WASHINGTON — The head of U.S. Africa Command isn’t concerned by recent funding cuts in his fiscal 2009 budget, insisting it won’t affect the set-up and operations of the new command.
President Bush had requested $389 million to fund AFRICOM in fiscal 2009, but Congress approved only $266 million in its budget plans last month. Lawmakers said the decision not to base the command’s headquarters on the African continent allowed them to trim the funds.
But Gen. William "Kip" Ward, who officially took over the command on Oct. 1, said after some program transfers he expects to have about $300 million in funds available for operations, a figure he is comfortable with.
"We don’t ever get everything we ask for," he said. "But with this budget, I see no major impacts at all."
Ongoing training exercises and logistical support operations won’t be affected by the cuts, Ward said. And about $20 million of the lost funding was directly tied to establishing a U.S. headquarters on the African continent, an idea abandoned by the Pentagon last spring.
"So that amount has no impact anyway," he said.
He said officials are pleased with the permanent headquarters now in Stuttgart, Germany, and are looking to establish nonpermanent, cooperative security bases throughout the continent where U.S. personnel and equipment can be rotated through.
Other European locations, like Naval Station Rota in Spain, could also serve as key hubs for AFRICOM operations, Ward said. The command also has 13 defense cooperation offices at U.S. embassies in African capitals, and plans to open 11 more.
That level of presence, along with the advantages of Stuttgart, convinced officials not to look into a permanent headquarters on the African continent for now.
"You have to have a place, you have to have the infrastructure, and you have to have the connectivity," he said. "When you’re trying to build a command, you bring it to where the infrastructure exists.
"Where we are now in Stuttgart … it was logical as we transferred missions over from European Command."
