Mike Rogers Asks AFRICOM Commander About Strengthening Counterterrorism Partnerships

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]Thank all of our witnesses for for being here and that and those testimonies. That's very helpful to us.

[00:00:04]I recognize myself for questions.

[00:00:06][clears throat] Admiral Cooper, you have spent the last 6 years in either senior leadership or command positions in the Middle East. In your expert opinion, is there any time over the last 40 years that Iran or the Iranian regime posed a greater threat threat to United States, Israel, and our allies in the region before Midnight Hammer and Epic Fury Fury? No, sir.

[00:00:31]So, are they less capable today than they were before those exercises? They are significantly less capable today than they were before the two major operations. And what would a nuclear-armed Iran mean for our partners in the Middle East and our presence there?

[00:00:46]Well, clearly the president has stated Iran will not be nuclear-armed. It would obviously represent a very highly destabilizing element into the region and have global impact. So, basically, we're safer, our country's safer, and our allies in the region are safer because of what our president has done in in Iran over the last couple of months. We are unquestionably safer as a result of US military actions. Thank you. Um General Anderson, the operation that eliminated global ISIS second-in-command over the weekend demonstrated the growing terrorist threat in your AOR, but also the value of the partnerships that we have there. Um how how are you strengthening partnerships in your AOR going forward to make sure that that threat doesn't make it to our homeland?

[00:01:31]Uh Chairman, that's incredibly important point because we cannot operate there and respond to these crises or these threats without the access, basing, and overflight that's dependent upon the relationships with these partners. So, we are investing a significant amount of effort in order to build those relationships and build that credibility.

[00:01:50]The operation over the weekend built a lot of that credibility of what the US can bring, and that those unique capabilities can be brought to bear in conjunction with our partners. The Nigerians have been instrumental throughout the last several months developing the target, helping us with the intelligence, and providing support in order to do that. So, it could not have been done by our own forces that we needed to do that in conjunction with them. We are using that to leverage that to engage with other nations such as those in the Sahel where the terrorist threat continues to grow to try to open that dialogue so we can address this mutual threat. Is there anything in particular that this committee could do to be helpful to you in developing partnerships that can benefit us in the future?

[00:02:32]Uh yes, sir. I think some key investments in some of the expeditionary capabilities such as a forward staging base expeditionary ISR is critical to that. Uh support for continued engagement with small teams such as our special operations teams or small conventional trainers goes a long way.

[00:02:50]And then the last one I would say that is not as much in the military realm, but where we see the security convergence and intersection with economics is encouraging investment and development in Africa that allows for that stability to continue to develop because security depends upon stability that allows investment and that leads to prosperity and that's eventually helps protect the United States in the long run. So, while not directly our role, we can help identify those areas where those investments have security implications.

[00:03:20]Yeah. Well, I I do think it's important when we talk about our role there that we make it clear to the larger universe of members of Congress that we do need to be building partnerships in in the African continent and we don't need to be tying that to them changing their cultural values necessarily. We need partnerships and and whether we like it or not, China and Russia and Iran are all down there building partnerships and they're not judging these people based on their cultural values. So, it's something I think we can learn from.

[00:03:51]With that, I will yield to the ranking member for any questions he may have.