News: Pages http://www.southcom.mil/newsroom/Pages/Forms/AllItems.aspx RSS feed for the Pages list. Wed, 22 May 2013 14:24:15 GMT Microsoft SharePoint Foundation RSS Generator 60 en-US News: Pages http://www.southcom.mil/newsroom/_layouts/images/siteIcon.png http://www.southcom.mil/newsroom/Pages/Forms/AllItems.aspx SOUTHCOM-at-50-A-Half-Century-of-Service http://www.southcom.mil/newsroom/Pages/Forms/DispForm.aspx?ID=887 Page Content:
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50th Anniversary

Our history goes back to the former U.S. Caribbean Defense Command which was created to defend the Panama Canal during World War II.  In the 1950's the command's mission evolved to include security cooperation in Central and South America.  On June 6, 1963, the command was renamed U.S. Southern Command.

Link to former commanderslink to photo gallery

Photo Gallery

A collection of images from the past 50 years
 

 

The Commanders

The complete list of the men who have commanded SOUTHCOM
 

 

Link to SOUTHCOM in the NewsDOWNLOAD pictorial history (PDF)

Pictorial History Book 

A look at the highlights of U.S. military engagement in the region during the past century (PDF file)

Our History in the News 

Check out archived news articles on major events in our history (Links provided by Google Archives)

 

Title: SOUTHCOM at 50: A Half-Century of Service
]]> Wimbish, Michael D CIV USSOUTHCOM/SC-CC (L) Thu, 07 Mar 2013 18:34:12 GMT http://www.southcom.mil/newsroom/Pages/Forms/DispForm.aspx?ID=887 SOUTHCOM-at-50-Timeline-(1963---1974) http://www.southcom.mil/newsroom/Pages/Forms/DispForm.aspx?ID=888 Page Content:
Go back to main 50th Anniversary page
 
1963 - 1974  | 1975 - 1989 | 1990 - 1999 | 2000 - Present
 
Just before the United States entered World War II, the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration established the U.S. Caribbean Defense Command (1941-1947), a prototype unified command, to defend the Panama Canal and surrounding area. After the war, U.S. military planners adopted a national security plan that transformed the wartime organization into the U.S. Caribbean Command (1947-1963). Located in Panama, the U.S. Caribbean Command’s mission changed over time. Importantly, during the 1950s, the command assumed broad responsibilities for inter-American security cooperation. Yet U.S. officials also removed the Caribbean basin from the U.S. Caribbean Command’s area of focus. Therefore, in the early 1960s, the John F. Kennedy administration decided to reorganize and rename the command.

(1963) Engineer training in Bolivia1963 – 1965 (SOUTHCOM established)

In June 1963, the Department of Defense changed the name of the U.S. Caribbean Command to U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM). Military officials simultaneously elevated the Commander’s authorized billet from Lieutenant General to General.
 
After the Panamanian flag riots in January 1964, the Lyndon B. Johnson administration announced its intention to renegotiate the Hay/Bunau‑Varilla Treaty (1903) governing the U.S. presence on the isthmus.
 
Treaty talks dominated U.S.-Panamanian relations for the next 13 years.

 

Link to 1963-1975 photosPhotos: 1963 - 1965 Photos  | Main 50th Anniversary Photo Gallery 

 

Articles
US Commander In Panama Is General Who Goes By Book -- Toledo Blade, Jan. 14, 1964

 

Commanders
Gen. OmearaGen. Andrew P. O’Meara, USA, June 1963 – Feb. 1965

 
 
Back to Main Timeline

(1965) Honduran Soldiers Arrive in Dominican Republic1965 – 1969 (Intervention in Dominican Republic)

In April 1965, the Johnson administration ordered U.S. forces into the Dominican Republic to restore internal order and evacuate American citizens (Operation Power Pack). Soon thereafter, international peacekeepers, including troops from Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Paraguay arrived in the country.
 
In October 1967, U.S.-trained Bolivian Special Forces captured and killed Argentine-Cuban revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara.
 
In 1969, a border dispute erupted between El Salvador and Honduras. Responding to the crisis, USSOUTHCOM helped deploy international observers to Central America. The command also provided disaster relief to Chile, Colombia, and Honduras.

