Head Of US Africa Command Testifies On His Mission And Future Of His Command Under Trump – OpEd
On 3 April 2025, Marine General Michael Langley, Commander of the US Africa Command (Africom), testified before a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on US national security concerns in Europe and in Africa, and the future of US Africa Command as an independent combatant command.
This is the first of a series of hearings that will be conducted by the US Congress over the next several weeks to consider the Trump administration’s budget request for the Defense Department and for the international security assistance programs that are funded through the State Department budget request for Fiscal Year 2026, which begins 1 October 2025.
The hearing comes in the wake of news stories reporting that the Trump administration was considering a plan to incorporate Africom within the US European Command (Eucom), which was responsible for US military relations with most African countries until Africom was officially established in 2008 as an independent combatant command by President George W. Bush. The plan reportedly calls for Africom to become a subcommand under Eucom, both of which are based in Stuttgart, Germany.
AFRICOM’S MISSION
In his opening statement, General Langley declared that “everything we do at the United States Africom has one overarching goal in mind: achieving peace through strength. Now this requires three things: a clear understanding of national security threats, a robust and dependable network of likeminded allies and partners, and appropriate resourcing to match military requirements.”
“As I’ve said in previous testimony,” he went on to say, “Africa remains a nexus theater from which the United States cannot shift its gaze. It is home to terrorists who take advantage of conditions in Africa to grow and export their ideology. ISIS (Islamic State) controls its global network from Somalia. It is where the Chinese Communist Party actively works to change the international rules-based order as a stepping stone to become the regional hegemon. And it’s where the Russian Federation seizes opportunities created by chaos and instability. Now, to protect our homeland and United States interests, we must deter these nations and these malign actors from their goals on the African continent.”
Senator Roger Wicker (Republican of Mississippi), the chair of the committee, asked General Langley if he had gotten any comments from his counterparts about “the withdrawal of US AID from Africa.” General Langley responded by saying that “I got my direction from the Secretary of Defense what my priorities were, especially counter-terrorism and also to deter China and their military activities on the continent.” And, he went on to explain “we’re in a reflection period of assessing what has worked in the past and what’s going to work in the future. And what’s going in the future will be more targeted to what their needs are, but they also need to be able to build toward a sense of independent operations.”
Still, according to General Langley, it was the mission of Africom to “establish strength and work toward peace by enhancing the security capabilities of our African partners through a robust system of alliance exercises, training events, security cooperation, and foreign military sales programs [that] are the backbone of our military activities on the continent.”
COUNTER-TERRORISM
Senator Tom Cotton (Republican of Arkansas) asked General Langley to assess the threat from al-Shabaab in Somalia “to our national interest and specifically to the US homeland.” General Langley replied, “al-Shabaab is especially a heightened terrorist threat namely because they’re colluding with the Houthi’s across from Yemen. So, we’re watching that closely. The President and the Secretary of Defense has [sic] given me expanded authorities. I can talk about those details as far as expanded authority [in closed session], but I will say we’re hitting them hard. I have now the capability [to] hit them harder.”
Senator Cotton then asked for his assessment of the threat to the American homeland posed by other terrorists affiliated with the Islamic State or al-Qaeda, “all those terrorists on the African continent.” General Langley declared that “if left unchecked, they will have a direct threat on [the US] homeland.”
Senator Angus King (Independent of Maine) asked about the rise of ISIS in the Sahel. General Langley stated that Africom is “more focused on the ISIS elements in Somalia, because of their networks. [In the Sahel], they’re growing in number, but not so much in capability. But we are still engaged, especially in coastal West Africa [with] like-minded countries to deter that from the outside in.”
Senator Joni Ernst (Republican of Iowa) asked about the role of US leadership. General Langley said “I will just stress how important I think it is that the United States remain engaged on the world stage and provide that leadership. We don’t have to provide all the boots on the ground, but certainly I think American leadership is valuable.”
CHINA
In answer to a question from Senator Deborah Fischer (Republican of Nebraska), about what he thought was the greatest concern about Chinese activities in Africa, General Langley replied, “I see three lines of operations by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party). One from geostrategic and their basing initiatives. As you all know, Djibouti is their first start, as the chairman talked about in his assessment. Then, also other basic initiatives across the continent of Africa. Then, geostrategic line of effort and trying to dislodge the overall leadership in their quest to be the regional hegemon as we start to look at their activities in the UN and trying to get geopolitical advantage over the west. And then also geoeconomic. They treasure critical minerals. They need those critical minerals not only for their defense industrial base, but also for their greater industrial base. Those lines of effort is what we’re watching closely, because they want to be the global hegemon.”
