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The National Security Council is the US President’s principal forum for national security and foreign policy decision making with his or her senior national security advisors and cabinet officials, and the US President’s principal arm for coordinating these policies across federal agencies.
The NSC is chaired by the President. Its regular attendees are the Vice President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Energy, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations, the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Chief of Staff to the President, and the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the military advisor to the Council, and the Director of National Intelligence is the intelligence advisor.
Auteur:
Le Conseil de sécurité nationale (NSC) est le principal organe du président des États-Unis pour la prise de décisions en matière de sécurité nationale et de politique étrangère avec ses principaux conseillers en matière de sécurité nationale et les membres de son cabinet, et le principal organe du président des États-Unis pour la coordination de ces politiques entre les agences fédérales.
Le NSC est présidé par le président. Ses membres réguliers sont le vice-président, le secrétaire d’État, le secrétaire au Trésor, le secrétaire à la Défense, le secrétaire à l’Énergie, le procureur général, le secrétaire à la Sécurité intérieure, le représentant des États-Unis d’Amérique auprès des Nations unies, l’administrateur de l’Agence des États-Unis pour le développement international, le chef de cabinet du président et l’assistant du président pour les affaires de sécurité nationale. Le Chef d’état-major interarmées est le conseiller militaire du Conseil, et le directeur du renseignement national est le conseiller en matière de renseignement.
Date of publication/ Date de publication: August 8th, 2022
Site of publication / Site de publication : https://www.whitehouse.gov/
Link to the original document / Lien vers le document original
After a very controversial African policy under the Trump era and the absence of a real American strategy for the continent, analysts were right to say that Africa does not represent a strategic priority for Washington. The new US strategy for sub-Saharan Africa published on 8 August 2022, also coinciding with the African tour of Antony Blinken, head of US diplomacy, comes at the right time to try to rectify this relationship. Indeed, by acknowledging the importance of Africa on the world stage, this strategy suggests a reinvention of American approaches deemed obsolete. ” Sub-Saharan Africa is critical to advancing our global priorities. It has one of the world’s fastest growing populations, largest free trade areas, most diverse ecosystems, and one of the largest regional voting groups in the United Nations (UN),” so “this strategy reframes the region’s importance to U.S. national security interests. The proposal outlines four strategic objectives, including climate adaptation and post-pandemic economic recovery efforts, alongside long-standing goals of transparent governance, democracy and security priorities. To achieve these goals, the partnership will focus on enhanced efforts and new instruments to reset the US-Africa relationship by engaging and strengthening US civil society and the African diaspora, as well as leveraging the private sector and rebalancing activities to urban areas. Pourquoi avons-nous choisi ce document ? Après une politique africaine très controversée sous l’ère Trump et l’absence d’une véritable stratégie américaine pour le continent, les observateurs ont eu raison de dire que l’Afrique ne représente pas une priorité stratégique pour Washington. La nouvelle stratégie américaine pour l’Afrique subsaharienne publiée le 8 août 2022 coïncidant en plus avec la tournée africaine d’Antony Blinken, chef de la diplomatie américaine vient à point nommé pour tenter de redresser cette relation. En effet, en reconnaissant l’importance de l’Afrique sur l’échiquier mondial, cette stratégie propose une réinvention des approches américaines jugées obsolètes. « L’Afrique subsaharienne est essentielle à la réalisation de nos priorités mondiales. Elle possède l’une des populations à la croissance la plus rapide au monde, les plus grandes zones de libre-échange, les écosystèmes les plus diversifiés et l’un des plus grands groupes de vote régionaux aux Nations unies », donc « cette stratégie reformule l’importance de la région pour les intérêts de sécurité nationale des États-Unis ». La proposition décrit quatre objectifs stratégiques, dont l’adaptation au climat et les efforts de relance économique post-pandémie, parallèlement aux objectifs de longue date en matière de gouvernance transparente, de démocratie et de priorités sécuritaires. Pour atteindre ces objectifs, le partenariat se concentrera sur des efforts accrus et sur de nouveaux instruments visant à réinitialiser les relations entre les États-Unis et l’Afrique en faisant participer et en renforçant la société civile et la diaspora africaine des États-Unis, ainsi qu’en tirant parti du secteur privé et en rééquilibrant les activités vers les centres urbains.Why did we choose this document?