 

Articles
Sending Marines Shows US Fed Up With Red Attacks -- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, May 1, 1965
Marines Leave Santo Domingo‎ -- Miami News, June 7, 1965
Che Guevara Killed In Battle With Bolivian Army Troops -- Miami News, Oct. 10, 1967
The Tegucigalpa Test For Latin Diplomacy‎ -- St. Petersburg Times, July 16, 1969

 

Commanders
Gen. MatherGen. George R. Mather, USA, Feb. 1969 – Sept. 1971 Gen. Robert W. Porter, USA, Feb. 1965 – Feb. 1969

 

Other Resources
US Army Center Of Military History Book: Dominican Republic Intervention - US Army Center of Military History
U.S. Marine Corps Operations in the Dominican Republic 1965 - U.S. Marine Corps History Division
U.S. Navy info on Dominican Republic Operations - Naval History and Heritage Command
Operation Power Pack: U.S. Military Intervention in the Dominican Republic - Army.mil article
AUDIO: Operation Power Pack: - Army.mil multimedia
 
Back to Main Timeline

Pictures from 1965-19751970 – 1974 (A reduced mission)

Following a comprehensive review of Department of Defense organization and management, the Secretary of Defense recommended disestablishing USSOUTHCOM. President Richard M. Nixon vetoed the plan in July 1971. In 1971, U.S. and Panamanian diplomats began formal negotiations of a new canal treaty. The bilateral talks, however, produced few immediate results.
 
The Southern Command Television Network expanded its lineup in 1972 to include Monday Night Football. The television broadcasts and other USSOUTHCOM media products served as important vehicles for cultural transmission in Latin America.
 
In 1974, the Joint Chiefs of Staff recommended the elimination of USSOUTHCOM to help trim the U.S. military presence abroad. Concerned that this change would complicate ongoing Panama Canal Treaty negotiations, President Gerald R. Ford refused to act on the proposal.  Even so, the Secretary of Defense reduced the size of the command, limited its responsibilities, and downgraded the Commander’s authorized billet to Lieutenant General.

 

 

Articles
US Plans To Cut Size Of Latin Military Missions -- St. Petersburg Times, May 11, 1970
Dominant US Influence In Latin America Declining -- The Telegraph, May 12, 1971
Panama Canal Zone Treaty Negotiated -- The Telegraph, Sept. 29, 1971
Southern Command' Moved Rapidly In Managua Quake -- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Jan. 22, 1973

 

Gen. RossonGen. William B. Rosson, USA, Jan. 1973 – July 1975
 
 
 
 
 
The appearance of any external hyperlink does not constitute endorsement by the Department of Defense or U.S. Southern Command of this web site or the information, products or services contained therein.  See  SOUTHCOM External Link Policy.
 
All content (with the exception of externally linked products) was produced and curated by the U.S. Southern Command Historian's Office. 

 

 

Title: SOUTHCOM at 50: Timeline (1963 - 1974)
]]> Wimbish, Michael D CIV USSOUTHCOM/SC-CC (L) Thu, 07 Mar 2013 20:17:07 GMT http://www.southcom.mil/newsroom/Pages/Forms/DispForm.aspx?ID=888 2013-Posture-Statement-to-Congress http://www.southcom.mil/newsroom/Pages/Forms/DispForm.aspx?ID=896 Page Content:

The commander of U.S. Southern Command, Marine Gen. John F. Kelly,  testified before the Senate and House Armed Services Committees March 19 and 20 as part of the command’s annual posture statement to Congress.  This page provides information, multimedia resources, documents and testimony excerpts.

 

Excerpts from House Armed Services Committee testimony, March 20

On greatest threat to United States from the region

"U.S. Southern Command is traditionally, at least in the last 10 or 15 years, been kind of the economy of force command of all the geographical CINC-doms. So, for a long time, we've operated down in Latin America or the Caribbean without a lot of assets. The good news story is there is not, from a military point of view, there's not a great number of military threats down there, at least towards the United States.
 
But I am the beginning of the away game, if you will, for [U.S. Northern Command commander] Chuck Jacoby's home game. If he's worrying about things that are coming across the Mexican border or coming through a port somewhere in the United States, I think we've probably failed him and the American people in keeping it away. And I do think we fail the American people every day because there's so much that gets through that we can't take off the playing field, if you will.
 
