During a visit to the U.S. Africa Command headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany on May 28, 2009, a group of six African graduate students learned about the command's mission, met with senior leaders, and engaged in discussions focusing on regional issues.

The students are currently in Germany as part of a 12-week academic program offered through the Marshall Center, a German-American security and defense educational institution. The Program in Advanced Security Studies (PASS) provides civilian government officials, military officers, and government academics with graduate-level study in security policy, defense affairs, international relations, and related topics.

Taking a day away from their regular courses, the students, from Cameroon, Lesotho, Liberia, and South Africa, took advantage of an opportunity to tour the U.S. Africa Command headquarters, where they attended briefings on the command's mission, objectives, and activities. They were accompanied by Dr. John Rose, director of the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies.

Among the highlights of their visit was the chance to engage with U.S. Africa Command desk officers, who provided the students with a tailored orientation of the command's initiatives in each of their respective countries.

The day concluded with remarks from the command's chief of staff Major General Snodgrass; foreign policy advisor Jerry Lanier; senior development advisor Carl Rahmann; and other senior command staff.

Marshall Center's PASS includes seminar discussions, debates, panels, role-playing exercises, as well as a field study, allowing participants to examine national and international security institutions and speak with senior decision-makers.