After the early morning terrorist attack on the United States Military base in Manda Bay, Lamu on January 5, 2020, the US government directed that an immediate review of the incident in which three of its citizens were killed be carried out with immediate effect.
Consequently, on Thursday, March 10, the State Department of Defence released a report that made a number of recommendations on the US military operations outside its soil.
During the 2020 attack by suspected Al Shabaab militants, the US military stated that it lost property valued over Ksh8 billion.
The Four Star General-led independent review concurred with all of the recommendations from the AR 15-6 investigation conducted by the US Africa Command. Secretary Lloyd James Austin accepted the findings and recommendations of the independent review.
"The attack wounded three additional US personnel and one Kenyan soldier and destroyed US government resources worth Ksh8 billion (USD71.5 million)," stated Gen Austin.
In the report, it was identified that the lack of coordination of intelligence and inadequate preparation of their security personnel were some of the deficiencies of the US team.
To this effect, the review committee recommended changes in training for the military personnel.
One of the recommendations was the review in the structure of intelligence sharing between the military officials from both the US government and their host countries.
"We recommend the Air Force consider restructuring pre-deployment training and certification. Specifically, the significant focus should be directed towards implementing collective training tailored to the environment where personnel would deploy.
"Further, extensive recommendations are made regarding rehearsals and in-theater training to be conducted within the first 45 days of arrival and periodically throughout the deployment," the report recommended.
During the launch of the report, all the Generals praised the Kenyan armed forces for their rapid response as they moved to help their US counterparts secure their base.
"I want to emphasize the importance and bravery of the Kenya Defence Forces as they engaged the Al Shabaab side-by-side with US personnel and independently.
"A Kenyan aircraft provided air support to suppress Al Shabaab fighters and another one transported wounded members to a civilian aircraft for evacuation. Without question, the swift and skillfulness of KDF saved many lives on that day," the General stated.