The first thing I would -- what's the greatest threat down there, it's really, to me, it's really the network that we deal with. Obviously, you think about drugs initially, but the network we deal with is incredibly efficient. And it's plugged into a worldwide network of crime. And anything that anyone wants to put on that network, wherever it is in the world, if that person, if that individual, if that enemy of ours wants to get it into the United States, there's a pretty good chance he or she can do it.
 
So the network is incredibly concerning to me because, as I say, almost anything can get on that network. You know, we watch obviously the drugs that come up from Central America and from Mexico. A lot of it is taken off the market, so to speak, on the way in, but an awful lot of it does get in. We watch individuals come into the network from as far away as the Middle East.
 
But again, the network is incredibly efficient. It certainly rivals anything that Federal Express can do. It has 1,200 hubs that we know of in the United States, all controlled by cartels. They move hundreds and hundreds of tons of drugs, as an example, along that network.”
 

On the whole-of-government approach to security in the region

“What we do in the south and SOUTHCOM is a very, very whole-of-government, interagency, not just DoD. In my headquarters we have dozens of the same kind of individuals that represent the entire U.S. government -- DEA, FBI, Border Patrol -- all of the agencies. They're all heroes. They all work as hard as I do to try to serve the nation and keep these malign influences and objects from coming into the United States.”
 

Sequestration effects on counter-illicit trafficking mission

• “Because of sequestration, if I lose all of the ships I'm expected to lose -- and ships are critical, as is airborne ISR -- if I lose those assets, if they go to zero, and there are some that are predicting they will go to zero, then all of that cocaine, all of it, will get ashore.  And more, I would predict [would] get ashore and be on the streets of New York and Boston and Portland, Maine, and all the rest very, very quickly.
 
• Essentially, with the exception of what our partners can do for us, particularly, as I say, the heroic efforts on the Honduran part and the Guatemalans and others -- but they take very little off the market -- all of that drug will get into the United States.”
 
• “If I don't have assets -- which I don't -- all I can do is watch the drugs go by."
 
• “So Navy ops in my area of operations will essentially stop -- go to zero, I believe. With a little luck, the United States Coast Guard -- you know, the other arrows in this fight -- with a little luck we might see a Coast Guard cutter down there.   But we're gonna lose airborne ISR in the counter-drug fight.  We'll lose the Navy assets.”
 

On success of Colombia’s efforts to fight cartels, insurgent groups

“Fifteen, 17 years ago when I worked up here as the Marine liaison, I can remember the debates about Colombia, and some of you will remember those debates. Colombia was considered at the time to be a failed state. You couldn't move outside of your home in Colombia without being at risk of being killed. I mean, the country was run by the Medellin and the Cali cartels.
 
Here we are a few years ago with a considerable investment of U.S. funds. I mean, it's in the billions of dollars. But now, we have a country that is not only shoulder-to-shoulder with us fighting our drug problem down there, they took 200 tons of cocaine off the market before it ever left their country and got into places like Venezuela or started the trip up to, to Central America -- 200 tons.
 
The biggest IED (improvised explosive device) casualty problem in the world outside of Afghanistan is in Colombia because it's how the cartels protect the factories in the jungle that make the cocaine, or how the growers, the cartels, the FARC, how they protect the grower -- the orchards, if you will.
 
You can go to Medellin now and go out to dinner and there is no violence.
 
In Bogota where you used to be able to… hear the bombs going off at night from the FARC -- and now all of that is pushed well away from the population centers. So the violence has gone down dramatically in the last 10, 12 years.”
 

Excerpts from Senate Armed Services Committee testimony, March 19

On cocaine production and trafficking in the region

“There's a great deal of cocaine produced, and all of that cocaine comes to the United States primarily from Colombia. And I have to give them a shout out. They have done a tremendous job working shoulder-to-shoulder with us. They have tremendous appreciation for what the United States government and its people have done for them over the years to defend against the traffickers and the insurgents that they've dealt with.
 
They've fallen, if you will, to the number-three producers of cocaine in the world. Number one and number two are Peru and Bolivia. The vast majority -- in fact, I would say 100-percent of that cocaine -- goes into Brazil. Brazil's now the number two consumer of cocaine and also is the traffic path, if you will, to Africa and then further to Europe.”
 

