DEFENSE MANAGEMENT: DOD Needs to Determine the Future of Its Horn of Africa Task Force

Abstract

AFRICOM has been evaluating CJTF-HOA, but it has not yet made decisions on the future of the task force-including whether CJTF-HOA should continue to exist as a joint task force, and if so, whether changes are needed to the task force's mission, structure, and resources to best support the command's mission of sustained security engagement in Africa. AFRICOM officials said that decisions are pending but did not share details of their evaluation or provide a target date for decisions. Since the task force moved under AFRICOM, its status has not changed significantly. As of March 2010, CJTFHOA had about 1,650 personnel. The Navy continues to fund the majority of its approximately $80 million budget as well as most of Camp Lemonnier's $238 million budget. The task force's activities have evolved over the years to focus on building relationships and fostering stability; for example, about 60 percent of its activities are civil affairs projects, such as community medical care and bridge construction. Other activities include military-to military activities, peace support operations, personnel recovery, and counterpiracy activities. However, CJTF-HOA is currently not performing long-term follow up on activities to determine whether they are having their intended effects or whether modifications are needed to best align with AFRICOM's mission. Additionally, the task force is generally not setting specific, achievable, and measurable goals for activities. Some activities, such as military-to-military efforts, appear to support AFRICOM's mission. Others, such as a school built by CJTF-HOA but later found dilapidated, could have unintended consequences. Without long-term assessments of activities, it is difficult for AFRICOM to determine the effectiveness of CJTF-HOA, which is critical for overall planning efforts and decisions on the task force's future.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 2010
Accession Number
ADA520922

Entities

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Department Of Defense
  • Fixed Wing Aircraft
  • Geography
  • Governments
  • Humanitarian Assistance
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • Organizational Structure
  • Task Forces
  • Terrorism
  • Unified Combatant Commands
  • United States
  • United States Africa Command
  • United States Central Command
  • United States Government
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • International Relations, focusing on Korea-Africa and North Korea-South Korea relations, and Nigeria-Latin American Relations.
  • Team-Based Human-Centered Cognitive Task Decision Making and Information Performance.