Defense Secretary Ash Carter yesterday saluted Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Thomas D. Waldhauser, President Barack Obama’s choice to become the next commander of U.S. Africa Command, by saying he will provide “strong and steady leadership,” Carter said in a DoD news release.
Carter congratulated Waldhauser on his nomination to serve as Africom’s commander, and his promotion, if approved by Congress, to general. Army Gen. David M. Rodriguez is the current Africom commander.
“Over the course of his three decades as a Marine, including service in Operation Desert Storm, leading some of our first troops into Afghanistan after Sept. 11th, and his most recent service in the Pentagon as director for joint force development, Lt. Gen. Waldhauser has demonstrated through strong military leadership, excellent political-military experience, and superb management skills, why he is the perfect pick for this dynamic command,” Carter said in the release.
Each day, the men and women of Africom “perform a wide range of critical and important missions, including building partner capacity, enabling regional forces and combating the metastasis of ISIL and other violent extremists,” the secretary added. “I am confident that Lt. Gen. Waldhauser will bring the same caliber of strong and steady leadership to Africom that Gen. David Rodriguez has brought to the command for the past three years, and I hope Congress will act quickly on Lt. Gen. Waldhauser's nomination.”
According to his biography on DoD’s website, Rodriguez became the third commander of Africom, headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, on April 5, 2013. Africom is one of six unified geographic combatant commands within the Defense Department unified command structure.