PKSOI Lesson Report: Conflict Prevention
U.S. Ambassador to Djibouti, and his wife Ouroukou Younoussi André during a visit to the Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, March 26, 2018. Merkley visited with service members at Camp Lemonnier before continuing his trip to other locations in East Africa. As a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Merkley’s visit focused on the critical role that U.S. assistance plays as he examined famine-like conditions, severe food shortages, internally displaced persons and refugees in each location and how these factors affect counter-terrorism efforts within the
CTJF-HOA area of responsibility.
(U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Timothy Moore)
This Conflict Prevention Lessons Learned Report uses a unique organizational approach. Rather than a conventional chronological or topical style, we’ve opted to present a lead lesson based on a study by the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) entitled “Preventing Extremism in Fragile States: A New Ap-proach.” Supported by the analysis and recommendations presented in the study, a bipartisan group of Congress members recently introduced the Global Fragility Act of 2019 bill that requires the Department of State, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Department of Defense to coordinate on a global initiative aimed at stabilizing conflict affected areas and preventing the violence and fragility that allow terrorists, criminal networks, and war lords to take hold in the first place. It provides for Congressionally-mandated funding and executive branch organization to prevent conflict in much the same way 1986’s Goldwater-Nichols Act helped the Department of Defense focus its Joint warfighting capability. Thirty-three years after Goldwater-Nichols, the U.S. arguably possesses the most integrated, powerful military force in the world. The Global Fragility Act similarly promises to provide Congressional and Executive Branch support for a holistic approach based on the principle of unity of effort to stopping terrorist conflict before it even starts.
To read the full report please click on the link below.