General Carter Ham, commander of U.S. Africa Command, held an All Hands meeting with members of the AFRICOM staff, July 29, 2011, where he emphasized the command's priorities including the East Africa drought and the growing concern of violent extremist groups in Africa, such as Al-Shabaab.

Famine in East Africa is affecting more than 11 million people, especially in Somalia, as a result of the region's worst drought in 60 years. Ham said that he views the situation as purely humanitarian and encouraged those interested in helping to visit the Crisis in the Horn of Africa page on the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) to find organizations offering support.

The link is also available on AFRICOM's website.

"I think as America, that's what we do, we help people who are in need," he said.

The situation at this time does not require a significant military role, but U.S. leadership may requests some form of military support in the future.

"If I step away from the humanitarian aspect of this and look at this from purely a military role," he said, "I would say that the greatest risks right now in East Africa are Al-Shabaab and the violent extremists that they represent."

Ham suggested that the first step to undermining Al-Shabaab is to assist Somalia's Transitional Federal Government with addressing issues caused by the East African drought and help bring stability to those nations affected by it.

"Even if you don't think the humanitarian need is compelling enough," Ham said, "to me there is a security angle to this which affords us an opportunity as a nation, as a collective group of nations, to really take an effort to undermine what Al-Shabaab is trying to do in Somalia."

Ham emphasized the importance he places on multinational exercises and exchanges as a means of fostering greater cooperation among African nations.

"The more countries we can bring together to simultaneously participate in exchanges, the better off we'll be."

As an example of this cooperation, he cited Africa Endeavor 11, an annual communications exercise which brought together more than 30 African nations, five European nations, the United States, and four international organizations to develop command, control, and communication tactics that can be used by the African Union in support of peacekeeping missions.

Ham also spoke about his recent travels to Egypt and Ethiopia. Although Egypt works most directly with U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) rather than AFRICOM, Ham said that Egyptian leaders he met viewed themselves as an African country and desire to take a leading role in African security matters.

Following his trip to Egypt, Ham went to Ethiopia where he met with African Union and Ethiopian officials.

Officials at the African Union "were very interested in establishing Africa-wide military standards for communications training, medical regulations, personnel systems, logistics," Ham said. "It could take them a long time to do that, but maybe there are some areas in which we can help them."

While discussing the financial uncertainty of the Department of Defense, Ham emphasized that the command must be viewed as being an economic steward of American taxpayer funds. However, he cautioned against emotional "fact-free conversations" about U.S. political and funding issues. The nation is in a public discussion about a wide range of matters, to include the proper sustainable levels of the armed forces in an atmosphere of uncertainty.

Command leadership can help lessen this uncertainty through 'the rapid sharing of accurate information' with staff," he said.

Ham also discussed the results of the Command Climate Survey, a questionnaire that was given to members of the AFRICOM staff to gain better understanding of their current work environment.

He re-emphasized the importance of leadership, saying, "Part of our duty is to say not only are we technically competent, are we accomplishing the specific tasks that I have for my duty description, but also am I spending the requisite level of effort in my role as a leader? Am I counseling my people, and am I making sure they are well informed and that they are well supported?" He said that leaders need to strike a balance between mission accomplishment and caring for their personnel.

Finally, during a question-and-answer period, Ham was asked if, in his travels, the command is misperceived as being focused primarily on ensuring U.S. military access to natural resources. Ham noted that, "There will always be people out there who will see an ulterior motive in everything we do. Those kinds of people will probably never change their minds...but actions speak louder than words."

He then repeated a quote from now-retired Lieutenant General Russell Honorrrà who, speaking of the need to match deeds with words, once explained, "You all got to make sure that your video matches your audio."

He also quoted a senior African military official who spoke candidly to Ham about the potential repercussions because of AFRICOM's leadership role in the first two weeks of the international action to enforce UN Security Council Resolution 1973 by establishing a Libya no-fly zone. According to Ham, he was advised in the aftermath of the Libya action, "General, the Africans who hate you will still hate you, and the Africans who don't hate you still won't hate you."

Ham recognized U.S. AFRICOM's first and second quarter award winners and congratulated Brigadier Generals Robert Ferrell, director of C4 Systems, and Barbara Faulkenberry, deputy director of Logistics, on their selections for promotion to major general.