In Great Powers, I wrote about making AFRICOM's headquarters in Virginia because I thought it would make sense, given the "3D" goals (the merging of defense, diplomacy and development) being pioneered there, that it shouldn't be overseas but close enough for the home bases of those agencies/departments to be able to reach out to each other more easily.
Well, Jim Webb, Senator from Virginia (or Norfolk in this instance) is now pushing hard to get AFRICOM to settle its new headquarters down there to fill in for the departing Joint Forces Command.
I had imagined more Northern VA, but I think it's a good idea. Virginia is a big military state and it's on the right U.S. coast as far as Africa is concerned. As I noted in the book, every US combatant command is now located in the U.S. except for European Command. AFRICOM has been bunking there because, before its creation, EUCOM owned almost all of Africa, with the Horn going to CENTCOM. I don't ever see EUCOM coming home because of the NATO bond and the sheer size of Stuttgart Air Force Base Ramstein and other legacy facilities, but I have to support Webb on this one. Norfolk deserves some relief, it's a good spot for AFRICOM, and AFRICOM really shouldn't (and won't) be located anywhere in Africa. It's a SOUTHCOM-like, very SysAdmin'y command and should stay that way.
Having said all that, see some excellent countering points (e.g., time zone, air connectivity) below in a comment from a person who works at AFRICOM. Having flown now to Africa a bunch of time through Germany, I yield somewhat to this guy's practical logic.
But that NVA congressional delegation is powerful when it comes to national security . . ..