ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the constitutive nature of United States (US) military bases. It discusses the role of US Special Operations Forces and their use of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) as a method for expansion. The chapter explores the potency of Michel Foucault’s idea of a Panopticon and its historical legacy in Africa, which was mostly dominated by the use of intelligence agencies. ISR under special operations have two key components. First, there is special reconnaissance which entails “reconnaissance and surveillance actions normally conducted in a clandestine or cover manner to collect or verify information of strategic or operational significance”. Second, this also involves what is known as military information support operations. The expansion of the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) resonates with the notion of “the gaze”. The gaze is premised on the idea of power, information and control over a large mass of land. The expansion of AFRICOM on the continent mainly relies on ISR.