The American tour begins at the same time as the Russian head of diplomacy returns from a tour of Africa. So, Africa is at the heart of the great powers’ struggle for influence. In promising a renewed relationship of equals, the report does not fail to cite China’s “harmful activities” and Russia’s use of disinformation. The countries of the region would benefit from building on the strength of their unity to better monitor their strategic interests and avoid becoming a battleground for this competition. Governments, peoples and populations should work to forge their own responses to their challenges and choose the type of support they want to deal with the issues identified. It is also noted that this strategy, which claims to be renewed, does not yet have a more accurate and dynamic reading of the continent’s geography, since Washington continues to divide the continent into a North Africa and a Sub-Saharan Africa. African countries should invite their partner to rectify this view in order to integrate this relationship into a more dynamic and inclusive one. Africa must become fully aware of its assets so that it is no longer an object of desire but a player that imposes itself. Quelles leçons pour les pays de la zone de WATHI ? La tournée américaine commence au moment où le chef de la diplomatie russe rentre d’une tournée en Afrique. Donc l’Afrique est au cœur des luttes d’influence entre les grandes puissances. En promettant une relation renouvelée d’égal à égal, le rapport ne manque pas de citer les “activités nuisibles” de la Chine et l’utilisation de la désinformation par la Russie. Les pays de la région gagneraient à miser sur la force de leur unité pour mieux surveiller leurs intérêts stratégiques et éviter de devenir un terrain à cette compétition. Les gouvernements, les peuples et les populations devraient travailler à forger leurs propres réponses à leurs défis et de choisir le type de soutien qu’ils souhaitent pour faire face aux problématiques identifiées. On constate aussi que cette stratégie qui se veut nouvelle n’a pas encore une lecture plus juste et plus dynamique de la géographie du continent puisque Washington continue à diviser le continent en une Afrique du Nord et une Afrique Subsaharienne. Les pays Africains devraient inviter leur partenaire à rectifier ce regard pour intégrer cette relation dans une dynamique plus fluide et plus inclusive. L’Afrique doit prendre pleine conscience de ses atouts pour ne plus être un objet de convoitise mais un acteur qui s’impose.What lessons for the countries of the WATHI zone?
Extracts from pages / Les extraits proviennent des pages : 5-6, 7-10, 12-13
Strategic environment
Sub-Saharan Africa’s governments, institutions, and people will play a crucial role in solving global challenges. The continent will be home to one quarter of the world’s population by 2050 and hosts vast natural resources, including the world’s second-largest rainforest and 30 percent of the critical minerals that power our modern world. Moreover, it is situated along major sea lines of communication and trade in the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Gulf of Aden. The region holds three non-permanent seats in the UN Security Council, and it represents one of the largest regional voting groups (28 percent) at the UN and other multilateral bodies. Africans currently sit at the top of several of the most important international institutions, including the World Health Organization and World Trade Organization.
The United States is both responding to growing foreign activity and influence in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as engaging in a region undergoing significant transformations to its socioeconomic, political, and security landscape. Africa’s population is growing faster than that of any other region and will be majority urban by the end of the decade. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), once fully implemented, would be the fifth-largest economy in the world with the potential to have a combined gross domestic product of more than $3.4 trillion. The region is influencing global entertainment, including film, fashion, literature, and music, in an unprecedented manner.
Foster Openness and Open Societies
The United States has an abiding interest in ensuring the region remains open and accessible to all, and that governments and publics are able to make their own political choices, consistent with international obligations. Open societies are generally more inclined to work in common cause with the United States, attract greater U.S. trade and investment, pursue policies to improve conditions for their citizens, and counter harmful activities by the PRC, Russia, and other foreign actors.
