SOUTHCOM Enhanced Counter Narcotics Operations

U.S. Southern Command’s enhanced presence will support ongoing whole-of-government and internationally supported operations to reduce the availability of illicit drugs and save lives in the United States and throughout the region. The intent is to reduce the flow of illicit drugs, degrade transnational criminal organizations, and increase interoperability with our partner nations and interagency partners. The operation supports our objectives to degrade the capabilities of drug trafficking organizations, save lives, and directly support the National Drug Control Strategy.

OVERVIEW

Mission:

On April 1, 2020, U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) began enhanced counternarcotics operations in the Western Hemisphere to disrupt the flow of drugs in support of Presidential national security objectives.

Location:

Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean.

Resources:

Additional U.S. capabilities include:

• Navy destroyers and helicopters

• Coast Guard cutters and helicopters

• Navy littoral combat ships

• Customs and Border Protection maritime patrol aircraft

• Navy P-8 patrol aircraft

• Air Force E-3 AWACS aircraft (ISR) and E-8 JSTARS aircraft (ISR)

• Security Forces Assistance Brigade (SFAB) Company (advise and assist)

Ally & partner contributions:

• 22 nations provide intelligence and operations support as part of Joint Interagency Task Force – South (JIATF-South)

• Key partners in this fight: Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama, as well as European partners France, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom -- will provide capabilities.  50% of interdictions last year involved partners.

U.S. whole of government efforts continue with interagency assets from Customs and Border Protection, DEA and others.

These enhanced counter-narcotics operations constitute an increase in Naval destroyers, combat ships, aircraft and helicopters, and Coast Guard cutters. Additional assets double capabilities in the region.

Purpose:

Our increased presence will:

• Disrupt the flow of illicit drugs to the homeland, thereby protecting Americans

• Reassure allies and partners; build their capacity to contribute to the counternarcotics fight

Additional Information:

Drugs pose a threat to the homeland as drug overdoses kill around 70,000 Americans each year. Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic, increase drug trafficking and can easily contribute to the spread of the virus.

Our multilateral counter-narcotics operations will be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic as supporting nations turn inward.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• Learn more about SOUTHCOM's support to interagency and multinational efforts to Counter Transnational Criminal Organizations in the Western Hemisphere.

• Learn more about Campaign Martillo, an ongoing U.S., European, and Western Hemisphere partner nation effort targeting illicit trafficking routes in coastal waters along the Central American isthmus.

• Learn more about the U.S. military's two Cooperative Security Locations (CSLs), formerly known as Forward Operating Locations, in Latin America and the Caribbean. The CSLs are strategic, cost-effective locations in Comalapa, El Salvador and Aruba-Curacao, formerly part of the Netherlands Antilles, which allow U.S. and partner nation aircraft the use of existing airfields to support the region’s multinational efforts to Combat Transnational Organized Crime.

• U.S. Dept. of State's International Narcotics Control Strategy Reports

• U.S. Dept. of State's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs

• Office of National Drug Control Policy

WATCH: President Visits SOUTHCOM For Briefing on Enhanced Counter Narcotics Operations

President Donald J. Trump addresses U.S. Southern Command personnel following a briefing on enhanced counternarcotics operations at Southcom headquarters in Doral, Fla., July 10, 2020.

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