Africa's Oil Coast: How the Region's Strategic Importance May Cause Operational Challenges for Africom As Currently Constructed

Publisher Marketing: The U. S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) is at a critical crossroads regarding the trajectory of its organizational design and operational approach. As problems in Africa continue to escalate and present additional threats to U. S. national security, the combatant command faces issues it is not equipped or organizationally structured to negotiate. Senior U. S. policy makers and Department of Defense (DOD) officials should consider re-framing the African operational environment and generate options that more effectively employ military means to foster continental stability and achieve American strategic objectives. One prospective approach is to place more emphasis and resources towards stabilizing Africa's Oil Coast. Violent extremism, illicit drug trafficking, and lucrative oil resources represent interdependent subjects that are manifesting instability throughout the Oil Coast. These emerging transnational threats jeopardize long-term African security and vital U. S. interests. Therefore, a plausible option for U. S. policy makers and DOD officials to consider is making the region AFRICOM' s decisive operation. Through increased resourcing and structural adaption, this approach may more effectively facilitate the command's linkage of tactical actions to strategic aims across time and space.