DJIBOUTI CITY, Djibouti - In the East Africa region where a single breached network can ripple across borders, Djiboutian soldiers and the Kentucky Army National Guard as well as other U.S. service members spent four focused days shoulder-to-shoulder inside classrooms and communications bays, testing defenses, hunting cyber threats and refining the radio skills that keep missions moving.
U.S. Africa Command, or AFRICOM; Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa, or CJTF-HOA; and the Kentucky Army National Guard teamed up with Djiboutian forces July 13-16 for a cybersecurity and radio communications fundamentals skills-sharing initiative that blended instruction, live demonstrations and practical exercises.
Participants drilled on network monitoring, threat detection and the employment of essential cybersecurity tools, then shifted to radio communications principles and operational techniques that underpin crisis response and day-to-day coordination between the two nations.
“Combining all these efforts is an opportunity not only to strengthen CJTF-HOA’s relationship with the Djiboutian armed forces, but also AFRICOM’s broader engagement with Djibouti through the State Partnership Program,” said U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Jacob Henley, CJTF-HOA’s cyber planner.
The initiative, led by the Kentucky National Guard through the Department of Defense National Guard Bureau State Partnership Program, or SPP, is designed to be repeatable and scalable, building habits that are sustainable.
“The trust built during exchanges such as this [is] critical to the development of a more secure environment in the region,” said U.S. Army Capt. Joseph Pollock, CJTF-HOA’s cyber and electromagnetic activities chief. “The National Guard brings a unique mix of domestic response experience and technical depth that translates directly to our partners’ needs.”
Administered by the National Guard Bureau and guided by U.S. Department of State foreign policy, the SPP links National Guard troops with partner-nation militaries to advance shared security objectives in support of combatant commanders and U.S. Embassy Chiefs of Mission. For Djibouti and Kentucky, that linkage turns relationships into repeatable outcomes that yield faster detection, clearer communications and teams that already know each other when a crisis hits.
“Strengthening partner nations’ ability to secure their own networks and infrastructure improves regional cyber resilience and mitigates threats that can undermine stability,” said U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Justin Szabo, AFRICOM’s Communications program manager. “These efforts enhance the collective security of U.S., allied and partner operations throughout the CJTF-HOA and AFRICOM areas of responsibility.”
For the Djiboutian and U.S. service members in the room, the value was immediate. The initiative enabled practical shared problem-solving and a common operating picture that will help both teams grow sharper with every future engagement.
For the region, the partnership is another brick in a wider wall of resilience that will continue to be built together, one exchange at a time.