In February 2007, the George W. Bush administration announced changes to the Unified Command Plan that brought about the creation of the U.S. Africa Command. The U.S. Africa Command, or AFRICOM as it is widely known, is one of the newest of the Department of Defense’s Unified Combatant Commands (UCC) and is responsible for coordination and execution of all U.S. military activities on the continent of Africa. The creation of AFRICOM acknowledged the strategic significance of the African continent and was the result of nearly a decade of debate within the Department of Defense. The command was created to bolster military partnerships with African states and to serve as the central coordination point for the conduct of missions ranging from theater security cooperation that builds ...