AFRICOM: Does Location Matter?

Abstract

President Bush established United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) in February 2007, which was commissioned fully operational on 1 October 2008. AFRICOM was established to increase DoD's efficiency and effectiveness for African operations and exercises and merged the responsibilities for the African continent into a single command in order to foresee and prevent crises in Africa that could threaten U.S. strategic interests. This merger joined responsibilities previously spread amongst the authorities of United States European Command (EUCOM), United States Central Command (CENTCOM), and United States Pacific Command (PACOM). AFRICOM's location discussion has centered on access to the continent and minimized other important considerations, such as access to the USG and policy development; supporting infrastructure, and the stability of where it will operate. A location decision is a complex decision; one that has long-term impact and therefore requires systematic analysis to make the process effective, efficient, and apolitical. This thesis follows several recent military efforts that utilize the business sector and associated applications to improve the decision effectiveness and efficiency. Specifically, it applies the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to the AFRICOM strategic headquarters location decision to provide a balanced, effective, and efficient review.