UNCLASSIFIED

POSTURE STATEMENT OF

ADMIRAL CRAIG S. FALLER

COMMANDER, UNITED STATES SOUTHERN COMMAND

BEFORE THE 116TH CONGRESS 

HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE 

MAY 1, 2019 
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Introduction. I want to thank the Congress, and especially this Committee, for your 

support to United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM). The men and women of our 

team work every day to earn the trust of partners in Latin America and the Caribbean. We are 

friends and neighbors, bound together by shared values and a shared stake in our common future. 

The nations of this neighborhood are connected in every domain—sea, air, land, space, and 

cyberspace. Our partnerships are vital to security and prosperity in this hemisphere, and to our 

collective ability to meet complex global challenges. We recognize that the success and security 

of future generations depend on how effectively we build trust with allies and partners in the 

hemisphere today, working with and through interagency partners like the Department of State, 

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), 

and Department of Justice (DOJ). Ultimately, we want enemies to fear us, friends to partner 

with us, and the Western Hemisphere to shine as a beacon of peace, prosperity, and potential. 

The strengths and opportunities of our hemisphere—democracy, respect for human rights 

and rule of law, and military-to-military relationships rooted in education, culture, and values—

are matched with a troubling array of challenges and threats to global security and to our 

homeland. These include natural and man-made disasters, weak government institutions, 

corruption, under-resourced security organizations, violent crime, criminal organizations, and 

violent extremist cells. China has accelerated expansion of its Belt and Road Initiative at a pace 

that may one day overshadow its expansion in Southeast Asia and Africa. Russia supports 

multiple information outlets spreading its false narrative of world events and U.S. intentions. 

Iran has deepened its anti-U.S. Spanish language media coverage and has exported its state 

support for terrorism into our hemisphere. Russia and China also support the autocratic regimes

in Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua, which are counter to democracy and U.S. interests. We are 
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monitoring the latest events in Venezuela and look forward to welcoming that country back into 

the hemisphere’s community of democracies. Where threats are transregional, multi-domain, 

and global, the United States must renew focus on our neighbors and our shared Western 

Hemisphere neighborhood.

Partnerships. Modest, smart, and focused investments in U.S. forces and security 

assistance continue to yield meaningful returns in the form of partners who are ready to address

threats shoulder-to-shoulder with us. Strengthening partnerships is at the heart of everything we 

do. USSOUTHCOM’s mission is about the smart, focused use of force—not economy of force. 

Working from a foundation of mutual respect and shared interests in regional cooperation 

and interoperability, we are enhancing our partnerships with Brazil, Colombia, and Chile, which 

are forces for regional and global security. Argentina has reinvigorated military-to-military 

interaction, and co-hosted our annual South American Defense Conference. Peru continues a 

tradition of strong liaison officer exchanges with USSOUTHCOM and recently conducted 

training with a Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force (SPMAGTF). We reinitiated 

security cooperation with Ecuador, and are moving forward with a renewed military-to-military 

partnership. 

In Central America, partners like El Salvador and Panama have stepped up cooperation in 

the area of counter-narcotics (CN); in addition, El Salvador co-hosted our Central American 

Security Conference last year. Honduras hosts our Joint Task Force (JTF) Bravo at Soto Cano, 

providing a regionally-based security cooperation platform, the presence of which allows a rapid 

response capability. Our support to Guatemala’s defense institution building efforts has helped

its Ministry of Defense increase efficiency, transparency, and sustainability of its investments.
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Across the Caribbean, our partners continue to look at USSOUTHCOM as their security 

partner of choice. Trinidad and Tobago co-hosted our annual Caribbean Nations Security 

Conference, and thwarted a terror attack with the support of U.S. special operations forces 

(USSOF). Jamaica has stepped up its CN efforts, recently purchasing a maritime patrol aircraft 

that will support regional drug interdiction operations. 

