Africa Counter Terrorism Initiative Act
Bill Number:
H.R.4434
Bill Status:
Bill Location:
Date of Last Action:
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Country(s):
Africa Regional
Relevant Text:
[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
[H.R. 4434 Introduced in House (IH)]
113th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4434
To require the Secretary of Defense to develop a plan to move United
States Africa Command (AFRICOM) back to the continental United States,
and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 9, 2014
Mr. Nunes (for himself, Mr. Keating, Mr. LoBiondo, Mr. Gerlach, Mr.
Boustany, Mr. Calvert, Mr. Cook, Mr. Jones, Mr. Stivers, Mrs. Black,
Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr. Brady of Texas, Mr. Shuster, Mr.
Coffman, Mr. Diaz-Balart, Mr. Tiberi, Mr. Valadao, Mr. Marchant, Mr.
Latham, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Kinzinger of Illinois, Mr. Costa, Mr.
Young of Indiana, Mr. Denham, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. Cole, Mr. LaMalfa,
Mr. Duncan of South Carolina, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Westmoreland, Mr.
Rodney Davis of Illinois, Mr. Thompson of California, Mr. Issa, Mr.
Franks of Arizona, Mr. Chaffetz, Mr. Lamborn, Ms. Sewell of Alabama,
Mr. Camp, Mr. Crawford, Mr. Terry, and Mr. Holding) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Defense to develop a plan to move United
States Africa Command (AFRICOM) back to the continental United States,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Africa Counter Terrorism Initiative
Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The proliferation of terrorist groups is rampant in
unstable countries in West and sub-Saharan Africa. The biggest
regional threats include al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
(AQIM), which has known ties to al-Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula (AQAP), Boko Haram, and al-Shabab. The opportunity to
expand the strategic reach and force projection of the United
States into the theater of operations of the United States
Africa Command (in this Act referred to as ``AFRICOM'') is now.
With the United States strategic pivot to the Pacific now
underway, the need to ensure retention of a strong Atlantic
presence is a vital and delicate aspect of strategic re-
positioning.
(2) The United States Central Command operates from its
headquarters in Tampa, Florida, with a forward operating
location in Qatar. The United States Southern Command operates
from its headquarters in Miami, Florida, with forward operating
locations in Honduras and El Salvador. It is not unusual for
United States military units and their combatant command
headquarters to operate in different time zones.
(3) Analyses conducted by the Government Accountability
Office found that the annual recurring cost of maintaining a
United States-based headquarters for AFRICOM would be $60
million to $70 million less than the cost of operating the
AFRICOM headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. The annual cost of
providing AFRICOM personnel with overseas housing and cost-of-
living pay was $81 million per year, compared with the $19
million to $25 million these would cost if the personnel were
located in the United States. The break-even point to recover
one-time relocation costs to the United States would be reached
between 2 and 6 years after relocation, depending on the costs
to establish facilities in the United States. Relocating
AFRICOM to the continental United States could create up to
4,300 additional jobs, with an annual impact on the local
economy ranging from $350 million to $450 million.
(4) After an internal cost assessment, the Department of
Defense decided to keep AFRICOM headquarters in Stuttgart,
without fully explaining why the operational benefits of
keeping the headquarters in Germany outweigh the benefit of
potentially saving millions of dollars per year and creating
thousands of jobs in the United States.
(5) A review by the Government Accountability Office in
2013 of the Department's decision to keep AFRICOM headquarters
in Germany found that the decision was not supported by
comprehensive and well-documented analysis that balanced the
operational and cost benefits of the options available to the
Department.
(6) In April 2013, after the decision had been made to
maintain AFRICOM headquarters in Germany, Secretary of Defense
Chuck Hagel called on the Department to challenge all past
assumptions in order to seek cost savings and efficiencies in
``a time of unprecedented shifts in the world order, new global
challenges, and deep global fiscal uncertainty'', to explore
the full range of options for implementing United States
national security strategy, and to ``put everything on the
table''. The Secretary stated that the size and shape of the
military forces should constantly be reassessed. He stated that
this reassessment should include determining the most
appropriate balance between forward-stationed, rotationally
deployed, and home-based forces.
(7) It is within the strategic and fiscal responsibility of
Congress to fully analyze and provide for the implementation of
any consolidation of military installations. There are more
than 110,000 troops and civilians stationed and employed at 29
military installations in Europe. Priority should be given to
consolidating bases that are in close proximity to each other
and that can achieve cost savings without detriment to
operational readiness, such as Royal Air Force Station
Mildenhall and Royal Air Force Station Lakenheath, as well as
Moron Air Base, Spain, and Naval Station Rota, Spain.
(8) Of particular concern is the decision to deploy assets
to Moron Air Base, where the readiness and effectiveness of
deployed troops is hindered by the lack of infrastructure to
house, train, and equip them. Specifically, Moron lacks the
facilities to properly perform ground and naval training
operations, and only has limited ability to accomplish air
training operations. By contrast, Lajes Field has implemented
more than $150 million of major infrastructure upgrades over
the past 12 years to improve the quality of life, upgrade
communication capabilities, bolster security, and enhance
military operations. With a nearby port, sprawling fields, and
unrestricted airspace, Lajes Field has the unique ability to
host extensive air, ground, and naval training operations.
Lajes' strategic location, infrastructure improvements,
unrestricted air space, and outstanding training environment
for all forces make this an indispensable asset and an ideal
forward operating base for AFRICOM, as opposed to spending
hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade aging sites such as
Moron Air Base, Spain.
(9) It is in the national interest of the United States to
save millions of dollars per year and bring thousands of jobs
to the United States by moving AFRICOM headquarters from
Stuttgart, Germany, to the continental United States.
SEC. 3. REQUIREMENT FOR PLAN TO MOVE AFRICOM HEADQUARTERS TO
CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES.
(a) Plan Required.--The Secretary of Defense shall develop a plan
in accordance with subsection (b) to transfer the headquarters of
AFRICOM from Stuttgart, Germany, to a location in the continental
United States.
(b) Matters Covered.--
(1) Assets of africom.--The plan required under this
section shall provide for--
(A) the 65th Air Base Wing to be an AFRICOM asset;
(B) AFRICOM permanent assets (including assets
related to air, ground, special operations, and
logistics) to be located at Lajes Field, Azores,
Portugal; and
(C) the transfer of United States assets at Lajes
Field from United States European Command to AFRICOM,
for purposes of being the forward operating location,
logistical hub, and location of assets of AFRICOM.
(2) Relocations to lajes field.--The plan required under
this section shall also provide for the relocation of the
Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response
(SP-MAGTF CR) from Moron Air Base, Spain, to Lajes Field.
(c) Submission to Congress.--The plan required under this section
shall be submitted to Congress not later than 6 months after the date
of the enactment of this Act.
(d) Implementation of Plan.--The Secretary of Defense shall
implement the plan required by this section within 6 months after
submission of the plan to Congress under subsection (c), and in no
event later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 4. REQUIREMENT FOR REVIEW OF AGREEMENT ON COOPERATION AND DEFENSE
BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND PORTUGAL.
The Secretary of Defense shall conduct a review of the Agreement on
Cooperation and Defense Between the United States and Portugal, signed
at Lisbon June 1, 1995, to ensure that such Agreement accurately
reflects and accounts for the plan required under section 3.
SEC. 5. CONTINUED OPERATION OF LAJES FIELD.
Effective until at least the date of completion of the 2018
quadrennial defense review, Lajes Field shall continue operating 24
hours a day, at or above its 2012 levels of readiness.
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