II 

Calendar No. 461 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3589 

To require a United States security strategy for the Western Hemisphere, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 7 (legislative day, FEBRUARY 3), 2022 

Mr. RUBIO (for himself, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. CASSIDY, Mr. KAINE, and Mr. 

COONS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

JULY 25, 2022 

Reported by Mr. MENENDEZ, with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To require a United States security strategy for the Western 

Hemisphere, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Western Hemisphere 

5 Security Strategy Act of 2022’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

2 It is the sense of Congress that— 

3 (1) the security, stability, prosperity, and state 

4 of democratic governance in countries of the West5 ern Hemisphere are vital to the national interests of 

6 the United States; 

7 (2) the harmful and malign influence in Latin 

8 America and the Caribbean of the Government of 

9 the People’s Republic of China and the Government 

10 of the Russian Federation poses risks to— 

11 (A) the people and countries of Latin 

12 America and the Caribbean; and 

13 (B) the national interests of the United 

14 States; 

15 (3) the United States should expand its engage16 ment in the Western Hemisphere by— 

17 (A) strengthening its alliances and part18 nerships with countries in the Western Hemi19 sphere; 

20 (B) fostering security cooperation among 

21 countries in the Western Hemisphere to facili22 tate trade, investment, training, and humani23 tarian assistance in the near and long term; 

24 and 

25 (C) working with security and law enforce26 ment agencies in the Western Hemisphere— 


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1 (i) to address the shared challenges 

2 of— 

3 (I) narcotics trafficking, human 

4 trafficking, and other forms of illicit 

5 trafficking; and 

6 (II) transnational criminal orga7 nizations; and 

8 (ii) to support the rule of law, democ9 racy, and human rights in the region; 

10 (4) the United States should maintain credible 

11 security capabilities dedicated to Latin America and 

12 the Caribbean— 

13 (A) to build partner country capacity; 

14 (B) to support the delivery of humani15 tarian assistance and disaster relief; 

16 (C) to deter acts of aggression; and 

17 (D) to respond, if necessary, to regional 

18 threats and threats to the national security of 

19 the United States; and 

20 (5) the Department of State and the Depart21 ment of Defense should continue to commit addi22 tional assets and increase investments in the West23 ern Hemisphere so as to maintain robust United 

24 States security partnerships with countries in the 

25 Western Hemisphere. 


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1 SEC. 3. SECURITY STRATEGY FOR THE WESTERN HEMI2 SPHERE. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

4 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 

5 and the Secretary of Defense shall jointly submit to the 

6 appropriate committees of Congress a multi-year strategy, 

7 to be known as the ‘‘Western Hemisphere Security Strat8 egy’’, for purposes of enhancing diplomatic engagement 

9 and security assistance and cooperation, promoting re10 gional security and stability, and advancing United States 

11 strategic interests in the Western Hemisphere. 

12 (b) ELEMENTS.—The strategy required by subsection 

13 (a) shall include the following: 

14 (1) A proposal for increasing United States bi15 lateral and multilateral security assistance and co16 operation in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

17 (2) Activities to build the defense and security 

18 capacity of partner countries in Latin America and 

19 the Caribbean. 

20 (3) Activities to counter— 

21 (A) malign influence by state actors; and 

22 (B) transnational criminal organizations 

23 with connections to— 

24 (i) illicit trafficking, including the il25 licit trafficking of narcotics and weapons; 

26 or 


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1 (ii) terrorism. 

2 (4) Efforts to disrupt, degrade, and counter 

3 transnational illicit trafficking, with an emphasis on 

4 illicit narcotics and precursor chemicals that produce 

5 illicit narcotics. 

6 (5) Activities to increase transparency in, and 

7 support for, strong and accountable defense, secu8 rity, and law enforcement institutions through insti9 tutional capacity-building efforts, including efforts to 

10 ensure respect for internationally recognized human 

11 rights and direction and oversight by civilian au12 thorities. 

13 (6) Efforts to expand bilateral and multi14 national military training exercises with partner 

15 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

16 (7) Humanitarian assistance and disaster relief 

17 initiatives to support partner countries by promoting 

18 the development and growth of responsive institu19 tions through activities such as— 

20 (A) the provision of appropriate equip21 ment, training, logistical support; 

22 (B) transportation of humanitarian sup23 plies or personnel of foreign security forces; 

24 (C) making available, preparing, and 

25 transferring on-hand nonlethal supplies, and 


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1 providing training on the use of such supplies, 

2 for humanitarian or health purposes to respond 

3 to unforeseen emergencies; 

4 (D) the provision of Department of State 

5 humanitarian demining assistance; and 

6 (E) conducting medical support operations 

7 and medical humanitarian missions, such as 

8 hospital ship deployments and base-operating 

9 services, to the extent required by the oper10 ation. 