We continue to expand our cooperation with allies and partners in humanitarian 

assistance/disaster response (HA/DR) missions and counter-threat efforts, such as drug detection 

and monitoring, and support to interdiction operations in Central America and the Caribbean. 

Allies and partners contributed to nearly half of the successful drug seizures credited to Joint 

Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-S) last year. In addition to continuing cooperation in 

traditional areas like peacekeeping and drug interdiction, we are building interoperability for

high-end expeditionary operations and in the space and cyber mission sets. In the past year, 

Brazil became the first Latin American country to sign a Space Situational Awareness 

Agreement, Colombia became NATO's first global partner in Latin America, and Chile led the 

maritime component of the world’s largest international naval exercise, Rim of the Pacific—a 

first for a Latin American sea power. Later this year, Brazil will send a Major General to serve 

as U.S. Army South’s next Deputy Commander for Interoperability, the first Brazilian officer to 

serve in this role. 

The majority of nations in this hemisphere share democratic values—including respect 

for human rights and adherence to the rule of law—and interests in advancing democracy and 

countering radical ideologies. These shared values and interests are the foundation of our 

military-to-military relationships. We reinforce and build on these shared values and interests

through institutional capacity building efforts, information and intelligence sharing, education, 
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personnel exchanges, and exercises. In the past year, we have improved the quality, depth, and 

frequency of information and intelligence exchanges with partners, producing joint products on 

transnational issues of mutual concern. 

We also build on those shared values by working with our partners to elevate and 

integrate all elements of professionalism as a foundational component of every security 

conference we conduct. The professionalism of U.S. armed forces is the bedrock of our 

legitimacy, both as a fighting force and in our ability to build trust with our own people. 

Professionalism encompasses human rights, jointness, gender integration, and noncommissioned officer development. 

Education and training—funded by the Department of Defense’s William J. Perry Center 

for Hemispheric Defense Studies and the Department of State’s International Military Education 

and Training (IMET) program—and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) purchases made possible by 

Foreign Military Financing (FMF) grants are force multipliers. Our partners prefer U.S. 

education and training, and these exchanges facilitate mutual understanding of values, doctrine, 

and culture that enable us to operate together more effectively. Our participation in

multinational exercises like UNITAS (a naval integration exercise), PANAMAX (defense of the 

Panama Canal), and Brazil’s CRUZEIRO DO SUL (regional air exercise) is another important 

way we increase mutual understanding, interoperability, and collective readiness. 

In the absence of an enduring U.S. military presence in most of Latin America and the 

Caribbean, recurring rotations of small teams of USSOF, soldiers, Marines, and National Guard

personnel1 play central roles in building trust and enabling the exchange of critical expertise. By 

 1 The State Partnership Program (SPP) links a unique component of the Department of Defense – a state’s National Guard – with the armed forces or equivalent of a 

partner nation, leveraging National Guard capabilities for engagements that build enduring relationships and advance mutual defense and security goals. 24 of the 

SPP’s 75 partnerships worldwide are in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility, including a partnership with Venezuela that is currently inactive.
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carefully tailoring these rotations, we ensure they build the readiness of U.S. forces as well as 

building partner nations’ capabilities. On any given day, small USSOF teams conduct over 30

missions in support of about 12 partner nations throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. 

Many live and work alongside regional forces, building the trust, confidence, and lasting 

relationships that reinforce our status as the partner of choice and enhance our ability to respond 

quickly to contingencies. 

Humanitarian support efforts like medical engagements, civil affairs activities, and the 

recent deployment of the hospital ship USNS COMFORT demonstrate our enduring solidarity 

and friendship with neighbors, while countering negative messaging by adversarial nations. The 

international medical team aboard COMFORT treated more than 26,000 patients in Colombia, 

Peru, Ecuador, and Honduras. This team conducted more than 100 training engagements, 

relieving pressure on regional health systems caused by the Venezuelan migration crisis and 

giving local medical providers more flexibility to deliver care. The integration of more than 100 

military and non-governmental organization (NGO) personnel from 10 other nations helped us 

build trust, tell our story effectively, and enhance regional perceptions of the United States. The 

U.S. military medical and command staff also returned from the deployment more ready, able to 

operate with foreign partners, and prepared to provide critical care to U.S. warfighters. These 

impacts will far outlast COMFORT’s 70-day deployment. 

