Military brass: Budget cuts will hurt crisis response
By James K. Sanborn, Staff writer 8:46 p.m. EDT March 26, 2015
Military leaders overseeing operations in some of the most volatile parts of the world painted a bleak picture on Capitol Hill Thursday as they described the dire effects more budget cuts would have on counter-terror and crisis response missions across Africa and the Middle East.
Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, the heads of U.S. Africa, Central and Special Operations commands said another round of across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration would hinder their ability to defeat organizations like the Islamic State group and Boko Haram.
Crisis response missions could also be disrupted, said Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, head of CENTCOM, which could hurt the military's ability to respond to calls to evacuate embassies, as Marines have in Yemen, Libya and South Sudan.
"We'll need to find ways to do more — or at least as much — with less in the current fiscal environment," Austin said. "I remain concerned by the fact that capability reductions can and will impact our ability to respond to crisis. … So I would ask Congress to do its part to avoid sequestration."
Terror groups are spreading or fighting for new territory across the AFRICOM and CENTCOM areas of responsibility, the commanders told lawmakers. The Islamic State group is pushing its way into Africa after meeting tenacious resistance in Iraq and Syria. And the Nigerian-based terror group Boko Haram, which recently swore allegiance to IS, is spreading to neighboring countries, said Army Gen. David Rodriguez, the commander of AFRICOM.
"Boko Haram has extended its reach beyond Nigeria's borders to Cameroon, Niger and Chad," he said.
Sen. John McCain, the committee chairman, said the "old order across North Africa is under siege."
Marines are fighting both groups on different fronts. Marine pilots, along with airmen and sailors, are dropping bombs on IS targets and conducting surveillance in support of Iraqi forces. Marines are also training Nigerian troops and militaries from neighboring countries in an effort to contain Boko Haram.
Lawmakers questioned the generals about the idea of relocating AFRICOM headquarters, which is now in Germany, to Africa in order to bridge the distance between headquarters and operations. While there is no immediate plan to relocate, the distance has been cited as a challenge when carrying out missions across the vast African continent.
Military leaders are looking at the possibility of new sea-based options for the Marine Corps' crisis response unit for Africa, which is currently headquartered in Spain. Rodriguez mentioned the idea of prepositioning troops and gear in the Gulf of Guinea off the coast of West Africa — a move Navy and Marine leaders are already looking into.
Col. Robert Fulford, the last commander of Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Africa, also advocated for seabasing options during a February presentation at the Potomac Institute. Fulford explained that deploying from Europe to parts of Africa is like flying from New York to Europe or further. It is a challenge for Marines, who are still expected to be combat-ready when they hit the ground, called on to carry out embassy evacuation missions.
Maritime prepositioning in the Gulf of Guinea would also give U.S. forces a piece of sovereign territory to operate from rather than being "reliant on the good graces" of host nations, he said.
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2015/03/26/military-leaders-say-sequestration-hurts-crisis-response/70495794/
