In his last days as U.S. Africa Command's civilian deputy, Ambassador J. Anthony Holmes shared some of the highlights and challenges of his past three years, focusing particularly on the interagency aspect of the command and the importance of setting long-term goals.



During a farewell ceremony in Stuttgart, Germany, September 7, 2012, Holmes reflected on his tour as AFRICOM's most senior interagency member.



From September 2009 to September 2012, Holmes served as the deputy to the commander for civil-military activities, directing the command's plans and programs associated with health, humanitarian assistance, disaster response, security sector reform, and peace support operations.



"The whole point of my position - the reason I'm here - is to try to maximize the collective impact of the entire U.S. government and to broaden the very formidable strengths of the U.S. military to improve their applicability to Africa, to security issues inherent to Africa, and to our interests, both broadly as well as more narrowly in the security area in Africa," Holmes said.



One of the most important aspects of this role, he said, was bridging the gap between the Departments of Defense and the Department of State and ensuring that the 13 interagency organizations represented at AFRICOM were adequately tied to the command's decisions and planning.



This proved especially challenging with the limited number of interagency members -- only 39 at its peak in 2011 -- in a command of more than 2,000 people. That ratio was very different from the original vision of a command staff with 50 percent interagency members. Holmes said a combination of factors prevented this vision from being achieved, most notably budget constraints and under-manning across civilian U.S. government departments.



In spite of the low numbers of positions, Holmes said he is pleased with what interagency staff members have been able to accomplish by providing Africa-specific expertise to the military, as well as assisting with military planning in areas such as humanitarian assistance and disaster response.



A primary area where he has seen considerable progress is the command's relationships with African partners. After much suspicion about its motives and basing plans following the initial announcement of AFRICOM's establishment, Holmes described a noticeable shift in perceptions by many African nations.



"The relationships that this command has developed with African militaries over the four years since it was formally stood up are so much more solid today," Holmes stated. "The level of suspicion one encounters is just a small shadow of what it was four years ago. And I think that's tremendous progress. Although more work needs to be done at the political level, I think it has served in many ways to reassure Africa about what we are all about."



He reminded staff that in order to continue building on these relationships, it's important to be focused on the long term and avoid thinking that short-term progress will necessarily be sustainable.



"As Americans, and maybe even as human beings, we have this tremendous urge to move forward, to declare success," he explained. "We've got to discipline ourselves to constantly refer back to what we have done, check our footprints, and learn the lessons from successes and evaluate failures, so we can do better next time."



According to Holmes, AFRICOM's success won't be determined by one specific exercise or activity but from its overall impact many years from now.



"The reality is, in Africa, all the problems are inherently long-term. They're going to take decades, if not generations, to really solve, and we've promised them over the past four years that we're going to be there with them," Holmes continued. "Somehow, we've got to reconcile our focus on one-year budget cycles and four-year electoral cycles with their security challenges, because it's not about us. It's about them."



The command's shift from a national approach to a regional approach is another area where Holmes has seen positive change. Recognizing the importance of working with regional and sub-regional organizations such as the African Union, and the AU's five economic communities , AFRICOM has expanded many of its programs and exercises to help these regional organizations begin to develop a security architecture that will sustain them.



"There's no problem in Africa that is conducive to solutions by any particular state or even a particular African nation in conjunction with us. They all require working together on a sub-regional or continental basis," Holmes emphasized. "This really is in our interest, because it enables us to leverage our precious program money in Africa and have a bigger impact because we're dealing with more countries at the same time in the same exercises or on the same missions."



During Holmes' farewell ceremony, General Carter F. Ham, commander of U.S. Africa Command, presented him with the Joint Distinguished Civilian Service Award for his accomplishments as AFRICOM's deputy to the commander for civil-military activities. Ham described Holmes as the "connective tissue back with the Department of State" who has brought vast African experience and comprehensive knowledge of U.S. foreign policy to the command and has represented AFRICOM "fully and expertly in our dialogue with Africans."



In his closing remarks, Holmes told the staff, "I can't tell you what an honor it's been for me and how much I have learned, and on a personal level, grown as a result of this experience."