{"id":33891,"date":"2018-03-06T20:45:16","date_gmt":"2018-03-06T20:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/03\/06\/africom-4-star-faces-questions-on-us-troops-killed-in-niger-ambush\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:55:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:55:58","slug":"africom-4-star-faces-questions-on-us-troops-killed-in-niger-ambush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2018\/03\/06\/africom-4-star-faces-questions-on-us-troops-killed-in-niger-ambush\/","title":{"rendered":"AFRICOM 4-star faces questions on US troops killed in Niger ambush"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As reports<\/a> emerge that four U.S. troops killed in an October ambush in Niger may not have gotten command approval for their mission, the Marine general who heads the combat mission in Africa <\/a>laid out the multitude of challenges <\/a>his people face on the continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marine Gen. Thomas Waldhauser told House Armed Services Committee members during a hearing Tuesday on Capitol Hill that he could not discuss details of Africa Command\u2019s investigation until the report was finalized and briefed to the families of the fallen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that the report into the deaths of members of an Army Special Forces team, which first went to meet local leaders and was then redirected to assist in the hunt for a militant suspected in the kidnapping of a U.S. aid worker, had been completed and sent to Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, Mattis will review and approve the investigative report, compiled over the course of five months by Army Maj. Gen. Roger Cloutier Jr., before briefing the four families involved and then returning to the Hill to brief Congress on what happened and how it can be avoided in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\t