Strengthening our partnerships is our best bid for addressing regional and global threats. 

We work by, with, and through partners to enhance the security of both the United States and our 

partners, and to help grow bilateral security relationships into regional and global security 

initiatives. Our networked approach to countering threats recognizes that nothing happens 

without robust and enduring partnerships across the U.S. interagency, region, and civil society. 
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Our ultimate advantage is using the power of our ideals, ideas, and people to build trust with 

friends and create dilemmas for competitor nations. This is the primary dimension in which we

expand the competitive space. 

 Threats. Six state actors (Russia, China, Iran, and their authoritarian allies in Cuba, 

Nicaragua, and Venezuela) and a system of interrelated threats challenge the security of our 

partners and the region. Threats like natural and man-made disasters and criminal networks feed 

and fuel drivers of instability, including weak institutions, poverty, corruption, and violent crime. 

Addressing these challenges requires whole-of-government efforts, led by partner nations at a 

pace they can sustain, to strengthen democratic institutions and expand economic opportunity. 

Often, improving security is the first step. 

Nation State Competition and Malign Actors. Russia and China are expanding their 

influence in the Western Hemisphere, often at the expense of U.S. interests. Both enable —and 

are enabled by—actions in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba that threaten hemispheric security 

and prosperity, and the actions of those three states in turn damage the stability and democratic 

progress across the region. As the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world, Iran’s 

activities in the region are also concerning.

Russia continues to use Latin America and the Caribbean to spread disinformation, 

collect intelligence on the United States, and project power. Russia’s deployment of two nuclear 

capable bombers to the Western Hemisphere was intended as a demonstration of support for the 

Maduro regime and as a show of force to the United States. Russia has also deployed 

intelligence collection ships to the region, as well as an underwater research ship to Latin 

America capable of mapping undersea cables—information it could use to cut critical lines of 

communication during a future crisis. Additionally, Russia is establishing joint space projects 
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with partners in the region, which it could eventually leverage for counter-space purposes in the 

event of a global conflict. 

China utilizes the same predatory, non-transparent foreign lending practices it has 

implemented around the world to exert political and economic leverage in certain countries. 

China has pledged at least $150 billion in loans to countries in the hemisphere,2 and 16 nations 

now participate in the Belt and Road Initiative. However, many countries are beginning to 

recognize the long-term consequences of mortgaging their future to China, as we’ve seen in Sri 

Lanka, Malaysia, Sierra Leone, Djibouti, and the Maldives. In the future, China could use its

control of deep water ports in the Western Hemisphere to enhance its global operational posture. 

Particularly concerning is China’s effort to exert control over key infrastructure associated with 

the Panama Canal. 

China’s presence and activities at Argentina’s deep space tracking facility is also 

concerning. Beijing could be in violation of the terms of its agreement with Argentina to only 

conduct civilian activities, and may have the ability to monitor and potentially target U.S., 

Allied, and partner space activities. Additionally, Chinese firms like Huawei and ZTE have 

aggressively penetrated the region, placing intellectual property, private data, and government 

secrets at risk. If governments in Latin America and the Caribbean continue to gravitate toward 

using Chinese information systems, our ability and willingness to share information over 

compromised networks is likely to suffer. 