Chairman Wicker asked about the role of China and Russia in economic corruption and the exploitation of resources in Africa. General Langley answered that “all those proceeds are just in exchange to protect the regime. There’s a number of examples across [Africa], even in Sudan. What’s going on with the Rapid Support Force and Burhan of the Sudan [Armed] Forces, when you get down to it, is all about the revenue that can be drawn out of that. And there are nefarious actors in the CCP or in sometimes Russia [that] are complicit in those activities.”
THE FUTURE OF THE US AFRICA COMMAND
Senator Mazie Hirono (Democrat of Hawaii) referred to news reports that the Trump administration is considering a plan to integrate Africom into Eucom as a subordinate subcommand and asked General Langley “what is your best military advice on the strategic, operational, and resource implications of such a merge?” “I won’t speculate on the evolving policy,” he responded, “but I will say this. I’ll just give comparison of the relevance of Africom and our mission. Back in 2007, when we were stood up, we looked at the challenges across the globe and especially the challenge of terrorism at that time. The global presence of terrorism on African continent was 2%. Senator, today it’s 43% and then even adding onto a geostrategic type of perspective of our great power competition, both Russian Federation and the Chinese Communist Party activities on the African continent is grand. So, my responsibilities are great. So, for a combatant commander, it’ll be a daunting task for integration.”
When Senator Hirono asked General Christopher Cavoli, commander of Eucom, whether he agreed, he relied laconically, “the challenges in Africa have increased exponentially over the last ten years. Not just the terrorism that was there during the previous period of the last twenty years, but the increasing activity of Russia and China. Yeah, there are a lot of problems there, ma’am and I’m satisfied with the problems I have in Eucom”
Chairman Wicker asked General Cavoli if “Africom is dissolved and merged into Eucom, you would have responsibility for more than fifty countries. Do you have the capacity, the expertise, the infrastructure [if you] have responsibility for fifty more countries?” He answered, “it would be a stretch, Senator. I mean, that that’s a wide span of control.” So, he warned, “it would have to be studied very, very closely.”
Both Senator Wicker, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Representative Mike Rogers (Republican of Alabama), the chair of the House Armed Services Committee have already expressed their opposition to the plan. On 19 March 2025, they issued a press release that clearly signaled their intention to modify significant parts of the restructuring plan, including the dismantling of the US Africa Command. “[W]e will not accept significant changes to our warfighting structure that are made without a rigorous interagency process, coordination with combatant commanders and the Joint Staff, and collaboration with Congress,” said Senator Wicker and Representative Rogers said in the press release.
“US combatant commands are the tip of the American warfighting spear,” they declared, and “we are very concerned about reports that claim DoD [Department of Defense} is considering unilateral changes on major strategic issues, including significant reductions to US forces stationed abroad, absent coordination with the White House and Congress. Such moves risk undermining American deterrence around the globe and detracting from our negotiating positions with America’s adversaries.”
Furthermore, it is important to note that President Trump has not yet appointed an Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, to direct American diplomacy, or a Director for African Affairs on the National Security Council, to oversee the formulation and implementation of the president’s decisions and executive orders in Africa. Instead, President Trump has chosen to give General Langley the authority to launch airstrikes and other combat operations at his own discretion, as he has done in Somalia.
President Trump has also chosen to conduct diplomatic relations with countries that have something of value to the United States through personal envoys. These personal envoys, who are not part of the normal State Department structure and who act at the direction of the president, do not have to consult with any of the experienced, career specialists who serve in the State Department, the Defense Department, or any of the other executive departments that have previously guided foreign policy decision-making. On 1 April 2025, the State Department announced the appointment of Massad Boulos as Senior Advisor to the President for Africa, to lead the administration’s efforts to negotiate a deal with the Democratic Republic of Congo for that country’s strategic raw materials in exchange for US security assistance.
Although President Trump is clearly willing to seriously disrupt the normal direction and conduct of US foreign policy in many ways, there is good reason to be skeptical about the future of the plan to subordinate Africom to Eucom. All the factors that led to the creation of Africom are even stronger and more compelling now than they were when President George Bush created it. And President Trump is going to have to make a deal with Senator Wicker and Representative Rogers that satisfies their concerns, because the Armed Services Committees have real power and will control the destiny of Trump’s FY 2026 federal budget funding request for the Defense Department as well as the international security assistance programs funded through the State Department.