On China’s influence in the region

“The Chinese, first and foremost, are a very, very active in Latin America commercially. When they want to buy something they buy it in very, very large numbers, whether it's soybeans in the far south of the southern cone, oil from Venezuela -- I mean, they're in there in a big way buying up commodities, primarily. They also are very good at building things like ports and running things like ports. So they're very involved in the running of the Panama Canal, as an example, as a commercial interest. I don't personally see a threat there.
 
Obviously, they want to sell their military hardware to any nation that'll buy it.  You know the frustration that our friends and partners around the world have with our military sales. It's very complicated, takes a long, long, long time. I would offer that many of these countries, certainly that I deal with, just get tired of waiting. They'd rather buy American stuff because it's better. It's better maintained. It comes with better support packages. But they get tired of waiting for it, so they go elsewhere.
 
We already mentioned the training. They have training programs, where they'll pay for officers, particularly, to go to China and do a year in their staff colleges. So they're trying in a big way.
 
What's the ultimate goal? I think the ultimate goal is, certainly, commercially.  They're huge, powerful and they're going to penetrate any market they could penetrate. That's not a bad thing, necessarily. It's a good thing for most of the nations that I'm talking about.

I don't see it as a huge threat, but as we back away or it's harder and harder for [partner nations] to buy our military equipment, they go to other, easier-to-deal-with countries, and China is certainly one of them.”
 

On Iranian influence in the region

“Who knows where they're going? It's not a huge threat now. But I think anywhere they go, particularly when they go to a region that is completely different than they are culturally, religiously and all the rest, I think they bear watching.”
 

On the effects of sequestration on SOUTHCOM’s mission

“On the engagement piece, I've had to cancel, probably, 50-percent of my engagements. These are small-term engagements. These are training exercises that might involve 12 or 15 Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, or something like that.
There's a sense, however, as we go down this road -- and I certainly can talk to the Latin American countries -- there's a sense that they have that we are withdrawing. Partnership is important, but it's got to be a two-way street. They've got to believe we'll stay engaged. I don't think -- increasingly, I don't think they believe that, which changes a large part of the strategic equation, I think, for our country.”
 

The effects of sequestration on military personnel

“I've got time in the ranks. I was a former enlisted Marine.  I admittedly looked at a lot of these things through a sergeant's eyes, and I'm proud of that.

They're wondering what the heck's going on. Less than six or eight months ago they were, "Thank you for your service," and, "You guys are the greatest. And you've fought the wars."  They're confused now because it's now dollars and cents. 
 
And I think there's a sense that we've begun to turn our backs on them.”
 

SOUTHCOM’s role in regional engagement

“We focus on building relationships with regional militaries to enhance the defense of the United States and the security of the region. Human rights play a very, very big role in everything we do… from my engagements with regional leaders to our joint training teams that are working alongside partner nation forces in Central America, South America and in the Caribbean to the courses of instruction at WINSEC and Fort Benning and in the Inter-American Defense College here in Washington.

Militaries in the region have made enormous strides in terms of professionalization and respect for civilian authority and human rights, thanks to a large measure to the role of the U.S. military over the years and our continued engagement.”

 

Article Date: 3/21/2013
Title: 2013 Posture Statement to Congress
]]> Wimbish, Michael D CIV USSOUTHCOM/SC-CC (L) Tue, 19 Mar 2013 13:12:53 GMT http://www.southcom.mil/newsroom/Pages/Forms/DispForm.aspx?ID=896 Beyond-the-Horizon--New-Horizons-2013 http://www.southcom.mil/newsroom/Pages/Forms/DispForm.aspx?ID=901 Page Content:

From April through June 2013, U.S. military personnel will be in Belize, El Salvador, and Panama to conduct comprehensive humanitarian civic assistance exercises.  As part of the Beyond the Horizon & New Horizons exercise programs, troops specializing in engineering, construction and health care are providing needed services to communities while receiving valuable deployment training and building important relationships with partner nations.   

Latest

 

U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Matthew Talarczyk, plastic surgeon from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, uses a surgical marking pen to outline the hand of a patient during a surgery medical readiness training exercise in Belize.