Russia and China aggressively court students from Latin America and the Caribbean to 

attend their military schools, offering free training in cyber, policing, and CN. Since 2012, 

 2 Gallagher, Kevin P. and Margaret Myers (2017) "China-Latin America Finance Database." Washington, DC: Inter-American Dialogue
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security officials from nearly all Central American countries and nearly half of South American 

countries have received Russian CN training. These engagements, combined with Russia’s 

Counter Transnational Organized Crime Training Center (CTOC) in Nicaragua, potentially 

provide Moscow with a regional platform to recruit intelligence sources and collect information.

Russia and China also support their authoritarian partners in Cuba, Venezuela, and 

Nicaragua, often through propaganda and other information-related tools. Moscow, for example, 

provides positive media coverage of its authoritarian allies, papering over repression and 

socioeconomic inequity in Nicaragua. Moscow also seeks to undercut U.S. policies and regional 

relationships through information operations and intelligence collection, and by influencing 

political systems, public opinion, and decision makers. Russia published hundreds of articles last 

year in its Spanish and Portuguese-language media that deliberately distorted our defense 

engagements. 

The linkages between these malign actors are negatively reinforcing. Emboldened by 

Russian and Chinese3 support, Venezuela is engaging in increasingly provocative actions, 

threatening Guyana’s sovereign rights and jurisdiction and providing sanctuary for National 

Liberation Army (ELN) fighters that threaten Colombian stability. Russia and Cuba are both 

complicit in Venezuela’s descent into dictatorship, but Cuba is particularly influential in 

supporting Maduro. Following the Cuban government’s advice and assisted by its intelligence 

machinery, Maduro is adhering to the autocratic blueprint Cuban leaders have ruthlessly 

executed for over six decades. Nicaragua appears to be going down a similar path following 

Cuba’s playbook, with Cuba, Russia, and Venezuela enabling President Ortega’s repression of 

 3 For example, China is Venezuela’s single largest state creditor, saddling the Venezuelan people with more than $50 billion in debt, even as their 

democracy vanishes.
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his political opposition. These relationships give Russia, in particular, a foothold close to our 

homeland. As tensions increase with Russia in Europe, Moscow may leverage these 

longstanding regional partners to maintain asymmetric options, to include forward deploying 

military personnel or assets. 

Iran is also looking to reenergize its outreach after reducing its efforts in Latin America 

and the Caribbean in recent years. It has deepened its anti-U.S. influence campaign in Spanishlanguage media, and its proxy Lebanese Hezbollah maintains facilitation networks throughout 

the region that cache weapons and raise funds, often via drug trafficking and money laundering. 

Last September, Brazil arrested a Hezbollah financier in the tri-border area near Paraguay and 

Argentina, and in recent years Paraguay, Peru, and Bolivia have arrested multiple Hezbollahlinked suspects. 

 What we’re doing. We are increasing cooperation with partners to better understand,

expose, and counter the malign activities of Russia, China, and their authoritarian allies. We are 

also working more closely with other U.S. combatant commands and the Joint Staff to ensure 

that globally integrated plans and operations are informed by threats and opportunities in this 

hemisphere. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s globally integrated planning is exactly 

the right approach for addressing the transregional, transnational nature of today’s threat 

environment. 

Within the region, we have to be on the playing field to compete. The same presence that 

strengthens our partnerships sends a powerful signal to Russia, China, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, 

and Nicaragua (the six negative state actors) that the United States is committed to the region and 

to the security of our neighborhood. 
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Strong partnerships—founded in effective and transparent institutions, intelligence and 

information exchanges, institutional capacity building, education, exercises, and presence—are 

our primary bulwark against the influence of malign actors in the hemisphere and are bolstered

by our work together on military professionalism. Our work with partners to reinforce the 

hemisphere’s substantial, but incomplete, progress in human rights is even more critical in light 

of Russia and China’s own disregard for human rights. USSOUTHCOM’s Human Rights 

Initiative—which just celebrated its 20th anniversary—has conducted more than 200 human 

rights engagements that have enhanced the ability of partner nations to build professional forces 

that have legitimacy in the eyes of their populations. 

