U.S. military investigation finds extensive failures leading up to deadly terror attack in Kenya

Al-Shabab attacks airstrip in Kenya, killing three Americans

According to investigators, the deadly assault consisted of two attacks on the seaside base near Kenya’s border with Somalia. Investigators determined that one, in which 10 mortar rounds were fired at Camp Simba, was intended to distract troops from responding to the main assault on Manda Bay’s airfield.

Investigators described how, in the predawn hours, Army Spec. Henry J. Mayfield Jr. and a colleague were clearing the runway, when they detected thermal images of what appeared to be hyenas — realizing too late that what they spotted were al-Shabab fighters hiding. Mayfield was killed after a rocket-propelled grenade struck his vehicle. Defense contractors Bruce Triplett, 64 and Dustin Harrison, 47, who were piloting an aircraft, were killed after militants attacked their plane, which caught fire.

The attack, which left other Americans injured and several aircraft destroyed, was the deadliest attack on U.S. forces in Africa since the October 2017 ambush in Niger, in which four soldiers were killed. But the incident was largely eclipsed by the U.S. strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, the leader of Iran’s Quds Force, which occurred just two days before the assault on Manda Bay.

U.S. Africa Command’s investigation into the attack was completed in April 2021. But instead of releasing its findings, the Pentagon commissioned an independent review, led by Gen. Paul Funk, commanding general of the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command.

Funk said Thursday that he concurred with the findings reached by U.S. Africa Command, and that “no single point of failure directly caused the loss of life and damage to the property at Manda Bay.”

While Funk said he “was able to identify multiple personnel who I deemed negligent in their actions or inactions which contributed to creating a vulnerable airfield,” he did not detail what disciplinary recommendations he had made to the Air Force. The Pentagon’s chief spokesman, John Kirby, said all disciplinary actions taken were “administrative.”

Pentagon chief under fire for withholding information about deadly Kenya attack

In the case of previous military disasters that included loss of life, lawmakers have intervened to block promotions when they did not think the Pentagon had done an adequate job in holding military leaders accountable. Members of Congress had previously expressed frustration at the slow pace of disclosures from the Pentagon, despite their repeated attempts at oversight.

For instance, the Army’s investigation of the ambush in Niger initially placed blame on soldiers on the ground, even though military officials acknowledged that commanders had sent them on a mission without adequate backup or aerial surveillance. Under scrutiny from Capitol Hill, the Army eventually withdrew a nomination for Col. Bradley Moses, commander of 3rd Special Forces Group at the time of the attack, who had been in line for a promotion to general officer.

The case in Manda Bay has some parallels to a 2012 attack by the Taliban on Camp Bastion, an airfield in southern Afghanistan. Militants there snuck onto a base undetected and destroyed numerous aircraft with rocket-propelled grenades, prompting a battle that left two U.S. Marines dead.

The top Marine Corps officer at the time, Gen. James F. Amos, found that subordinate Marine generals in Afghanistan had not taken adequate steps to safeguard the base and asked two of them — Maj. Gen. Charles “Mark” Gurganus and Maj. Gen. Gregg Sturdevant — to retire.

Dan Lamothe contributed to this report.