My prediction on Africa Command coming true a bit faster than I expected

But the Rumsfeld crowd continues to amaze me with its flexibility in thinking.

This is what I said in Blueprint for Action:

[page 82: Chapter Two: Winning the War Through Connectedness]

Ultimately, you're faced with the larger, inescapable requirements of having to connect Africa to the Core to run this problem to ground, otherwise today's problem for CENTCOM simply becomes tomorrow's distant problem for EUCOM. When you make that leap of logic, the next decision gets a whole lot easier: America needs to stand up an African Command. Now, I know that sounds like a huge expansion of our strategic "requirements," but when you consider the boundary conditions in this way, the discussion shifts from if to when.

[page 338: Conclusion: Heroes Yet Discovered]

The first U.S. military commander of African Command: The United States will be forced by circumstances in the global war on terrorism to refocus more of its military attention on sub-Saharan Africa over time, eventually recasting its Unified Command Plan to create a specifc African Command. This will represent a huge commitment on the part of the Pentagon, which historically has shied away from any major efforts on the continent. At first, African Command will be a lot like Southern Command, which covers Latin America: lots of geographic responsibility but little in the way of troops and resources. But as the Middle East settles down and NATO builds up its capacity for extrareginal operations, Africa will become the main focus of the Core's SysAdmin force.

Those were the predictions, the following is the unfolding reality reported in Army Times:

Army Times

January 23, 2006

Pg. 23

Officials Look To Put Africa Under One Watchful Eye: Continent now split between two commands

By Gordon Lubold, Times staff writer



As Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld considers how to reorganize the military to address global threats in coming years, defense officials are exploring the possibility of putting Africa, long split between the U.S. European Command and U.S. Central Command, under one unified command.

Such a move has been discussed for years, but as U.S. operations evolve in the Horn of Africa, officials say the time has arrived to do something.

Theresa Whelan, deputy assistant secretary of defense for African affairs, said the area of responsibility for the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, created after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, could be expanded to include all of Africa ...

Whelan, respected in and outside the Pentagon for her experience of more than a dozen years working African issues, said the joint task force in the Horn of Africa has evolved many times since it was created and, given the situation on the ground in the region, it may be time for it to evolve some more.

Africa, an operational backwater for the U.S. since the botched operation in Somalia in 1993, is becoming increasingly relevant in the war on terrorism, officials say. Experts say that terrorist groups, squeezed out of places like Iraq and Afghanistan are moving to areas in North and West Africa and elsewhere. Many nations cannot effectively govern themselves, leaving a welcome mat for terrorist groups.

The Pentagon has begun to pay more attention to the region, sending small units of special operations forces and Marines to conduct training and other missions. But the department’s efforts are hamstrung somewhat by the fact that two commands have responsibility for Africa ...

A Central Command official confirmed that discussions are taking place on the task force in the Horn of Africa and what it should look like in the future. The official could not confirm if its area of responsibility would be expanded but said officials believe its role may be changing ...

“It should push to be more representative of the other elements of national power besides the military,” said the official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the conversations. “The military should be just one component" ...

Sounds like African Command and the SysAdmin function, yes?

This was sent to me by a Naval War College prof off Early Bird. I'd give the URL for full story, but EBird not available to non-gov, and I'm rushing out door...