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JTF Aztec Silence

EUCOM established Joint Task Force AZTEC SILENCE under the Commander of the US Sixth Fleet in December 2003 to counter transnational terrorism in the under-governed areas of Northern Africa and to build closer alliances with those governments. In support of this, US Navy intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets based in Sigonella, Sicily were used to collect and share information with partner nations and their militaries. This robust cooperative ISR effort was augmented by the release of intelligence collected by national assets.

EUCOM continues coordination with the Services to increase Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) assets and analytical resources to effectively prosecute the Global War on Terrorism. Persistent ISR would improve the ability to find, track and interdict mobile and technically competent terrorist groups operating within the vast, ungoverned regions of the AOR.

Unmanned air, surface and subsurface persistent surveillance platforms will be essential to forward operations based on a reduced footprint in theater. A major EUCOM focus is joint and combined interoperability of ISR systems to optimize information collection by NATO and non-NATO partners and to complement the Department of Defense and Central Intelligence Agency human intelligence capabilities.

The major US security objectives in Africa is be to eliminate ungoverned areas, to counter extremism, and to end conflict and reduce the chronic instability that hampers and often extinguishes hope for political and economic development. Development of effective security structures in Africa will lay the foundation for future success; however, they are dependent upon on a new level of commitment to devote the manpower, financial, and institutional resources necessary to establish and sustain real progress.

The US is crafting a policy that recognizes the growing strategic importance of Africa and its potential to become the next front in the Global War on Terrorism. African security issues will continue to directly affect US homeland security. It appears that the US has a small window of opportunity to make relatively modest near-term investments to avoid massive problems requiring US intervention in the future that could prove costly.