Press Releases: Department of State Participates in Quick Response Force (QRF) Summit Challenge 2018
Media Note
Today, the U.S. Department of State and the Government of Kenya launched the first SPEAR Quick Response Force (QRF) Summit Challenge, a tactical training and competition event in Nairobi for U.S.-trained Special Program for Embassy Augmentation and Response (SPEAR) teams.
The training and competition is being held in Nairobi from December 10-14, 2018.
The SPEAR program provides training to specially selected law enforcement officers in participating host-nations to enable their affiliated units to respond within minutes to emergencies involving U.S. diplomatic facilities or personnel. Currently, SPEAR teams support U.S. diplomatic missions in Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central Africa Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Iraq, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, and Tunisia.
Participants from SPEAR teams from Mali, Tunisia, Niger, and Kenya will be competing in the QRF Summit Challenge along with a crisis response unit from the Kenyan National Police Service and a team from the U.S. Embassy’s Regional Security Office.
The five days of training and competition will include firearms proficiency, tactical medicine, explosive incident identification and response, personnel recovery and evacuation, and physical fitness.
For more information regarding the program, please click here. For questions, please email DS-Press@state.gov.