U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Matthew Talarczyk, plastic surgeon from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, uses a surgical marking pen to outline the hand of a patient during a surgery medical readiness training exercise at Northern Regional Hospital in Orange Walk, Belize, May 2, 2013. Isai Carrillo, a 4-year-old Belizean boy is undergoing a medical procedure to his right hand to correct syndactyly, a condition where the digits of the hand or foot are fused or webbed together. Military medical professionals from the U.S. are providing free medical treatment at multiple medical readiness training exercises throughout Belize as part of an exercise known as New Horizons. The MEDRETES are designed to provide humanitarian assistance and medical care to people in several communities, while helping improve the skills of U.S. military medical forces. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech Sgt. Tony Tolley/Released)

 

 
 

Overview

Beyond the Horizon and New Horizons are U.S. Southern Command-sponsored, joint foreign military interaction/humanitarian exercises.  During the exercises, U.S. troops work with a variety of governmental and non-governmental agencies to train in civil-military operations skill sets while providing medical and dental care and engineering support to local populations.   The exercises are planned and coordinated closely with multiple agencies and host nation governments to creatively address the level and scope of medical care and engineering assistance required. 
 
U.S. Army South is the executive agent for the two Beyond the Horizon exercises in El Salvador and Panama.  
 
The New Horizons exercise in Belize is led by U.S. Air Forces Southern. 
 

Deploying U.S. personnel

Hundreds of U.S. service members, representing National Guard, Active and Reserve forces from all services will be in Belize, El Salvador and Panama at any one time during each exercise. The vast majority of personnel deploy for short periods of time, not including long-term staff. 
 
The make-up of the forces is primarily U.S. military engineers and medical professionals.
 
Beyond the Horizon and New Horizons require units to carefully plan and conduct logistical operations to support these deployments to remote regions.  Such mobilization and real-world execution provides unparalleled training that cannot be simulated in the United States.
 

Humanitarian services provided

CONSTRUCTION/CIVIC ACTION: The civic action programs are designed to assist in providing local communities -- many of which are remote -- with a wide range of construction capabilities.  The projects include building repairs and improvements, new small construction projects, utility system repairs, construction and technical assistance.
 
MEDICAL: U.S. military health care professionals will conduct multiple Medical Readiness Training Exercises (MEDRETEs) in each country, working with host nation medical personnel to provide general and specialized medical and dental services to thousands of citizens requiring care.  These services include public health and preventive medicine, dental care, adult and pediatric medicine, medical education, immunizations, and nutritional counseling.
 
The exercises also include veterinarian care, a vital service that ensures the health of valuable food sources and helps prevent diseases that could be passed from animals and livestock to a population. 
 
The training events enhance the medical readiness training of U.S. forces as well as provided sustained health benefit to the population.  Additionally, the relationships forged during these exercises can be called upon in the event of a regional situation that requires a cooperative response.

Background

Beyond the Horizon is a joint foreign military interaction/humanitarian exercise.  Begun in 2008, Beyond the Horizon continues U.S. Southern Command’s proud legacy of humanitarian civic assistance exercise programs in the region.  The governments of each participating nation, the U.S. Department of State, and Department of Defense have carefully evaluated and approved these exercises.
 
New Horizons is an annual series of joint and combined humanitarian assistance exercises that U.S. Southern Command conducts in Latin American and Caribbean nations. Since New Horizons began in the mid-1980s, U.S. troops have deployed annually for the exercise.

 

Key Resources

 
Article Date: 5/2/2013
Title: Beyond the Horizon / New Horizons 2013
]]> Wimbish, Michael D CIV USSOUTHCOM/SC-CC (L) Fri, 05 Apr 2013 14:41:23 GMT http://www.southcom.mil/newsroom/Pages/Forms/DispForm.aspx?ID=901 Operation-Martillo http://www.southcom.mil/newsroom/Pages/Forms/DispForm.aspx?ID=693 Page Content:

Operation Martillo (Hammer) is a U.S., European, and Western Hemisphere partner nation effort targeting illicit trafficking routes in coastal waters along the Central American isthmus.  U.S. military participation is led by Joint Interagency Task Force South, a component of U.S. Southern Command.  

Latest:  

Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd class Brice Fronek, with Coast Guard Cutter Bernard C. Webber, guards contraband at Coast Guard Base Miami Beach, April 26, 2013.

Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd class Brice Fronek, with Coast Guard Cutter Bernard C. Webber, guards contraband at Coast Guard Base Miami Beach, April 26, 2013. The contraband was seized during an interdiction in the Caribbean Sea, April 18, 2013. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Sabrina Laberdesque)

Overview of U.S. military support 

The U.S. contribution to the multinational detection, monitoring and interdiction operation includes U.S. Navy and Coast Guard vessels, aircraft from U.S. federal law enforcement agencies, and military and law enforcement units from various nations working together to deny transnational criminal organizations the ability to exploit these transshipment routes for the movement of narcotics, precursor chemicals, bulk cash, and weapons along Central American shipping routes. 
 
