US military seeks cultural advisors in Somalia amid regional strikes

The U.S. special operations task force in Somalia is looking for contractors to advise troops on Somali politics, culture and tribal dynamics, according to a newly posted federal notice, a move that comes amid the U.S.’s shrinking military footprint in the region.

The solicitation, issued in late May on behalf of Joint Special Operations Task Force-Somalia, or JSOTF-SOM, calls for three cultural and political advisors to communicate with the country’s government and tribes and also to provide translation.

“This effort will allow JSOTF-SOM to successfully conduct its mission with an understanding of local customs, history, cultural routines, tribal dynamics, local government, and the socio-cultural context in which operations are being planned and conducted,” the notices states.

The notice comes as U.S. Africa Command has seen a 75% force draw down over the past 10 years. When paired with other nations’ reductions, the cuts have created what Gen. Dagvin Anderson, the command’s head, described in testimony before Congress as, “an intelligence black hole.”

Anderson said the force cuts hindered intelligence gathering across the region, and he warned that terrorist groups like ISIS still wanted to strike the U.S.

President Donald Trump, in mid-May, said he ordered a strike that killed the second-highest-ranking ISIS member, Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, in Lake Chad Basin, an area that sits in the Sahel region in the upper half of the continent — far from Somalia, but rife with extremism.

Somalia is a hotspot for Islamic militant groups, including ISIS and al Shabab, an insurgent group related to al-Qaeda, according to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.

Despite the reductions in the region, the U.S. has continued to pummel Somalia with airstrikes at a pace rivaling the year before. In 2025, the command carried out 124 strikes against the militant organizations, up from just 10 in 2024.

The new contractors would be located primarily in Mogadishu, the country’s capital, and must have a Top Secret clearance, according to the notice. They would also be required to travel to different locations inside Somalia, Djibouti and Kenya, and work in “austere locations,” sometimes at personal risk. The new role would begin in September.