U.S. Gen. Reins in Special Operations Forces in Africa After Niger Deaths and Daily B

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U.S. Gen. Reins in Special Operations Forces in Africa After Niger Deaths and Daily Beast Investigations
By: CHRISTINA GOLDBAUM /12.15.17 11:26 AM ET
RE: https://www.thedailybeast.com/us-gen...investigations

In a letter, the commander of U.S. Special Forces in Africa cautions them to take fewer risks, use better judgement. NCIS investigators have been called to investigate a massacre.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—With U.S. military interventions in Africa facing increased scrutiny, the commander of U.S. Special Operations Forces in Africa (SOCAFRICA) sent an internal letter to his forces this week urging greater caution in the field.

This comes after the deaths of four U.S. soldiers on a controversial mission in Niger in October, and three recent investigations by The Daily Beast that revealed details about other incidents: the death of a Navy SEAL in Somalia in May, the alleged murder of a U.S. Army Special Forces sergeant by two Navy SEALs in June, and strong evidence that American soldiers participated in the massacre of 10 civilians in Somalia in August.

Last week, the House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing into “counterterrorism efforts in Africa” that addressed some of these issues. And this week, following indications that the internal investigation of the August incident may have been inadequate, Marine Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, head of U.S. Africa Command, requested the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) open an independent inquiry.

The letter to the U.S. Special Operations Forces of SOCAFRICA from their commander, Maj. Gen. Mark Hicks, was sent out earlier this week. A copy was shown to The Daily Beast by a Pentagon official in Washington who prefers to remain anonymous.

The letter read: “To reinforce and clarify guidance going forward I would like to emphasize that we must reduce our risk exposure and build trust in our ability to exercise sound judgment and disciplined planning and execution.”

The letter urged Special Operations Forces to employ “an increased margin of safety” and lessen the likelihood of U.S. operators putting themselves in the line of fire.

“We must reduce our risk exposure and build trust in our ability to exercise sound judgment.”
— Maj. Gen. Mark Hicks, SOCAFRICA commander

Hicks continued: “I expect you to modify your assumptions about the level of risk you can accept. I expect you to plan and conduct operations with an increased margin of safety.… Back away from the edge, this is not Afghanistan or Syria.”

Hicks assumed the helm of U.S. Special Operations Africa or SOCAFRICA in June, a month after U.S. Special Operations Forces experienced their first combat death in Somalia since Black Hawk Down. In the six months Hicks has been in the position, SOCAFRICA has experienced four combat deaths in Niger, the death of 10 alleged civilians at the hands of U.S. Special Operators and their partner local force in Somalia, and the death of a Green Beret who allegedly was strangled by two Navy SEALs in Mali.

Each of these incidents has raised questions about the oversight or lack thereof of U.S. Special Operations Forces across the continent as well as the efficacy of U.S. counterterrorism efforts in Africa. The issue is politically sensitive because of the emphasis the Trump administration has put on freeing U.S. troops in the field from what was viewed by many in the Pentagon as excessive bureaucratic meddling and interagency second guessing.

AFRICOM has repeatedly claimed that U.S. Special Operators “advise, assist, and accompany” local forces across Africa and take all measures to avoid engaging directly with enemy combatants.

But Maj. Gen. Hicks’ letter suggests that SOCAFRICA officials are concerned that potentially reckless behavior by U.S. Special Operations Forces puts their lives at unnecessary risk. The letter reminds U.S. Special Operators of the standard to which SOCAFRICA holds them, noting that U.S. Special Operations Forces are not to carry out missions in which there is a high likelihood they will encounter enemy forces and that operators are to communicate more with SOCAFRICA authorities in the process of conceiving and planning operations. “Exercising a capability is not a sufficient reason to plan or execute a mission. Activity does not equal progress,” Maj. Gen. Hicks wrote. “I want us to aggressively pursue strategic objectives which at least for the near term means less aggressively pursuing tactical objectives.”

Questions surrounding those strategic objectives were raised last week in a hearing in the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee on counter-terrorism in Africa, in which congressmen probed the efficacy of efforts by the Department of State and Department of Defense to counter violent extremism across the continent—and whether there was a coordinated strategy to do so at all.