The Trump administration on Wednesday selected a Navy admiral and an Air Force general to lead U.S. Central Command and U.S. Africa Command.
The Pentagon said in a news release that Navy Vice Adm. Charles “Brad” Cooper has been selected to lead CENTCOM, which oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East, and Air Force Lt. Gen. Dagvin R. M. Anderson to lead AFRICOM, which oversees U.S. troops and operations across most of the African continent.
If confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate, both veteran officers would receive a fourth star.
Cooper is the deputy commander at CENTCOM, which is being led by Army Gen. Michael Kurilla, confirmed by the Senate in 2022 and who is retiring, according to Stars and Stripes. Kurilla in recent months has overseen U.S. strikes against Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen, attacks on Islamic State group leaders in Syria, and U.S. efforts to support Israeli operations against Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
If confirmed by the Senate, Cooper, who served in Afghanistan, will become the first Navy admiral to lead CENTCOM since it was established in 1983, Stars and Stripes reported.
CENTCOM resides at MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, Florida, encompasses 21 countries, and includes troubled areas such as Iraq, Yemen, and Israel.
Before becoming CENTCOM’s deputy commander, Cooper was commander of the U.S. 5th Fleet and U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain. He also has commanded U.S. Naval Force Atlantic, Expeditionary Strike Group 7, U.S. Naval Forces Korea, and a guided-missile destroyer and a cruiser, according to his Navy biography.
If confirmed, Anderson will become the first Air Force officer to lead AFRICOM, which was established in 2007 and is based in Stuttgart, Germany, overseeing military relations with 53 African nations. He has been with the Pentagon as director for the Joint Force Development on the Joint Staff since August 2022, according to Stars and Stripes.
Anderson would replace Marine Gen. Michael Langley, who has led AFRICOM since 2022.
Langley has faced several issues, including the expulsion by the Biden administration of U.S. troops from its key drone base in Niger, a rise in ISIS- and al Qaida-affiliated terrorist groups on the continent, and continued operations against al-Shabab and other extremist groups in Somalia, Stars and Stripes reported.
Anderson was commissioned into the Air Force in 1992 after graduating from Washington University in Missouri, according to his biography.
He has flown KC-135 Stratotanker jets and MC-130 and U-28 special operations aircraft during his career, accumulating approximately 3,400 hours of flight time, including more than 700 hours in combat.
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