Operation Martillo is a critical component of the U.S. government’s coordinated interagency regional security strategy in support of the White House Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime and the U.S. Central America Regional Security Initiative.  Fourteen countries are participating: Belize, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, France, Guatemala, Honduras, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States.  Chile has also contributed to the operation.
 

2012 Numbers

In 2012, international and cooperative interagency efforts coordinated through JIATF South resulted in the disruption of 152 metric tons of cocaine and 21 metric tons of marijuana with a wholesale value of about $3 billion, before it could reach destinations in the United States.   JIATF South's efforts also enabled the interdiction of $7 million in bulk cash destined for traffickers in Central and South America.  More than 67% of interdictions were supported by partner nations. 
 

More information

White House Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime of July 2011

The White House Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime of July 2011 is organized around a single, unifying principle: to build, balance, and integrate the tools of American power to combat TOC and related threats to our national security – and to urge our partners to do the same.  Learn more about CTOC Strategy
 

U.S. Central America Regional Security Initiative (CARSI)

The desired objective of CARSI is to produce a safer and more secure region where criminal organizations no longer wield the power to destabilize governments or threaten national and regional security and public safety, as well as to prevent the entry and spread of illicit drugs, violence, and transnational threats to countries throughout the region and to the United States.  Learn more about CARSI
 

Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF South)

The Key West, Fla.-based JIATF South is the National Task Force that serves as the catalyst for integrated and synchronized interagency counter-illicit trafficking operations, and is responsible for the detection and monitoring of suspect air and maritime drug activity in the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and the eastern Pacific. JIATF South also collects, processes, and disseminates counter drug information for interagency and partner nation operations.  Learn more about Joint Interagency Task Force South
 

Department of Defense role

While the Department of Defense is not the lead agency responsible for countering TOC networks, its unique capabilities can be leveraged to support other U.S. government and partner nation efforts.  SOUTHCOM is aligned with and supports lead agencies, such as the Departments of Justice and State, as well as partner nations in the C-TOC fight.  Learn more about DoD/SOUTHCOM CTOC efforts
 

Department of Defense interdiction role explained

The DoD is the lead federal agency in efforts to detect and monitor aerial and maritime transit of illegal drugs towards the United States.  Based on information gathered by JIATF South-coordinated operations, U.S. law enforcement agencies and partner nations take the lead in interdicting drug runners.  U.S. military interdiction involvement, if any, is in support of those law enforcement agencies. 
 
Typically, U.S. military personnel are involved in supporting an interdiction during maritime operations in international waters, where U.S. Navy ships and helicopters patrol and intercept suspected traffickers.  The actual interdictions – boarding, search, seizures and arrests – are led and conducted by embarked U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachments or partner nation drug law enforcement agencies. 
  

 

Article Date: 4/29/2013
Title: Operation Martillo
]]> Wimbish, Michael D CIV USSOUTHCOM/SC-CC (L) Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:42:42 GMT http://www.southcom.mil/newsroom/Pages/Forms/DispForm.aspx?ID=693 Central-American-security-leaders-target-transnational-organized-crime http://www.southcom.mil/newsroom/Pages/Forms/DispForm.aspx?ID=906 Page Content:
PANAMA CITY, Panama -- With their goal set on countering transnational organized crime and reducing high levels of violence in Central America, defense and security leaders from 13 Western Hemisphere nations met in Panama City April 17-18 to discuss the region’s security and evaluate the strategies and mechanisms supporting it.
 
Panama’s Vice Minister of Public Security Manuel Moreno and Marine Gen. John Kelly, commander of U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), co-hosted the Central American Security Conference (CENTSEC), joined by military and public security leaders from Belize, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua.
 
This year’s conference marks the second consecutive year participants chose to focus their annual meeting on transnational organized crime and their second CENTSEC following the launch of Operation Martillo, an unprecedented multinational effort that increased illicit trafficking disruptions along the Central American isthmus by 30 percent in 2012 compared to 2011, with 67 percent of disruptions supported by partner nations.
 