As I told this Committee during my confirmation hearing, the Department of State’s 

security assistance programs—like IMET and FMF—are strategic game changers. Since 2009, 

IMET has provided opportunities for over 55,000 students from the region to attend schools like 

the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), the Inter-American Air 

Force Academy (IAAFA), and the Inter-American Defense College (IADC). These numbers 

aren’t just seats in a classroom. They represent lifelong relationships with future leaders4 who 

trust us, understand our culture and doctrine, and are prepared to work with us on a range of 

challenges.

In addition to strengthening partnerships, we support interagency efforts to hold 

individuals accountable for supporting the activities of negative actors. For example, in

collaboration with the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), we 

provided information that supported the development of sanctions against Venezuelan 

 4 IMET has trained numerous individuals who have gone onto serve in key leadership positions, including the former President of Chile, Trinidad 

and Tobago’s Chief of the Defense Staff, and Argentina’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who helped foster our reengagement with the 

Argentine military after the political dynamics changed.
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government officials involved in drug smuggling, money laundering, corruption, and serious 

human rights abuses. 

Drugs and Transnational Criminal Organizations. Drug trafficking threatens our 

national security and that of our regional partners. Drug overdoses killed more than 70,000 

Americans last year, and nearly half a million people across the world in 2017.

5

 Fueled by drug 

demand—especially ours—drug traffickers transported enough metric tons of cocaine (that we 

know of) from South America by air, land, and sea last year to cover four football fields—and 

the majority of it was headed for our streets. Upon landfall, this bulk cocaine is broken down 

into multiple smaller loads and smuggled into the United States, making large interdictions 

exponentially more difficult. In addition to cocaine, traffickers also transport heroin, synthetic 

opioids like fentanyl, and precursor chemicals from China. While Mexico remains the primary 

source for heroin smuggled into the U.S. (and China the prime source of fentanyl), the 

Dominican Republic is emerging as a regional transit point for opioid trafficking into major U.S. 

cities like Philadelphia, Boston, and Miami. 

Established drug trafficking routes and techniques provide opportunities for the illegal 

movement of other commodities and people—including terrorists. Several years ago, the Islamic 

State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) dedicated an article to a scenario in which its followers could 

leverage established trafficking networks to make their way to our border. This remains a 

potential vulnerability we watch as closely as we can.

 Drug trafficking comes with significant costs, in more ways than one. After marijuana, 

 5 Centers for Disease Control, National Health Statistics; United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), 2018 World Drug Report.

Geneva.
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cocaine remains the second most valuable commodity in the global drug trade,

6 generating dirty 

money that flows directly into the hands of criminal groups. In many cases, these groups are 

better funded than the security organizations confronting them. Dirty money fosters corruption 

and insecurity that tear at the fabric of communities, erode institutions of governance, and drain

the region’s potential. The vicious side effects of illicit trade also cost American taxpayers 

billions of dollars every year. This is more than a national security threat; it’s also an economic 

one that affects every nation in our neighborhood. 

 What we’re doing. Leveraging capabilities like information-sharing, network analysis, 

and the Department of Defense Rewards Program, we support operations by DHS and the DOJ’s

Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and Drug Enforcement 

Administration (DEA) to interdict drug shipments and disrupt transnational criminal networks. 

For example, our intelligence support—enabled by our Army Military Intelligence Brigade—to 

operations by Homeland Security Investigations and other interagency partners helped dismantle 

one of the largest maritime illicit smuggling networks in Central America last year. 