The United States will work with African governments, civil society, and publics to increase transparency and accountability, including by supporting investigative journalism, combating digital authoritarianism, and enshrining laws, reforms, and practices that promote shared democratic norms. Consistent with the first-ever U.S. Strategy on Countering Corruption, the United States—working with our African partners—will seek to improve fiscal transparency, expose corruption, and support reforms.
Deliver Democratic and Security Dividends
The region’s commitment and capacity to renew its democracies, as well as anticipate, prevent, and address emerging and long running conflicts, can lead to more favorable outcomes for Africans and Americans. There are strong linkages between poor and exclusionary governance, high levels of corruption, human rights abuses, including sexual and gender-based violence, and insecurity, which are often exploited by terrorist groups and malign foreign actors. By simultaneously addressing these challenges and reaffirming that democracy delivers tangible benefits, the United States can offer choices to Africans as they determine their own future, limit openings for negative state and non-state actors, and obviate the need for costly interventions.
The United States will focus its diplomatic efforts, leverage its development programs, and use its defense tools to strengthen and enable partners to respond to the drivers of conflict across the region. We will focus on improving the capacity of African partners to advance regional stability and security by enabling more professional, capable, and accountable government security actors that can provide internal security.
The United States will seek to stem the recent tide of authoritarianism and military takeovers by working with allies and partners in the region to respond to democratic backsliding and human rights abuses, including through a targeted mix of positive inducements and punitive measures such as sanctions. At the same time, the United States will partner with other governments and regional bodies, including the African Union (AU), to address public dissatisfaction with the performance of some democracies, which provides a pretext for aspiring coup plotters, populist movements, and authoritarian leaders to undercut democratic values.
The United States will focus its diplomatic efforts, leverage its development programs, and use its defense tools to strengthen and enable partners to respond to the drivers of conflict across the region. We will focus on improving the capacity of African partners to advance regional stability and security by enabling more professional, capable, and accountable government security actors that can provide internal security. We also will invest in locally-led prevention and peacebuilding efforts to mitigate and address vulnerabilities, leveraging the bipartisan Global Fragility Act in coastal West Africa and in Mozambique.
Advance Pandemic Recovery and Economic Opportunity
It is essential to address two of the region’s most pressing problems: the COVID-19 pandemic and its attendant economic and social consequences. These challenges have been compounded by supply chain problems and food insecurity stemming from Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. The United States is committed to working with regional governments and international partners to build more stable and inclusive African economies. U.S. support for the region’s equitable recovery is a prerequisite to regaining Africa’s trust in U.S. global leadership, increasing U.S. trade and investment, and creating U.S. and African jobs.
The United States will prioritize policies and programs, as well as strengthen existing partnerships, to end the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and enhance health security. Closing critical gaps in African countries’ pandemic preparedness and response capacities is pivotal to U.S. and global health security. By July 2022, 25 percent of Africans had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, with the United States leading in providing over 200 million vaccine doses to the continent. We will continue to provide critical delivery support and activities to encourage and accelerate vaccine uptake, as well as support for the overall response to COVID-19, including diagnostics, surveillance, and training.
The United States will prioritize policies and programs, as well as strengthen existing partnerships, to end the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and enhance health security. Closing critical gaps in African countries’ pandemic preparedness and response capacities is pivotal to U.S. and global health security
The United States will build core capacities to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease threats; address challenges for procuring and delivering vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics; support manufacturing initiatives for vaccines and other medical countermeasures; and strengthen global supply chains to increase preparedness for the next health threat. Public-private partnerships and regional leadership, through the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the West African Health Organization, for example, will serve as a critical backbone for U.S.-led support and interventions.