11 (8) Continued support for the women, peace, 

12 and security initiatives of the Department of State 

13 to support the capacity of partner countries in the 

14 Western Hemisphere— 

15 (A) to ensure— 

16 (i) the safety and security of women 

17 and girls; and 

18 (ii) that the rights of women and girls 

19 are protected; and 

20 (B) to promote the meaningful participa21 tion of women in the defense and security sec22 tors. 

23 (9) Professional military education initiatives, 

24 such as the Department of State’s International 

25 Military and Education Training program. 


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1 (10) A detailed assessment of the resources re2 quired to carry out such strategy and a plan to be 

3 executed not later than fiscal year 2023. 

4 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

6 the date on which the Western Hemisphere Security 

7 Strategy is submitted under subsection (a), the Sec8 retary of State and the Secretary of Defense shall 

9 commence implementation of the strategy. 

10 (2) BRIEFING.—Not later than 180 days after 

11 the date on which the implementation of the West12 ern Hemisphere Security Strategy commences, and 

13 every 180 days thereafter, the Secretary of State 

14 and the Secretary of Defense shall jointly provide a 

15 briefing to the appropriate committees of Congress 

16 on the implementation of the strategy. 

17 (3) TERMINATION.—The authority under this 

18 section shall terminate on the date that is three 

19 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

20 (d) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS DE21 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate commit22 tees of Congress’’ means— 

23 (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations and 

24 the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate; and 


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1 (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 

2 Committee on Armed Services of the House of Rep3 resentatives. 

4 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

5 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Western Hemisphere Se6 curity Strategy Act of 2022’’. 

7 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

8 It is the sense of Congress that— 

9 (1) the security, stability, prosperity, and state 

10 of democratic governance in countries of the Western 

11 Hemisphere are vital to the national interests of the 

12 United States; 

13 (2) the harmful and malign influence in Latin 

14 America and the Caribbean of the Government of the 

15 People’s Republic of China and the Government of the 

16 Russian Federation poses risks to— 

17 (A) the people and countries of Latin Amer18 ica and the Caribbean; and 

19 (B) the national interests of the United 

20 States; 

21 (3) the United States should expand its engage22 ment in the Western Hemisphere by— 

23 (A) strengthening its alliances and partner24 ships with countries in the Western Hemisphere; 


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1 (B) fostering security cooperation among 

2 countries in the Western Hemisphere to facilitate 

3 trade, investment, training, and humanitarian 

4 assistance in the near and long term; and 

5 (C) working with security and law enforce6 ment agencies in the Western Hemisphere— 

7 (i) to address the shared challenges 

8 of— 

9 (I) narcotics trafficking, human 

10 trafficking, and other forms of illicit 

11 trafficking; and 

12 (II) transnational criminal orga13 nizations; and 

14 (ii) to support the rule of law, democ15 racy, and human rights in the region; 

16 (4) the United States should maintain credible 

17 security capabilities dedicated to Latin America and 

18 the Caribbean— 

19 (A) to build partner country capacity; 

20 (B) to support the delivery of humanitarian 

21 assistance and disaster relief; 

22 (C) to deter acts of aggression; and 

23 (D) to respond, if necessary, to regional 

24 threats and threats to the national security of the 

25 United States; and 


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1 (5) the Department of State and the Department 

2 of Defense should continue to commit additional as3 sets and increase investments in the Western Hemi4 sphere so as to maintain robust United States secu5 rity partnerships with countries in the Western 

6 Hemisphere. 

7 SEC. 3. SECURITY STRATEGY FOR THE WESTERN HEMI8 SPHERE. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

10 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 

11 and the Secretary of Defense shall jointly submit to the ap12 propriate committees of Congress a multi-year strategy, to 

13 be known as the ‘‘Western Hemisphere Security Strategy’’, 

14 for purposes of enhancing diplomatic engagement and secu15 rity assistance and cooperation, promoting regional secu16 rity and stability, and advancing United States strategic 

17 interests in the Western Hemisphere. 

18 (b) ELEMENTS.—The strategy required by subsection 

19 (a) shall include the following: 

20 (1) A proposal for increasing United States bi21 lateral and multilateral security assistance and co22 operation in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

23 (2) Activities to build the defense and security 

24 capacity of partner countries in Latin America and 

25 the Caribbean. 


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•S 3589 RS

1 (3) Activities to counter— 

2 (A) malign influence by state actors; 

3 (B) transnational criminal organizations 

4 with connections to— 

5 (i) illicit trafficking, including the il6 licit trafficking of narcotics and weapons; 

7 or 

8 (ii) terrorism; and 

9 (C) corruption and kleptocracy in govern10 ments of countries in the Western Hemisphere. 