At the tactical level, JIATF-S continues to deliver steady returns on investment and 

improve its efficiency in targeting drug movements. Last year, it helped keep the equivalent of 

600 minivans full of cocaine off U.S. streets. But even this isn’t enough to keep pace with the 

increasing demand and the volume of drugs flowing north through the Eastern Pacific and 

Caribbean. While improving efficiency, we still only successfully interdicted about six percent 

of known drug movements.7

 Doing more would require additional ships and maritime patrol 

aircraft and greater participation by interagency and international partners that form the 

 6 Global Financial Integrity, “Transnational Crime and the Developing World.” March 2017. 7 Figure based on JIATF South utilization of Consolidated Counterdrug DataBase (CCDB) data.
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backbone of JIATF-S. The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection

(CBP) provide the bulk of JIATF-S’s maritime and air capabilities. The United Kingdom,

Canada, France, and the Netherlands lead multiple interdiction operations in the Caribbean, 

while we focus U.S. assets on the Eastern Pacific. Last year, 17 international partners conducted

nearly half of the interdictions supported by JIATF-S. U.S. Northern Command remains our 

closest and best Department of Defense partner and we continuously look for ways to enhance 

our teamwork, recognizing that threats exploit our geographic combatant command boundaries. 

Our capacity-building activities, whether at the tactical, operational, or institutional level, 

play a key role in this fight. For example, after years of USSOF training, Guatemala’s Fuerzas 

Especiales Navales (FEN) is now among Central America’s most competent and responsive 

maritime interdiction units. U.S. training, equipment, and interagency teamwork have also 

enabled Costa Rican and Panamanian forces to partner seamlessly with the USCG in interdiction 

operations. Partners are also working with us to address their ability to sustain capabilities that 

we have developed together. For example, Colombia has increased its eradication and 

interdiction efforts while also conducting increased operations against the ELN.

Drivers of Migration. Violence, unemployment, corruption, poverty, and impunity for 

gangs and transnational criminal organizations are some of the main drivers of insecurity that 

fuel migration to our southern border. 14 of the top 20 most violent countries in the world are in 

Latin America and the Caribbean.

8

 Migration challenges are exacerbated by weak institutions, 

corruption, violence and instability wrought by authoritarian governments. Migration from 

Venezuela is on track to approach the scale of the Syrian refugee crisis, straining the capacity 

 8 Igarapé Institute (Regional think tank), “The World’s Most Dangerous Cities.” March 31, 2017 (available at https://igarape.org.br/en/theworlds-most-dangerous-cities/)
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and resources of its neighbors. The United Nations estimates that 5.3 million Venezuelans will 

have fled their country by the end of 2019—with over 2 million leaving this year alone.9

 Last 

year, thousands of Nicaraguans fled to Costa Rica and other neighboring countries to seek 

protection, a number that will likely grow as President Ortega keeps a tight grip on power. Many 

Haitians continue to leave their country in hopes of finding economic opportunity elsewhere. 

What we’re doing. We are working closely with Central American and other partners to 

share information and provide training and equipment that enhance their ability to secure their 

borders. We assist partners in developing strong institutional foundations needed for legitimate, 

effective, and sustainable defense sectors through organizations like the William J. Perry 

Center10, the Center for Civil Military Relations, and the Defense Institute for International 

Legal Studies, which help our partners build trust and confidence with their citizens. Through 

collaboration with the Department of State, USAID, and non-governmental partners, our civil 

affairs teams execute low cost, high impact civic action projects that help partner nations and 

extend governance to vulnerable communities. 

Terrorism. As Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan recently noted, transnational 

terrorism poses an immediate threat to the Western Hemisphere.11 Groups like Lebanese 

Hezbollah, ISIS, and al-Qaida operate wherever they can garner support, raise funds, and pursue 

their terrorist agendas. ISIS and other groups have demonstrated their ability to inspire and 

recruit violent extremists to plan attacks in South America and the Caribbean. While the travel 

of foreign fighters from Latin America and the Caribbean to Iraq and Syria has diminished, the 

 9 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and International Organization for Migration (IOM), December 14, 2018. 10 The Washington, DC-based William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies, one of DoD’s five regional centers, develops and 

engages the Western Hemisphere’s community of defense and security professionals to seek mutually supportive approaches to common 

challenges in order to develop effective and sustainable institutional capacity, and promote a greater understanding of U.S. regional policy. 11 Remarks at the Western Hemisphere Ministerial on Counterterrorism, December 11, 2018.
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potential return of battle-trained extremists remains a threat. Another potential threat is posed by

smuggling networks that move Special Interest Aliens from East Africa, the Middle East, and 

Southeast Asia through the hemisphere to attempt entry into the United States. 

