On 7-8 November 2012, the United States Army War College convened a group of regional subject matter experts to assess security implications resulting from Malian instability and to identify potential US Army contributions to strategic security in northwest Africa. Twenty participants examined two alternative futures developed by wargame designers and each of two subgroups of participants developed an additional alternative future that they considered plausible. Each future was analyzed by the subgroups and presented to and discussed by the assembled participants. Participant perceptions of the nature of the problem, what is at stake, and what might improve the situation varied widely. The discussions identified similar differences of perspective among US, international, regional and Malian stakeholders.