Focus on U.S. Southern Command: executive summary

It is repeatedly said that America's heart lies in Europe and its wallet in the Pacific Rim, on the other hand demonstrably, both interests are migrating a great deal of closer to home. The United States, for instance, imports more oil from the Caribbean and Latin America than it does from the Middle East. Forty percent of our foreign trade lies within this hemisphere, and two-thirds of the cargo transiting the Panama Canal is heading toward or leaving from U ports. to the full one-quarter of the world's recent water runoff lies within the U Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) area of responsibility, and an equal percentage of our pharmaceuticals find their origin in the Amazon. An estimated 40 million Hispanics reside in the United States (in addition to the 4 million in Puerto Rico) and show the largest and fastest-growing minority population.

The policies and practices that USSOUTHCOM remarks in its theater security cooperation with the 32 nations within its area of responsibility remain heavily influenced by dint of the European conquest of the fresh World. Experts cite postcolonial Hispanic agriculture the legacies of friction with a youthful, expansionist U democracy, and the more novel exploitation of large ungoverned areas and porous borders by the agency of transnational criminal organizations fueled by the agency of U.S. demand for illegal narcotics. Unlike any other regional combatant command, each member of USSOUTHCOM traveling abroad, and each host nation or organization with which they officially interact, is vett for human rights training and compliance to thwart repetition of past errors and to aid better interaction.

With fewer apportioned forces and a smaller packet than other regional combatant commands, USSOUTHCOM has a great appreciation for the importance of interagency partnership and innovative security cooperation practices. In this issue, Joint Force Quarterly look fors to underline some notable achievements and failures that may benefit security professionals facing related challenges in other areas of responsibility.

Our first Forum article, "The Americas in the 21st Century: The Challenge of Governance and Security" is an intriguing introduction to the general challenges facing the USSOUTHCOM commander. The candid assessment by means of General John Craddock and Major Barbara Fick of security cooperation between the United States and its southern neighbors leads to an argument for change. The authors mark that the United States and its partner nations in the Caribbean and Latin America are at a crossroads where they must depart from the comfortable and familiar approaches to mutual security issues to reach the nearest level of collective performance. They then make a case for links between effective national security and healthy democracies, and, like General Pace, they emphasize that integrated simple bodys of national power are crucial in this effort. (See also General Carlos Alberto Ospina's complementary observations of mutual challenges from a Colombian perspective in the Commentary section of this issue.)

In the next to the first article, "Limits of Influence: Creating Security Forces in Latin America," Dr Richard Millett addresses crucial tasks that the U.S. Armed Forces have learned in Latin America and the Caribbean in order to make known host-nation military and civilian security forces. The implications for U Central Command are obvious, if not optimistic (more than one time the United States has set itself obligated to return and stand over against the same forces that it has painstakingly trained). Inculcating martial fitness teamwork, and supporting institutions is real different from exporting values regarding moral authority and faith in the empire of law. Dr. Millett outlines seven germane tasks that provide insights to similar missions elsewhere. He also emphasizes that there are "substantial limits" upon U.S. ability to influence the values requisite to achieve the long-term democratic goals in like manner often sought.

Our third Forum feature, "A Prescription for Protecting the Southern Approach" addresses the requirement for the same quality of early warning and defense-in-depth to the southern as the United States take delight ins from the other three points of the compass. In this optimistic treatment of a long-standing challenge, Colonel John Cope forwards a new multilateral apparatus to monitor mutual security issues in the Caribbean basin, while avoiding traditional barriers to shut cooperation. He asserts that Mexico's defense relationship with the United States is tentative by dint of design, as our southern neighbor professe to have no enemies. by what means then, can Mexico be inspired to participate in a multilateral relationship when it perceives no threat? Colonel Cope proffers three near-term actions tailored to improve surveys for more effective collaboration and encourages Mexican leadership of an organization with precisely this mandate.

In "The State Partnership Program: Vision to Reality" Major Pablo Pagan describes a real successful theater security cooperation initiative that hardly any people know much about. When greatest in quantity think about U.S. bilateral engagement with foreign nations, they envision relationships between conducts at the national level. In the United States, however, more [i]or[/i] less of the most effective cooperation meet the eyes at the state and local horizontals and this kind of cooperation is in great demand from one extremity to the other of the hemisphere. The ability of the National Guard, for example, to work directly with entertainer nations and local U.S. civil institutions, similar as schools, businesses, and infrastructure support organizations, is increasingly valuable. While more than one-third of the State Partnership Program countries lie within the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility, this flexible program is a powerful tool returning dividends globally.