What we’re doing. USSOUTHCOM leads several annual exercises with interagency 

partners and partner nations to improve interoperability, preparedness, and response for a 

possible terrorist attack. Our neighbors are taking increasing steps to address the threat of 

terrorism in the hemisphere, as evidenced by the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) 

development of a regional counter terrorism strategy in collaboration with the U.S. Department 

of State and USSOUTHCOM. In addition to these efforts, we work with the Defense Threat 

Reduction Agency to help regional partners build their capacity to combat weapons of mass 

destruction, another issue of growing interest to several partners. 

We work closely with lead federal agencies and regional partners to detect and disrupt 

terrorist activity and strengthen counter-terrorism (CT) legislation. Trinidad and Tobago 

recently strengthened its CT legislation (including the creation of several new terrorism-related 

criminal offenses), and other countries are also updating theirs. In collaboration with the Federal 

Bureau of Investigation (FBI), DHS, and other interagency partners, we work with Argentina, 

Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others to share information and strengthen regional capacity to manage 

extremist threats. U.S. training and biometrics equipment are improving the ability of partners to 

control their borders, and in the past two years, we’ve helped interagency partners stop 

individuals with known or suspected ties to terrorism. Additionally, our small civil affairs teams 

work closely with U.S. embassies and USAID to counter radicalization and recruitment and 

amplify moderate voices in local communities. 
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Detention operations also play an important role in the global fight against violent 

extremism by keeping enemy combatants off the battlefield. The medical and guard teams at 

Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) continue to conduct safe, legal, and humane 

detention operations. In line with Executive Order 13823, we are examining ways to address 

medical support, capacity, and infrastructure issues associated with continued detention 

operations.

Natural disasters. Our ability to respond rapidly in crisis is an important aspect of

USSOUTHCOM’s mission. Our neighborhood experiences approximately 50 natural disasters 

every year, of almost every type—from hurricanes to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, wildfires, 

mudslides, and more. Protecting citizens before and after disaster strikes is a core mission for 

every military in our hemisphere. The question is not whether, but when, we will face the next 

disaster, and we must be ready. 

What we’re doing. Last October at the Conference of Defense Ministers of the 

Americas in Cancun, Mexico, the U.S. Secretary of Defense and his counterparts from across the 

hemisphere committed to strengthening regional military cooperation on humanitarian assistance 

and disaster relief in support of lead civilian agencies. In support, USSOUTHCOM works

closely with partner nations, Department of State, USAID, NGOs, and multinational 

organizations like CARICOM’s Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) 

and the Regional Security System (RSS) to build national and regional response capacities. Our 

training, exercises, and low-cost humanitarian projects have helped our partners to be more 

prepared to respond to emergencies in their own countries, and more able to assist their 

neighbors in crisis. As an example, last year the Jamaican Defense Force deployed a team to 

Dominica for 60 days to provide medical aid and other emergency assistance in the wake of 
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Hurricane Maria. We are assessing our authorities to ensure we can provide the necessary 

support for our partners to take on increasing responsibility for disaster responses. 

When U.S. military support is required, our forward-deployed JTF-Bravo in Honduras, 

along with our annual SPMAGTF deployment, provide operational flexibility and agility. I’m 

proud to note that last year we integrated Chilean and Colombian officers into the SPMAGTF

leadership team for the first time. Brazil will join the SPMAGTF this year, in addition to coleading our UNITAS AMPHIB multinational naval exercise. This iteration of UNITAS will

practice the establishment of a multinational task force to support humanitarian response, a 

capability we haven’t employed since the Haiti earthquake in 2010. Building on this initiative, 

we are working with allies and partners to develop a concept for a scalable multinational task 

force that works within existing security cooperation frameworks to enhance our collective 

ability to respond rapidly to crises. 

