AFRICOM: An Independent Review for the New Administration

Washington, DC, October 28, 2009

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In the House Budget Committee Hearing Room on Capitol Hill, CADS held its conference, AFRICOM: An Independent Review for the New Administration, in cooperation with Representative John Tierney, Chairman, Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Chairman Tierney offered the keynote address outlining ongoing issues for oversight of the U.S. Africa Command, followed by a half-day of expert remarks on the remaining challenges and opportunities for the Command moving forward.

The day’s speakers delivered insightful and varied remarks to an audience of African Embassy representatives, U.S. Civilian Government personnel, U.S. Military personnel, Congressional Staff, and representatives from Non-governmental Organizations, think-tanks and Universities.

The speakers included:

• Representative John Tierney (D-MA), Chairman, Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
• Princeton Lyman , former Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizational Affairs and Adjunct Senior Fellow for Africa Policy Studies, Council on Foreign Relations
• Louis Mazel, Director, Office of Regional and Security Affairs, Bureau of African Affairs, U.S. Department of State
• Patrick Cronin, Senior Advisor and Senior Director of the Asia Program, Center for a New American Security (presenting summary of Stanley Foundation 50th Strategy for Peace Conference, AFRICOM roundtable)
• John Pendleton, Director, Force Structure and Planning Issues, Defense Capabilities and Management Team, Government Accountability Office (see full report on Interagency Collaboration).
• Lauren Ploch, Analyst in African Affairs, Congressional Research Service (see full report on AFRICOM).
• Dr. Sandra Barnes, Founding Director of the African Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania
• Thomas Callahan, Director, Strategic Planning, Readiness and Stability Operations, Lockheed Martin Corporation
• COL Paul Daniels, Chief, Strategy Division, U.S Africa Command

The event allowed for significant audience participation and lively debate. Initial transcripts of the day’s speeches are available on the CADS website , and full conference proceedings with distilled recommendations for the Administration will be published in November, 2009.