Years of complacent leadership and inadequate security measures at a U.S. military base in Africa were among the reasons why a large group of well-armed Somali militants was able to kill three Americans and destroy more than $70 million worth of equipment in an ambush two years ago, Pentagon officials said.
The Defense Department on Thursday released an investigation of the Jan. 5, 2020 al-Shabab attack on the Manda Bay airbase in Kenya.
The base was used to support U.S. military operations in the region. The attack by an estimated 30 to 40 fighters killed Army Specialist Henry J. Mayfield and two U.S. contract employees, Bruce Triplett and Dustin Harrison. Pentagon officials said three other U.S. personnel and a Kenyan soldier were wounded in the assault.
The independent review, ordered by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, endorsed findings from an earlier investigation by U.S. Africa Command. Both found that “no single point of failure” resulted in the loss of life and property damage, officials said.
Army Gen. Stephen Townsend, head of U.S. Africa Command, told reporters at the Pentagon that the Manda Bay base suffered from an inadequate focus on potential and force protection at multiple levels. He said there was “inadequate understanding” of the threat faced by personnel at the base which resulted in deficiencies in the preparation and training of the base security force.
“We were not as prepared at Manda Bay as we needed to be,” Gen. Townsend said.
Gen. Paul Funk, head of the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command, led the independent review of the attack and said U.S. forces were targeted by a “massed force of determined, disciplined and well-resourced al-Shabab fighters.”
Gen. Funk’s review found no examples of criminal misconduct by any U.S. personnel involved in the incident, making it unlikely any personnel will face legal jeopardy.
But the general added, “I was able to identify multiple personnel whom I deem negligent in their actions or inactions which contributed to creating a vulnerable airfield.”
Following the al-Shabab attack at Manda Bay, U.S. Africa Command ordered beefed-up security at all military bases on the continent.