Introduction
PKSOI sponsored a 2017 AUSA panel discussion entitled
AFRICOM: 10 years in the making as a model for Stabil-
ity Activities, held on 18 September at AUSA. The two
panels addressed Whole of Government (WoG) progress
in the Peace and Stability Operations environment with a
focus on AFRICOM. To kick off the discussion, PKSOI
presented their IRP findings, which were used as a tem-
plate for comparison with some of the emerging challenges
within the AFRICOM theater, while applying a WoG ap-
proach to fulfill national interests. A second panel applied
the IRP principles to a Lake Chad Basin (LCB) case study
to determine whether they would alter the existing strategy
for that region. A third panel explored the opportunities
and challenges awaiting AFRICOM and its partners in the
coming decade and beyond. The Association of the United
States Army (AUSA) held an all-day event on September
18, 2017 to discuss 'AFRICOM; 10 Years in the Making as
a Model for Stability Activities'. The event was sponsored
by the Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute and
had 2 keynote addresses and three panel sessions.
The United States has a compelling national security in-
terest to promote stability in select fragile and conflict-af-
fected states. The operating environment is complex and
requires a whole-of-U.S. government (USG) response, cou-
pled with non-governmental and international partners,
and supported by the affected nation in order to achieve
their own national goals. Since 1947, the national security
system has struggled to handle effectively the range and
complexity of the existing global threats and opportunities.
A paper for the incoming Administration’s transition team
prepared in November 2016 by the Department of State,
the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the
Department of Defense (DoD) summarized the issues as
follows:
1
Panel Chair Beth Cole Author and expert on civilian–mil-
itary cooperation, stabilization and countering violent
extremism provides opening comments to the AFRICOM
(Lake Chad Basin) Panel Members GEN David M. Ro-
driguez, USA Ret. Former Commanding General, U.S.
Africa Command, Chris Runyan Acting Deputy Assistant
Administrator of the USAID Bureau for Africa, AMB Dan
Mozena, Retired, Senior Coordinator on Boko Haram,
U.S. Department of State and Alexis Smallridge Deputy
National Intelligence Officer for Africa.
The US Government is lacking a number of critical
mechanisms to formulate and execute stabilization
efforts, and does not systematically empower and inte-
grate important capabilities into existing processes. The
Fragility Study Group of the National Security Council
attributes these performance shortfalls to “… bureau-
cratic politics; the pursuit of maximalist objectives on
unrealistic timelines; the failure to balance short-term
imperatives with long-term goals; the habit of lurching
from one crisis to the next; and missed opportunities to
act preventively.”