全球智库信息集成服务系统

• Understanding how to tailor programs to specific conditions of partner nations, gaining buy-in from partner leadership, incorporating civil society considerations, and establishing monitoring and evaluation techniques should greatly improve DIB effectiveness. We found little evidence these best practices were being systematically documented to support DIB planners.

• Formal guidance is insufficient and communication is overly ad hoc, given the complexity of DIB and how it relates to security cooperation more generally.
• DIB is a stepping stone to other U.S. defense objectives in Africa. Planners often fail to understand the important linkages between DIB objectives and other U.S. objectives.
• Significant resource and legislative constraints inhibit the United States from effectively applying security sector reform and DIB lessons.
• OSD and AFRICOM officials disagreed on DIB priorities and even the definition of DIB. In part because of different understandings of DIB and in part because DoD planners did not consistently document activities, monitoring of activities was uneven. Coordination challenges among OSD, AFRICOM, and others led to ineffective articulation of requirements, poor communication of DIB opportunities to African partners, poor understanding of partner interests, and insufficient substantive or regional expertise.
• There are more DIB-related programs (47) than is generally thought. DIB can be implemented through a variety of activities, including sending of advisors, needs assessments, education, information exchanges, and personnel exchanges. Such variety provides options for implementing DIB even with sensitive partners. Strengthening DIB efforts in Africa does not require creating new programs but rather focusing existing programs in this direction.

This report assesses U.S. efforts in defense institution building (DIB) in Africa and suggests possible improvements to planning and execution. It first defines DIB and reviews some best practices from DIB and security sector reform experiences. It also highlights how DIB activities serve U.S. official strategic guidance for Africa. The report then examines how DIB is currently planned and executed in Africa and describes the range of programs that are available to U.S. planners for that purpose. It also provides a structured approach to aid in the prioritization of such programs. The report then analyzes DIB efforts in two African nations — Liberia and Libya. Finally, it examines how other institutions and countries undertake DIB by taking a closer look at the DIB activities of DoD's regional centers, as well as the relatively extensive experience of two key U.S. allies — the United Kingdom and France — in this domain.

• Chapter One

  Introduction

• Chapter Two

  DIB Best Practices and Their Relevance to U.S. Strategic Objectives in Africa

• Chapter Three

  DIB Programs in Africa: Challenges and Responses

• Chapter Four

  Two Africa Case Studies

• Chapter Five

  Findings and Recommendations

• Appendix A

  AFRICOM Assessment Process

• Appendix B

  DoD’s Regional Centers as DIB Providers

• Appendix C

  Allied Experience in DIB