Category: Security Cooperation

• The time I got acronymed into submission

  February 22, 2016

  Health, Security Cooperation, South Africa

  Apologies for my unscheduled blogging hiatus. In addition to dissertating, I’ve been learning more about U.S.-Africa relations outside of security assistance and trying to find linkages to what I know best. Like the time I suggested that assistance to health systems should also be harmonized to address infectious disease among trans-border populations based on my Read.

• Highlights from SFRC Hearing on Security Assistance in Africa

  June 5, 2015

  AFRICOM, Security Cooperation, U.S. Africa Strategy

  Yesterday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health held a hearing on U.S. Security Assistance in Africa. The hearing was webcast, and you can also find the testimonies of Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Puneet Talwar, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for African Affairs Amanda Dory, and Lauren Read.

• PRISM Africa Issue Released

  February 11, 2015

  African Union, AFRICOM, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Nigeria, Security Cooperation

  My former boss, who was cool enough to give me the long leash required to do the TSCTP Study when I was at the Center for Complex Operations, just released PRISM Volume 5, Number 2. This issue is the journal’s first African security-focused one, and includes the following articles: The Tswalu Dialog by Michael Miklaucic On the State of Peace Read.

• Fostering Democracy, Good Governance, and Human Rights in Africa Through Security Sector Assistance

  July 17, 2014

  AFRICOM, Human Rights, Peacekeeping Operations, Security Cooperation, Terrorism, U.S. Africa Strategy

  Yesterday, I presented on a National Endowment for Democracy panel on “Fostering Democracy, Good Governance, and Human Rights in Africa Through Security Sector Assistance.” Video of the event can be found here and links to the papers we presented are below: Christopher Holshek from the Alliance for Peacebuilding presented on Mali’s Teachable Moment: The Primacy of Civil Authority in Read.

• U.S. Foreign Policy and Security Cooperation in Sub-Saharan Africa (& musings on PPD-23)

  November 24, 2013

  AFRICOM, Security Cooperation, U.S. Africa Strategy

  This is a month overdue, but in case you missed it, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield and Commander, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) General David Rodriguez held an online press conference on U.S. Foreign Policy and Security Cooperation in Sub-Saharan Africa. You can find a video with closed captioning on YouTube and remarks on the Read.

• Lesley on Africa LOVES Fieldwork (or In Praise of Fieldwork)

  August 26, 2013

  Security Cooperation, Travel, U.S. Africa Strategy

  As the title of this post so emphatically declares, I love when my projects require fieldwork. I’m working on a project in FY13 that has had me traveling to African Country A (Niger), African Country B (Chad), African Country C (Mali), African Country D (Senegal), African Country E (Morocco), African Country F (Algeria) and African Read.

• Guest Post – AFRICOM’s Impact on International and Human Security: A Case Study of Tanzania

  April 10, 2013

  AFRICOM, Security Cooperation, Tanzania

  This is a guest post by Mikenna Maroney, a MA Candidate in International Security at the University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies. She is currently a David L. Boren Fellow in Tanzania studying Swahili language and conducting research for her MA thesis on AFRICOM. Ms. Maroney seeks additional contacts with expertise on Read.

• Capacity-Building Key to AFRICOM’s Mission

  February 6, 2013

  AFRICOM, Security Cooperation, U.S. Africa Strategy

  (Originally published in World Politics Review on February 5, 2013) Across the globe, partner capacity-building through steady-state theater security cooperation plays an increasingly important role in the forward defense posture of the United States. The Defense Department’s 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review identifies building the security capacity of partner states as a key mission, while the 2010 National Security Strategy argues that the Read.

• Senate considers funding cuts to Kenyan security forces over human rights abuses (Part II)

  June 12, 2012

  Horn of Africa, Kenya, Security Cooperation

  In my last post, I wrote about how the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations had asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to submit a report to the Committee to verify that the U.S. government is not providing security assistance to Kenyan military or police personnel who may have been involved in human rights abuses in Mt. Elgon Read.

• New AFRICOM Brigade a Test Case for a Leaner Pentagon

  June 5, 2012

  AFRICOM, Security Cooperation

  (Originally published in World Politics Review on June 5, 2012) With budgetary constraints looming and global priorities shifting, the U.S. military is in the process of pursuing leaner and more adaptive ways to achieve U.S. national security objectives around the globe. This effort is in accordance with the Department of Defense’s (DOD) 2012 Defense Strategic Guidance (.pdf), Read.

• Do we understand perceptions of U.S. military involvement in Africa?

  May 5, 2012

  Horn of Africa, Security Cooperation

  Earlier this week, The Independent published an interview with Ugandan academic Mahmood Mamdani, “Somalia, Museveni, and Militarising the Region.” The interview was a good read and confirmed many of my suspicions of Uganda’s (read: President Museveni’s) perception of the country’s role in regional security. However, I was slightly annoyed at his allusions to the U.S. Read.