US Africa Command dispatched 16 military personnel to assist the Nigerian government in its efforts to locate more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by the Boko Haram terrorist group, according to a May 12 AFRICOM release. The team is participating in a State Department-led “interagency coordination and assessment cell,” and includes experts in communications, logistics, and intelligence, states the release. The cell also includes personnel from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and members of the intelligence community. AFRICOM spokesman Col. Tom Davis said the team will coordinate with the Nigerian military to determine what assistance the US can provide to help in the search. The effort is still in the “assessment phase,” said David. He added, “No other troops have deployed or are involved in operations against Boko Haram.”
In the final few hours before the Senate adjourned for its Memorial Day recess on May 26, lawmakers approved a raft of some 3,400 pending military nominations, including a number of high-profile Air Force and Space Force generals to assignments that will significantly reshape some of the upper echelons of…