Defense News reports that “US lawmakers continue reacting skeptically to the Obama administration’s quiet US military and intelligence pivot to Africa, this time holding up millions to counter violent extremists there.”  

“The Pentagon wants to shift almost $7 million for, as the Senate Armed Services Committee describes in a budget document obtained by Defense News, “’information operations that shape the information environment in Africa in order to counter violent extremist ideology.’”  

“That funding shift within the fiscal 2014 Defense Department budget is part of a broader shift kicked into gear by the White House earlier this year.”