II 

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 and Mr. MENENDEZ) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 It is the sense of Congress that— 

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

9 of democratic governance in countries of the WestVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:10 Feb 08, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3589.IS S3589

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1 ern Hemisphere are vital to the national interests of 

2 the United States; 

3 (2) the harmful and malign influence in Latin 

4 America and the Caribbean of the Government of 

5 the People’s Republic of China and the Government 

6 of the Russian Federation poses risks to— 

7 (A) the people and countries of Latin 

8 America and the Caribbean; and 

9 (B) the national interests of the United 

10 States; 

11 (3) the United States should expand its engage12 ment in the Western Hemisphere by— 

13 (A) strengthening its alliances and part14 nerships with countries in the Western Hemi15 sphere; 

16 (B) fostering security cooperation among 

17 countries in the Western Hemisphere to facili18 tate trade, investment, training, and humani19 tarian assistance in the near and long term; 

20 and 

21 (C) working with security and law enforce22 ment agencies in the Western Hemisphere— 

23 (i) to address the shared challenges 

24 of— 


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1 (I) narcotics trafficking, human 

2 trafficking, and other forms of illicit 

3 trafficking; and 

4 (II) transnational criminal orga5 nizations; and 

6 (ii) to support the rule of law, democ7 racy, and human rights in the region; 

8 (4) the United States should maintain credible 

9 security capabilities dedicated to Latin America and 

10 the Caribbean— 

11 (A) to build partner country capacity; 

12 (B) to support the delivery of humani13 tarian assistance and disaster relief; 

14 (C) to deter acts of aggression; and 

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

16 threats and threats to the national security of 

17 the United States; and 

18 (5) the Department of State and the Depart19 ment of Defense should continue to commit addi20 tional assets and increase investments in the West21 ern Hemisphere so as to maintain robust United 

22 States security partnerships with countries in the 

23 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. 

Æ 


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