Thread by @jseldin

Helping #Somalia-"We get it by, with & through" partnerships, LtGen Michael Langley, nominated to lead @USAfricaCommand, tells SASC

"It's the best thing that will thwart the great power competition that's coming w/these false value propositions" from #Russia, #China

US working w/#Africa|n countries to help them establish maritime exclusion zones - "That's going to be the biggest deterrent, or assurance actions... that's going to deter #China from trying to take over the West Coast of the African continent" per LtGen Langley

"#AFRICOM needs more resources, not less" per SASC Ranking Member @JimInhofe, saying he's heard rumors support to @USAfricaCommand is going to be downgraded

Terrorism in #Africa, especially in #Sahel, #LakeChad Basin "is more of a problem today" per LtGen Langley, nominated to lead @USAfricaCommand
"We have to address this & we have to train to those standards of combatting a violent extremism organization"

#alShabaab #ISIS #AQ

Involvement of #Russia's #Wagner Group in Africa, "It just brings on fragility" per LtGen Langley

"We are still the partner of choice" in Africa, he adds "If confirmed we will reengage & reset" in West Africa

Countering terrorism threats from #Afghanistan - "That is a challenge, that is harder, but it is absolutely doable" w/"over-the-horizon" strategy, LtGen Bryan Fenton, nominated to lead @USSOCOM, tells SASC

"Absolutely we have to keep the pressure on" #ISIS #alQaida & other terror groups in #Afghanistan, per LtGen Fenton

"And do it through all the means we have available"

Information Warfare-"Information operations is a domain we absolutely need to be a part of...key terrain" per LtGen Fenton

"The speed of relevance continues to be a challenge, getting it in a timely manner to the proper audiences..."

"Our adversaries are putting out a malign, disinformation" per LtGen Langley "They do it at the speed of relevance"

Says US is looking at how to speed up its efforts to counter the #disinformation by adversaries

Special Ops lessons - #Russia-#Ukraine

Early training for #Ukrainian forces "now being seen in the asymmetric,atypical way Ukraine is blunting the Russian invasion" per LtGen Fenton

Galvanizing of @NATO "shows an aggressor what the int'l rules-based order will not tolerate"

#China military base in #Djibouti-"They have it there bcs probably in the future they want to have the ability to affect free flow of commerce" via #BabElMandeb Strait, per AFRICOM-nominee LtGen Langley

"That's a strategic chokepoint...that we need to be really concerned about"

#Wagner Group, those like it are "proxies of the #Russia|ns" per LtGen Fenton

"They spread Russian aggression. They are ill-disciplined...As the Russians, they are acute threats" he says "Vicious & brutal"

"The #Wagner Group, the exacerbate instability" per LtgGen Langley "That just spells trouble for the overall stability across the [#Africa|n] continent"

"#alShabaab has increased capacity" per LtGen Langley, nominated to lead @USAfricaCommand

"They have aspirations for external operations, transnational operations" he says "If confirmed I will need more ISR. ISR is an active deterrent..to keep alShabaab from metastasizing more"