CIA attention to West Africa
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CIA attention to West Africa is John Kiriakou's short assessment of American covert interest in the Sahel, given in response to a question about whether the agency is likely to be involved in Burkina Faso because of what its leader Ibrahim Traoré is doing there.

The historical baseline

Kiriakou's first point is that the region was long a low priority. In all the years he was at the CIA, he says, the agency cared very very little about Africa, and especially about West Africa.

What changed

Two developments alter the calculation in his reading. The first is the emergence of what he calls a very healthy al-Qaeda or Islamic State presence in the region. The second is the drug trade, which he couples with it. He has described the trafficking route through the region separately in the West Africa cocaine route.

On that basis his answer is a qualified yes: it is possible, and he would guess that there is going to be CIA involvement and special forces involvement.

The reporting gap

Kiriakou adds a rider that he treats as equally certain. The American people, he says, are not going to have any idea, because it is not going to be reported.

The observation matches his complaint elsewhere about undisclosed American spending in the Sahel, where he says billions of dollars are going to Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Conakry and Guinea-Bissau as what is supposed to be a big secret.

See also

- The West Africa cocaine route
- The Secret Sahel Appropriations
- CIA Drug Facilitation
