFRICOM?

 This is a fairly new ASCC, and it never grew to its originally designed 

organizational level strength before the Army decided to cut strength out of all two-star 

commands and above. USARAF was still growing to its full modified table of 

organization and equipment (MTOE) and table of distribution and allowance (TDA). It’s 

an organization that does not have subordinate units assigned to it. The exception now 

is the Theater Military Intelligence Brigade, which is assigned to USAFRICOM and 

attached to USARAF. There are no forces assigned to USARAF. So, as you look at a 

small ASCC like USARAF and a large ASCC like U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC), what 

you’ve got is a ruck sack full of tools ranging from a three-star headquarters to a twostar division headquarters that can comprise joint task forces (JTF) that can stand up 

and function at the operational and tactical levels, and there are forces assigned to the 

theater in the traditional capacity as you think of the brigade combat teams (BCTs)

being able to go out and perform missions. USARAF does not have this capacity. As a 

headquarters, it must operate at the strategic level incorporating the geographic 

combatant commander’s guidance and vision down to giving direction to the regionally 

aligned brigade and forces that are operating anywhere from battalion-minus size 

strength for small periods for exercises to half a dozen Soldiers employed to provide a 

training and equipping mission for a couple of weeks in a country on behalf of the 

country team. The challenges facing USARAF are certainly unique and the few number 

of forces and personnel and a relatively small budget requires astute planning. The 

annual USARAF operating budget is only about $50M for the base. The directed 

mission’s budget is from the higher headquarters, which has been funded through

overseas contingency operations dollars and has totaled about double the operating 

budget. Even at that, a $150M annual budget is not a very large budget for an 

organization, along with the U.S. Marines Africa, it is the only component that is doing 

any boots on the ground that interact with partner nation ground-based armed forces, 

many of which are operating on the low end of information and technology. The ground 

forces are the units of choice. Now the U.S. Air Force and Navy do support small 

exercises on the continent.
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 USARAF faced cutbacks before it reached its originally designed strength 

level. Currently as an ASCC, is it organized correctly, and what is the minimum 

staffing needed to function and meet its mission requirements?

 As you look across the functional and special staff, its current organization

configuration is about right. The struggle is keeping the manning levels in the functional 

staff at the cost of manning the contingency command post (CCP). The TDA for the 

CCP is for a couple dozen Soldiers, which is not robust enough to maintain anything for 

a sustained period of time or any large scale operation. For example, as the command 

went through the response for the Ebola crisis in Libya, Operation United Assistance, it 

started with 12 personnel headed up by the Commanding General (CG) that went to 

assess the situation. The CG received guidance from higher to stay on the ground to 

become a forcing action to bring more personnel to the continent. Ultimately, the 

sustained operation had to be handed over to a division headquarters that was manned 

sufficiently to sustain supporting the mission long term. The USARAF headquarters 

would be challenged to sustain operations, along with all of the Title 10 responsibilities

required by the geographic combatant commander. A long term operation would require 

augmentation to the staff and the request would pull away from the steady state 

operation already established in the headquarters. 

 From a macro perspective, what do you see as some of the key long term 

institutional fixes that Department of Defense (DOD) and Department of the Army 

(DA) implement to improve multinational operations and interoperability?

 This ties in well with the last question. The size of the headquarters does not 

have the number of personnel to form a joint task force (JTF) for a long period of time,

as is doctrinally USARAF’s responsibility as an ASCC. The long-term assignment of a 

unit at the division level to USARAF would be a good start to fix institutionally what 

USARAF does not have. What USARAF does not have is assigned subordinate units. If 

USARAF had a RAFdivision there would be continuity of effort and institutional 

knowledge built within that organization. Taking it one step further, if the Army was to 

say the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd Brigade would be the basis for the RAF and provide a rotation 

among those brigades as the regionally aligned brigade (RAB), some of the support of 
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the RAB could come from some of the sustainment brigades (the artillery, military police 

(MP), signal, and etc.). Then if needed, the support could come from other sourcing 

solutions when it exceeds their capacity. As an Army, we are building regional expertise 

that develops into a center of excellence (CoE) on Africa that is able to supplement 

what is being done at USARAF Headquarters. This would assist the command with the 

challenges of having a new RAF RAB that does most of the heavy lifting on an annual 

basis. Then, all of the effort of on-boarding, trying to teach some new unit about the 

African continent for the first time would be bridged. It would not have to be repeated as 

they get the mission six months in advance of having to take over that mission. When 

you talk about interoperability, it’s different on the African continent because you are 

dealing with a different level of interoperability. You are not dealing with allies, but 

partners and digital interoperability systems. As interoperability improves, it needs to 

build towards a United nations (UN) standard when working with African partners. Right 

now, the vast majority of the exercises and training deal with nations that are 

contributing to UN missions.

 How are the reserve components utilized along with the state partnership 

program (SPP)?

 The SPP has only been in existence in African countries for a short period of 

time, especially when you compare it to its origin in the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin 

Wall and the disintegration of the Soviet Union in Europe. Currently, there are 10 states

in Africa partnered with 12 nations. Most of them have a strategic significance that are a 

part of the USAFRICOM Commander’s priorities, some have waned since the program 

has started in their nation, but it is worth keeping the tie-in to the nation. This is an area 

where there is an opportunity to grow the program and a way to achieve long-term 

benefits on the continent. What we don’t want are relationships and interactions that 

seem transactional, cold, or unemotional. By employing states that have a partnership 

with one particular nation, you have a relationship that has been developed over long 

periods of time. You have officers and noncommissioned officers that have known each 

other and have watched each other’s careers progress in their countries’ military. The 

SPP is important for U.S. long term strategy if we do indeed intend to be active and 

influential on the African continent. It’s more than the U.S. National Guard and SPP and 
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it is also tied into the Army Reserves. The Army Reserve Engagement Cell (AREC),

which is led by USARAF’s Deputy Commanding General (DCG) and staffed by 

reservists who are on 12302 orders on tour with USARAF and are embedded in the 

various staff sections, facilitate the integration of reserve components into USARAF. A 

lot of the enablers are in the Reserves and are able to reach into the Reserves 

capabilities and bring robust augmentation into USARAF’s mission. Now, you go from a 

hand of five cards to a deck of 52 when you bring in the total Army on the continent. 

