USAFRICOM Headquarters: The Complexity of Moving the Headquarters to the Continent of Africa and its Impact on the Army's Organizational Design and Operational Approach

Abstract

America's combatant command for the continent of Africa, US Africa Command (AFRICOM), does not have its headquarters located on the continent to administer command and control (C2) of US military forces. This Combatant Command (COCOM) is co-located in Germany with the US European Command (EUCOM) headquarters. It is a relatively new COCOM and the Department of Defense has considered moving the headquarters to the continent to help with rapid response to conflicts or emerging requirements in Africa's operational environment. This thesis explores the question, "Should the US move USAFRICOM to the African continent?" Secondary questions that may arise are: (1) "What are the challenges faced by geographical combatant commands not physically located in their respective areas?" (2) "Would building a headquarters in Africa be cost effective?" (3) "What are the issues associated with building a headquarters in Africa?" and (4) "Where in Africa should USAFRICOM's headquarters be built?"

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 10, 2016
Accession Number
AD1020055

Entities

People

  • Devanie N. Johnson

Organizations

  • United States Army Command and General Staff College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Cyber
  • Human Systems
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Combatant Commanders
  • Command And Control
  • Data Analysis
  • Department Of Defense
  • Employment
  • Governments
  • Interagency Coordination
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • Organizational Structure
  • Terrorism
  • Unified Combatant Commands
  • United States
  • United States Africa Command
  • United States Central Command
  • United States European Command
  • Warfare

Readers

  • East Asian Political and Security Studies within the Soviet Union
  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.

Technology Areas

  • Fully Networked C3
  • Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control