Congressional support for USSOUTHCOM’s mission and this neighborhood. I invite 

you to visit our neighbors and reinforce the message that we value this region—the only region 

that is tied to our homeland by all domains—and the role our partners play in keeping our 

neighborhood safe.

I also thank the Congress for providing the Department’s FY 2019 appropriations prior to 

the start of FY 2019, which minimized the impacts of the current partial government shutdown to 

the Department of Defense. As we look ahead, confidence in stable budgets and ensuring all of 

our U.S. government security partners, like our USCG, are open for business will reassure 

friendly nations that we are reliable security partners.

 Support for our people. After several years of running the detention facility at JTFGTMO as a temporary mission, we have been directed to keep the facility open. Much of the 
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current infrastructure used by the JTF has long outlived its useful lifespan. We are undertaking a 

comprehensive review of the existing facilities to determine requirements for mission success, 

the safety of our forces, and operational efficiency. Closer to home, we are working to find ways 

to better support our personnel, including exploring ways to mitigate the limited military support 

services in the Miami area. I will keep this Committee informed of our progress. 

Capabilities to defend our homeland. We appreciate the support of the Congress to 

ensure the continued operations of the USCG, which provides the majority of U.S. maritime 

assets supporting JIATF-S operations. The new National Security Cutters have proven very 

effective in the drug detection and monitoring mission, leveraging increased intelligence

collection capability and on-scene endurance. Maritime patrol aircraft are also crucial to 

detection, monitoring, and interdiction by the USCG and partner nations. Continued 

congressional support for the new Offshore Patrol Cutter will enable the USCG to maintain its 

capacity in the hemisphere. While those new ships are beginning construction, maintenance 

funding is essential to keep the aging Medium Endurance Cutters—some of which are close to 

doubling their planned 30-year service lives—hard at work supporting JIATF-S. We also 

appreciate the support of the Congress to resource our intelligence capabilities like human 

intelligence (HUMINT) and innovative analytic tools utilized by the Defense Threat Reduction 

Agency’s (DTRA) Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Organization (JIDO) that allow us to exploit 

publicly available information and intelligence. 

Thanks to congressional support, we contracted a Multi Mission Support Vessel (MMSV) 

to help fill capability gaps. True to its name, the MMSV was used for SOF training exercises 

and will now be employed to support U.S. and partner nation law enforcement in CN and CT

operations. Increased U.S. joint and naval presence in regional operations and exercises will 
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encourage partner forces, to include navies, to participate in regional security efforts such as 

HA/DR, CN, and CT. The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) is mission fit for this region and we 

welcome its deployment this year. We are also leveraging our growing science and technology 

portfolio—including innovative projects like small-satellite and aerostat surveillance programs—

to mitigate our intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance gaps, and help the Services to test 

new capabilities that hone the U.S. military’s technological advantage. 

Capabilities to strengthen our partnerships. We appreciate congressional support for 

initiatives that streamline security cooperation processes and help ensure we remain the security 

partner of choice. Your continued support to programs and capabilities that help build trust and 

long-term relationships with partners enhances our ability to defend the homeland by providing 

more capacity for defeating threats and sending a visible signal to our partners (and our 

competitors) about the depth of our commitment. 

Conclusion. Partnership goes a long way in this part of the world. The right focused and 

modest investments in this hemisphere yield a solid rate of return for the United States and our 

partners. Our competitors benefit when we don’t invest in our neighborhood. 

Our partners share our vision of a hemisphere that is a beacon of peace, prosperity, and 

opportunity. They want to work with us to achieve this vision. It is in our national interest to 

work with them. Thank you.