Further, you are also building an experience base across the total Army. 

 Reflecting on your time here, what are some of the key takeaways 

regarding operating on the continent, and where are we headed?

 Africa is a big continent, mobility is difficult, everything is expensive, logistics are

expensive, there are vast areas where there are no communications infrastructure, 

architecture, and even in the best areas communications can be spotty. This adds up to 

large expenses to accomplish the minimum acceptable objectives. There needs to be 

prioritization of what areas USARAF will focus on. 

 As a nation, why is Africa important to us? What do we want to accomplish? 

Where do we see ourselves 10, 20, 30, 40 years from now? Right now, the Combatant 

Commander sets the priorities for where he wants USARAF to operate. Where does the 

small $50M base budget get funneled into annually? The theater campaign plan 

establishes those priorities by lines of effort, but also in priority nations where he would 

like his component commanders to focus their energies and efforts. In addition, 

USARAF looks on the periphery to see where they can get an additional bang for the 

buck. There are opportunities to start new relationships. When a new security 

cooperation relationship begins, it starts at the key leader engagement (KLE) level. 

Relationships can often change within a nation, such as when an election brings new 

leadership into the government. Nigeria, as an example, is a key relationship, and 

USARAF is starting to help them build a long-term 20-year strategy for their army. It all 

starts with very senior leaders interacting, which then leads to coordination at the action 

officer and directorate level to develop concepts. Then, it gets to the application of 

discretionary funds for the near term and programming of long-term funding in the 
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program objective memorandum (POM). It is a very deliberate process of how you 

begin and how USARAF sources relationships with a new country that has not been 

operated in before and a decision has been made that now is taking on a greater 

significance. 

 Can you discuss the larger capstone event USARAF focuses on annually, 

the African Land Forces Summit? Who is involved, and what is its purpose? 

 The ALFS, has been conducted for just a few iterations. It was made an annual 

event two years ago. Before 2014, it was a biannual event. The 2016 summit was held 

in Tanzania. It is a Chief of Staff of the Army-sponsored co-hosted event, along with the 

partner nation. It was conducted on the continent of Africa and land force commanders 

from 45 nations were invited; 42 attended, but in a few cases, senior representatives 

attended instead; and a small number of defense chiefs attended in lieu of the land 

forces commanders. ALFS is a venue taking the regional dialog up to the next level. 

There were continued regional events that occurred by way of small breakout groups. 

The RLS from the Accord series stimulate the topics to be discussed in these regional 

breakouts at ALFS. The overarching plenary sessions were based on larger issues. The 

discussions were germane to the issues that are of relevance at the strategic level to all 

nations. This year, USARAF took the U.S. Chief of Staff of the Army priorities and broke

them into the three days of plenary sessions into those broad topics. The Chief kicked

off the summit on day one by discussing readiness. Then, each following day a high 

powered speaker started each day’s session. Then a panel of experts got into more 

detail. The regional breakout occurred after each session was completed to discuss 

what was brought forward. We learned as much or more from the dialog from those 

sessions as the participants. It was a vehicle to stimulate dialog between chiefs of 

armies that would otherwise not occur because of the challenges described earlier or 

because of expense, distance, and lack of communication infrastructure. These issues

were overcome by paying to physically bring these representatives together at the very 

senior levels of their armies. This year’s summit, with the presence of General Milley,

was the first time a U.S. Chief of Staff has been on the continent hosting in person. His 

presence contributed to the big jump from last year’s 34 participants to 42 participants.
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 Recently, shaping the security sector has been identified as a key Army 

challenge. What challenges does the U.S. face in Africa? 

 It’s interesting as you look at this broad question -- shaping the security sector. 

Shaping it to do what? Based on our national interest, and vision 20 to 30 years from 

now, do we see developing allies, coalition partners, or relationships that lean nations in 

our direction? The greatest emerging challenge on the continent is the youth bulge that 

is occurring across large parts of Africa and the Middle East, plus the explosion of 

smartphone technology and the mentality of “entitlement.” All of this combined with a 

large group of unemployed men, no access to technology, and the feeling that 

something ought to be done for them creates potentially huge security problems. As you 

look at how we shape the future relationships with these various, different nations on 

the continent of Africa , there needs to be addressed, at the national level, the 

overarching question of what is our vision for where we are going? 

 Any final comments?

 Considering some of the emerging challenges that we face, potentially long term, 

we as a nation have to decide, does Africa really matter? If so, what do we want to get 

out of our relationship with the various partners on the continent? I believe that it does 

matter. As a nation, as we stay engaged, we can’t fall back on the thinking of decades 

ago that old relationships with allied partners are the only ones that we ought to invest 

our time in developing and maintaining. The world has become much more globally 

interconnected and what happens in what previously have been remote areas have the 

potential of large-scale international impact and influence in the course of international 

politics. The long-term strategy that is built for our partners in Africa needs to be built on 

a solid foundation with relationships that have been established over time.