AFRICOM facing major budget shortfall for ’09

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AFRICOM facing major budget shortfall for ’09
Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Sunday, September 14, 2008

Just weeks away from standing up as the Defense Department’s newest combatant command, Africa Command is facing a serious budget shortfall.

For fiscal 2009, President Bush had requested $389 million for AFRICOM, which is expected to become fully operational on Oct. 1 at its Stuttgart, Germany, headquarters. But last week, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on defense recommended providing only $80.6 million in funding — 80 percent less than was requested, according to Matthew Mazonkey, communications director for Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., the subcommittee chairman.

"The subcommittee has provided $80.6 million to allow AFRICOM to continue to operate at current levels for another year," Mazonkey wrote in an e-mail to Stars and Stripes.

The subcommittee gave Secretary of Defense Robert Gates 90 days to report on how the command can be "overhauled to create an organization better equipped to meet the full-range of challenges facing Africa," Mazonkey said. It also called on the Pentagon to address AFRICOM’s current presence in Africa and to discuss plans on a permanent location of the command on the continent.

Attempts to reach Africa Command officials on Saturday were unsuccessful. In a July 30 report from Murtha’s office, the subcommittee suggested slashing the budget because of the lack of a suitable location for the command’s headquarters.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=57394