11 (4) Efforts to disrupt, degrade, and counter 

12 transnational illicit trafficking, with an emphasis on 

13 illicit narcotics and precursor chemicals that produce 

14 illicit narcotics. 

15 (5) Activities to increase transparency in, and 

16 support for, strong and accountable defense, security, 

17 and law enforcement institutions through institu18 tional capacity-building efforts, including efforts to 

19 ensure respect for internationally recognized human 

20 rights and direction and oversight by civilian au21 thorities. 

22 (6) Programs and initiatives to enhance public 

23 diplomacy and engagement with the people of the 

24 Western Hemisphere for the purpose of demonstrating 

25 that the security of their countries is enhanced to a 


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1 greater extent if their countries are aligned with the 

2 United States and democratic values rather than with 

3 authoritarian countries such as the People’s Republic 

4 of China and the Russian Federation. 

5 (7) Efforts to expand bilateral and multi6 national military training exercises with partner 

7 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

8 (8) Humanitarian assistance and disaster relief 

9 initiatives to support partner countries by promoting 

10 the development and growth of responsive institutions 

11 through activities such as— 

12 (A) the provision of appropriate equipment, 

13 training, logistical support; 

14 (B) transportation of humanitarian sup15 plies or personnel of foreign security forces; 

16 (C) making available, preparing, and trans17 ferring on-hand nonlethal supplies, and pro18 viding training on the use of such supplies, for 

19 humanitarian or health purposes to respond to 

20 unforeseen emergencies; 

21 (D) the provision of Department of State 

22 humanitarian demining assistance; and 

23 (E) conducting medical support operations 

24 and medical humanitarian missions, such as 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
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•S 3589 RS

1 hospital ship deployments and base-operating 

2 services, to the extent required by the operation. 

3 (9) Continued support for the women, peace, and 

4 security initiatives of the Department of State to sup5 port the capacity of partner countries in the Western 

6 Hemisphere— 

7 (A) to ensure— 

8 (i) the safety and security of women 

9 and girls; and 

10 (ii) that the rights of women and girls 

11 are protected; and 

12 (B) to promote the meaningful participa13 tion of women in the defense and security sec14 tors. 

15 (10) Professional military education initiatives, 

16 such as the Department of State’s International Mili17 tary and Education Training program. 

18 (11) A detailed assessment of the resources re19 quired to carry out such strategy and a plan to be 

20 executed not later than fiscal year 2023. 

21 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

23 the date on which the Western Hemisphere Security 

24 Strategy is submitted under subsection (a), the SecVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:36 Jul 25, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S3589.RS S3589

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1 retary of State and the Secretary of Defense shall 

2 commence implementation of the strategy. 

3 (2) BRIEFING.—Not later than 180 days after 

4 the date on which the implementation of the Western 

5 Hemisphere Security Strategy commences, and every 

6 180 days thereafter, the Secretary of State and the 

7 Secretary of Defense shall jointly provide a briefing 

8 to the appropriate committees of Congress on the im9 plementation of the strategy. 

10 (3) TERMINATION.—The authority under this 

11 section shall terminate on the date that is three years 

12 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

13 (d) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS DE14 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate committees 

15 of Congress’’ means— 

16 (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the 

17 Committee on Armed Services of the Senate; and 

18 (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 

19 Committee on Armed Services of the House of Rep20 resentatives. 

21 SEC. 4. REPORT ON EFFORTS TO CAPTURE AND DETAIN 

22 UNITED STATES CITIZENS AS HOSTAGES. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after the 

24 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 

25 shall submit to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 


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1 Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House 

2 of Representatives a report on efforts by the Maduro regime 

3 of Venezuela to detain United States citizens and lawful 

4 permanent residents. 

5 (b) ELEMENTS.—The report required by subsection (a) 

6 shall include, regarding the arrest, capture, detainment, 

7 and imprisonment of United States citizens and lawful per8 manent residents— 

9 (1) the names, positions, and institutional affili10 ation of Venezuelan individuals, or those acting on 

11 their behalf, who have engaged in such activities; 

12 (2) a description of any role played by 

13 transnational criminal organizations, and an identi14 fication of such organizations; and 

15 (3) where relevant, an assessment of whether and 

16 how United States citizens and lawful permanent 

17 residents have been lured to Venezuela. 

18 (c) FORM.—The report required by subsection (a) shall 

19 be submitted in unclassified form, but shall include a classi20 fied annex, which shall include a list of the total number 

21 of United States citizens and lawful permanent residents 

22 detained or imprisoned in Venezuela as of the date on which 

23 the report is submitted. 


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Calendar No. 461 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3589 

A BILL 

To require a United States security strategy for the 

Western Hemisphere, and for other purposes. 

JULY 25, 2022 

Reported with an amendment 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS