The President has established, and DOD operates geographic combatant commands to perform military missions around the world. Geographic combatant commands are each assigned an area of responsibility in which to conduct their missions and activities (see fig. 1 below). Combatant commands are responsible for a variety of functions including tasks such as (1) deploying forces as necessary to carry out the missions assigned to the command; (2) coordinating and approving those aspects of administration, support (including control of resources and equipment, internal organization, and training), and discipline necessary to carry out missions assigned to the command; and (3) assigning command functions to subordinate commanders. Combatant commands are supported by Service component commands (Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force) and Special Operations Command. Each of these component commands has a significant role in planning and supporting operations. On February 6, 2007, the President directed the Secretary of Defense to establish a new geographic combatant command to consolidate the responsibility for DOD activities in Africa that have been shared by U.S. Central Command, U.S. Pacific Command, and U.S. European Command. AFRICOM was officially established on October 1, 2007, with a goal to reach full operational capability as a separate, independent geographic combatant command by September 30, 2008. Full operational capability was defined as the point at which the AFRICOM commander will accept responsibility for executing all U.S. military activities in Africa currently being conducted by the U.S. European, Central, and Pacific commands; have the capability to plan and conduct new operations; and have the capability to develop new initiatives. AFRICOM’s mission statement, which was approved by the Secretary of Defense in May 2008, is to act in concert with other U. S. government agencies and international partners to conduct sustained security engagement through military-to-military programs, military-sponsored activities, and other military operations as directed to promote a stable and secure African environment in support of U.S. foreign policy. Since the President announced the establishment of AFRICOM, DOD has focused on building the capabilities necessary for AFRICOM to systematically assume responsibility for all existing military missions, activities, programs, and exercises in the area of responsibility it is inheriting from the U.S. European, Central, and Pacific commands. From the outset, AFRICOM has sought to assume responsibility for these existing activities seamlessly, without disrupting them or other U.S. government and international efforts in Africa. To accomplish this task, AFRICOM officials created a formal process to manage the transfer of activities it initially identified as ongoing within AFRICOM’s area of responsibility. These range from activities to combat HIV/AIDS to programs that provide training opportunities for foreign military personnel and include the two largest U.S. military activities in Africa, the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa and Operation Enduring Freedom-Trans Sahara. DOD plans to transfer most activities to the new command by September 30, 2008. The areas of responsibility and examples of activities being transferred to AFRICOM from the U.S. European, Central and Pacific commands are presented in figure 2. In cases involving State Department-led activities where DOD plays a primary role in its execution, such as the International Military Education and Training program, AFRICOM is assuming only the execution of the program from other combatant commands—the State Department still maintains overall authority and responsibility for the program. Since the initial establishment of the command in October 2007, AFRICOM has also sought to staff its headquarters, which will include DOD military personnel, DOD civilian personnel, and interagency personnel. Officials explained that staffing the command’s positions is the most critical and limiting factor in the process for assuming responsibility for activities in Africa because activities cannot be transferred without personnel in place to execute them. DOD has approved 1,304 positions (military and DOD civilian) for the command’s headquarters, of which about 270 military positions are being transferred from other commands. By September 30, 2008, DOD plans to have filled 75 percent, or 980 of these positions. In addition, DOD plans to have 13 command positions filled by representatives from non-DOD agencies. As a result, on September 30, 2008, 1 percent of AFRICOM headquarters positions will be filled by representatives from non-DOD organizations (see fig. 3). At this point, the number of interagency representatives in AFRICOM headquarters will be only slightly more than the number of representatives in other geographic commands, but AFRICOM has been designed to embed these interagency personnel at all levels in the command, including in leadership and management roles. While AFRICOM expects to fill 622 (97 percent) of its military personnel positions by September 30, 2008, it only expects to fill 358 (54 percent) of its DOD civilian positions, and 13 out of 52 (25 percent) targeted