Support Conservation, Climate Adaptation, and a Just Energy Transition
Africa’s efforts to conserve and restore the continent’s ecosystems and rich natural resources— while also realizing energy access and energy security goals, diversifying its energy mix, and building sustainable supply chains—are central to tackling the global climate crisis. Although the region is responsible for extremely low emissions per capita, it stands to suffer from some of the most severe effects of climate change. As Africa’s energy demands increase to support economic growth, we will use our influence, development assistance, and financing to help African partners adapt and build resilience to climate impacts and promote mitigation strategies to achieve a sustainable and low-carbon future.
The United States will partner with African governments, civil society, and local communities to conserve, manage, and restore the continent’s rich natural ecosystems, which can help reduce global carbon emissions and dampen climate change impacts. We will also continue and work to expand our efforts to combat wildlife trafficking and illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. The United States will back current and potential climate and environment champions, including through U.S. initiatives such as the U.S. Plan to Conserve Global Forests: Critical Carbon Sinks and the Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment.
A 21st century U.S.-African partnership
Elevate the U.S.-African Partnership. We will collaborate with and engage our African partners on global priorities, in addition to those issues impacting their own security and development. We will share our priorities, discuss their agendas, and identify mutual interests. We will broaden our vision of and expectations for senior level engagements, treating meetings with African counterparts as opportunities to advance outcomes favorable to U.S., regional, and global interests. Even when we have disagreements, we will lean in, agree to meet, and address differences head-on.
Engage More African States. We will broaden our engagements, continuing to invest in the largest states while also deepening our relations with small and medium African states to advance our shared priorities, including the AU’s Agenda 2063. Safeguarding U.S. national security interests requires as much engagement with the small countries as it does with the larger ones. We will engage with emerging African democracies, surging assistance and seizing opportunities to support promising democratic openings. We will develop a deeper bench of partners by increasing our interactions and deploying higher level U.S. interlocutors to promote greater policy alignment based on shared values, including at multinational forums and international courts.
Bolster Civil Society. We are more likely to advance U.S. objectives if the region’s civil society, including journalists and activists, as well as multilateral bodies and democratic institutions, stand up for shared democratic values, such as transparency, accountability, diversity, equality and equity, women’s rights, and inclusion. By ensuring our assistance, engagement, and public statements are informed by diverse local voices, we will more effectively support reformers, prodemocracy movements, state institutions, and the region’s youth and female leaders. This also entails recognizing the historical and ongoing connections between addressing racial justice and equality in sub-Saharan Africa and the United States.
Engage America’s African Diaspora. Our African Diaspora is a source of strength. It includes African Americans, descendants of formerly enslaved Africans, and nearly two million African immigrants who maintain close familial, social, and economic connections to the continent. The African immigrant population is among the most educated and prosperous communities in the United States.
Transcend Geographic Seams. We will facilitate and support new geographic groupings, deepen our engagement with multilateral institutions, including the AU and Regional Economic Communities, and expand our foreign partnerships to advanced shared goals. We will integrate African states in Indian Ocean and Indo-Pacific forums; deepen cooperation with other coastal Atlantic countries across Africa, Europe, and the Western Hemisphere; and address the artificial bureaucratic division between North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, we will work with African, European, and multilateral institutions to review the current regional architecture, seizing opportunities to address redundancies and rationalize mandates, priorities, and funding.
Engage America’s African Diaspora. Our African Diaspora is a source of strength. It includes African Americans, descendants of formerly enslaved Africans, and nearly two million African immigrants who maintain close familial, social, and economic connections to the continent. The African immigrant population is among the most educated and prosperous communities in the United States.
Leverage U.S. Private Sector and Domestic Leadership. The U.S. Government will increase its partnership with the U.S. private sector, as well as work with states, cities, and communities to showcase how U.S. foreign policy delivers for the middle class. The U.S. private sector plays an important role in advancing U.S. relations and goals in the region across a number of areas—such as health, infrastructure, finance, defense, clean energy, climate change, and education. States and cities also contribute to U.S. foreign policy objectives.
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