Twenty-five Students representing the countries of Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Djibouti, and Kenya graduated from the Military Intelligence Basic Officer Course – Africa which was hosted in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, March 19th 2014.

The semi-annual, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa-led event is considered the flagship course of intelligence training engagement for U.S. Africa Command on the continent.

Over the first half of the course, the students underwent extensive education and training on the fundamentals of intelligence to include: intelligence preparation of the environment (IPOE), collections management, collections operations, patrol debriefing, map-reading skills, and the integration of intelligence into the military planning process. 

Over the second half of the course, students focused on the application of intelligence operations in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations.  The students eagerly absorbed the course material, understood its applicability and expressed a desire for more.  Formal material was presented by U.S. Africa Command Regional Joint Intelligence Training Facility, Canadian Combined Joint Operations Command, and partner-nation instructors, reinforced by the experiences and anecdotes of the Marine officer-in-charge. These brought intelligence concepts from theory into real-world application.

The week prior to graduation, the students engaged in a five-day final exercise culminating with briefings to the MarForEur/Af Assistant Chief-of-Staff of Intelligence, LtCol Vernon Williams, and the Kenyan Defense Attaché to Tanzania, Col Cyrus Oguna, both of which provided insight and perspective from a commander’s point-of-view. This was undoubtedly a nerve-racking but proud experience for the young officers.

The graduation was attended by distinguished guests including the Acting Tanzanian Chief of Defense Intelligence, Director of Tanzanian Defense Intelligence Plans and Projects, Acting High Commissioner of Canada to Tanzania, Mr. Eric Bertram, AFRICOM Deputy Director for Intelligence, Brig. Gen. Jody Daniels, Assistant to the AFRICOM Director of Intelligence, Ms. Vivian Turnbull, and Defense Attaché’s from the U.S., Kenya, Canada, and Uganda. 

By their attendance and post-graduation interaction with the students, the guests showed significant interest in the success of the course and, most importantly, the achievements of the students and the relationships created over the previous eight weeks.

Since 2008, ten MIBOC-A iterations have been executed in eight countries, resulting in the training of 247 intelligence officers from 23 partner nations from the ranks of 2nd Lieutenant to Major in both East and West Africa.