Thomas K Hensley

Smart Intelligence for Smart Power: Improving Early Warning for Civil-military Operations in Africa Thomas K Hensley

Publisher Marketing: In 2007, as part of an integrated whole-of-government, nation-building, and cooperative regional security approach, the United States (US) government created US Africa Command (USAFRICOM) as the Department of Defense focal point for the coordination and execution of civil-military operations (CMO). Unfortunately, a holistic early warning tool for monitoring the many causal factors (e.g., governance, environmental, economic, ethnic, health, etc.) for political instability in Africa does not exist when juxtaposed with the US whole-of-government, nation-building effort in Africa. The existing early warning mechanisms focus on security issues. For effective whole-of-government, nation-building CMO activities, the US government must have adequate early warning so that policy makers, diplomats, and military planners can coordinate, develop, and implement proactive, preventive US foreign policy measures. The US government must improve its early warning processes to ensure that diplomats can lead-turn potential problem areas before they become crises, help policy makers prioritize US CMO efforts, and assist embassy diplomats in coordinating an integrated whole-of-government approach. In other words, the US government requires smart intelligence to employ smart power.