Basing Us Africa Command's Headquarters

As U.S. Africa Command begins its march towards building itself into a fully operational Combatant Command, it is faced with the pressing need to decide where to place its command headquarters. Beginning with President Bush's announcement, the expectation has been to place the command on the African continent. This paper reduces the myriad of basing options to three locations (on the African continent, on the European continent, in the United States) and then evaluates them based on their ability to best enable U.S. Africa Command to achieve its mission and its desired objectives. This paper recommends the U.S. Government not place the command's headquarters on the African continent due to: 1) the pervasive size and nature of the command's headquarters; 2) the narrow perspective of Africa an African-based headquarters would deliver to the command; 3) the support an African-based headquarters would give to the misperceptions associated with the command's stand-up; 4) the instability of African countries' security and stability; 5) the Command's headquarters is a staff organization and does not require that it be on the continent to achieve its mission; 6) a non-U.S. based command limits U.S. policy options executed through the Command; 7) need for America's foreign policy to shed its unilateral approach and demonstrate an ability to understand sensitivities of its African partners. In addition, the European continent does not provide the best location for the headquarters as: 1) a European location potentially limits the policies options available to the command; 2) the Washington DC interagency is the command's second area of focus and thus overwhelms the European proximity benefits. Ultimately, the paper recommends basing the U. S. Africa Command Headquarters just outside Washington DC. The command's presence in Washington DC 'operationalizes' the focus of U.S. Africa policy.