Central America is a transit zone for more than 80 percent of the cocaine traffic destined for the U.S., and the presence of cartel operatives and other organized criminal elements there is believed to have sharply risen in recent years and contributed to some of the highest homicide rates in the world.
 
Kelly thanked conference participants for their steadfast commitment to Operation Martillo and credited them for playing an important role in the operation’s results thus far.
 
“We’ve seen enormous improvements in regional interoperability,” said Kelly, “Their contributions have made this operation a success, and I’d like to see us build on this momentum.”
 
Rear Admiral Charles Michel, Director of Joint Interagency Task Force-South, updated attendees on the progress of Operation Martillo, which includes the disruption of more than 152 metric tons of cocaine, 21,488 kilograms of marijuana and $7.2 million in bulk cash during 2012.
 
CENTSEC participants shared information on the activities and sophisticated networks of drug trafficking organizations and reviewed key capabilities needed to strengthen their support of law enforcement operations during briefings, open discussions and private bilateral meetings.
 
Brig. Gen. Chris Nowland, Director of Strategy, Policy, and Plans at SOUTHCOM, briefed attendees on one capability that aims to boost multinational collaboration and increase the region’s ability to track, report and interdict the flow of narcotics and other illicit goods along existing and emerging trafficking routes.
 
Known to operators by its acronym, CSII, the Cooperative Situational Information Integration system shares sensor feeds containing sea, air and land traffic data with countries that agree to use the new, internet-based detection and monitoring platform.
 
It was introduced to Central American defense and security partners during a workshop hosted by El Salvador in February and is intended to improve and replace information-sharing technologies currently available within the much older Cooperative Nations Information Exchange System (CNIES).
 
As part of a projected transition from CNIES to CSII, SOUTHCOM and Joint Interagency Task Force South will host an operational demonstration later this year that will include user training, as well as an assessment of the utility, capabilities and functionality of this new system, developed as part of a Regional Domain Awareness (RDA) Joint Capability Technology Demonstration (JCTD).
 
With the U.S. and other partners experiencing fiscal constraints and transnational criminal organizations increasingly employing sophisticated technologies to elude detection, countries across the Western Hemisphere agreed to jointly develop and implement an information sharing mechanism, like CSII, to increase their awareness of illicit trafficking activities and trends within a networked area much larger than what can be patrolled by individual ships or aircraft.
 
CSII is one of several technologies developed and evaluated by SOUTHCOM with support from partner nations to combat what Kelly has called a “network of networks” used by drug traffickers and organized criminals to aid and conceal their illicit operations.
 
Information gleaned from CSII, human intelligence and other sources will help JIATF-South and regional partners better understand criminal networks, project potential illicit trafficking activities and conduct proximity patrols where the assessed potential for detection and disruption is greatest.
 
The information sharing collaboration supported by CSII will complement other U.S. security assistance aimed at helping regional countries strengthen their patrol, interdiction and enforcement capabilities.
 
SOUTHCOM-supported assistance to Central America ranges from infrastructure projects to build or renovate operational facilities for partner nation security forces, to equipment donations and provision of training to vetted units.
 
Thanks in part to this assistance, Central American countries seized 82 metric tons of cocaine in 2012, 64 percent of it by authorities in Panama and Honduras, whose territories and coastal waters are frequent first stops for drug shipments transiting the region, according to an annual report recently released by the U.S. State Department.
 
Kelly said SOUTHCOM’s commitment to continued cooperation with Central America and other regional partners remains strong, but warned that “our ability to support drug interdiction and law enforcement operations will be significantly affected,” as he described projected reductions to SOUTHCOM’s budget.
 
He commended Central American partners and other conference participants for their increasing contributions to countering transnational organized crime and asked for their resoluteness in addressing what he called a “prevalent problem in the region.”
 
The general also thanked CENTSEC attendees for their participation, calling the conference “an important forum which helps strengthen relationships and promote cooperation on shared security interests.”
 

This is Panama’s first time hosting CENTSEC, held previously in Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

 

 

 

 

Byline: By U.S. Southern Command Public Affairs
Article Date: 4/19/2013
Title: Central American security leaders target transnational organized crime
]]> Wimbish, Michael D CIV USSOUTHCOM/SC-CC (L) Fri, 19 Apr 2013 20:34:19 GMT http://www.southcom.mil/newsroom/Pages/Forms/DispForm.aspx?ID=906