interagency positions by this time. DOD officials explained that unlike military positions, hiring civilians may include conducting security clearance investigations and overcoming the logistics necessary to physically relocate civilians overseas as well as other administrative requirements. Figure 4 compares the positions DOD has approved for AFRICOM, the targeted interagency positions, the command’s progress in filling them as of July, 2008, and the progress it expects to make by October 1, 2008. In order to meet infrastructure needs, AFRICOM is renovating existing facilities in Stuttgart, Germany, to establish an interim headquarters at a projected cost of approximately $40 million. DOD also projects an investment of approximately $43 million in command, control, communications, and computer systems infrastructure to enable AFRICOM to monitor and manage the vast array of DOD activities in Africa. Decisions related to the location of AFRICOM’s permanent headquarters and the overall command presence in Africa will be decided at a future date; therefore, DOD expects the command will operate from the interim headquarters in Germany for the foreseeable future. In total, DOD budgeted approximately $125 million to support the establishment of AFRICOM during fiscal years 2007 and 2008 and has requested nearly $390 million more for fiscal year 2009. This does not reflect the full cost of establishing the command over the next several years, a cost that is projected to be substantial and could range in the billions of dollars. For example, although DOD has not fully estimated the additional costs of establishing and operating the command, AFRICOM officials said that as the command is further developed and decisions are made on its permanent headquarters, it will need to construct both enduring facilities and meet other operational support requirements. DOD’s preliminary estimates for the command’s future infrastructure and equipping costs over the next several years exceed several billion dollars, excluding the cost of activities AFRICOM will be performing. The progress AFRICOM intends to make in establishing the command by September 30, 2008, will provide it a foundation for working toward DOD’s goal to promote whole-of-government approaches to building the capacity of partner nations. However, AFRICOM officials recognize the command will need to continue to develop after its September 30, 2008, milestone to move beyond episodic security cooperation events to more strategic, sustained efforts. The AFRICOM commander has described the command as a “…listening, growing, and developing organization.” In addition, senior DOD officials told us that on September 30, 2008, DOD does not anticipate that AFRICOM will have the desired interagency skill sets, the ability to strategically engage with African countries beyond the established level, or the capacity to take on new initiatives. In addition to DOD’s efforts to establish the combatant command, the military services and Special Operations Command are also working to establish component commands that will be subordinate to AFRICOM. They are in the process of developing organizational structures and determining facilities, personnel, and other requirements, such as operational support aircraft, that have yet to be fully defined, but could be challenging for the services to meet. For example, personnel requirements for each component command range from approximately 100 personnel to more than 400, and Army officials said they will likely face difficulties in filling positions because many of the positions require a certain level of rank or experience that is in high demand. At the time that AFRICOM is estimated to reach full operational capability (September 30, 2008), only two component commands (Navy, Marine Corps) are expected to be fully operational. The Army, Air Force, and Special Operations component commands are expected to reach full operational capability by October 1, 2009. DOD’s first challenge to achieving its vision for AFRICOM is in integrating personnel from civilian agencies into AFRICOM’s command and staff structure. According to AFRICOM, strategic success in Africa depends on a whole-of-government approach to stability and security. A whole-of- government approach necessitates collaboration among federal agencies to ensure their activities are synchronized and integrated in pursuit of a common goal. Integrating personnel from federal civilian agencies is intended to facilitate collaboration among agencies, but AFRICOM has had difficulties in filling its interagency positions. Unlike liaison positions in other combatant commands, AFRICOM has been designed to embed personnel from non-DOD agencies in leadership, management, and staff positions at all levels in the command. For example, AFRICOM’s Deputy to the Commander for Civil-Military Activities, one of two co-equal Deputies to the Commander, is a senior Foreign Service officer from the Department of State. By bringing knowledge of their home agencies, personnel from other agencies, such as the USAID and the departments of Treasury and Commerce, are expected to improve the planning and execution of AFRICOM’s plans, programs, and activities and to stimulate collaboration among U.S. government agencies.