14 Jul 16. Southcom Commander Outlines Latin America Strategy. “Uncertainty, unpredictability, and transregional linkages are the defining characteristics of the world today,” according to Navy Adm. Kurt W. Tidd, commander of U.S. Southern Command, who spoke at the Atlantic Council here yesterday about Southcom’s strategy for Latin America.
Southcom’s strategic approach to Latin America and the Caribbean, he said, is “not taking place in isolation.”
Tidd said that as Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford have noted, “We’re in the middle of a strategic transition that touches every corner of the globe.”
In the Western hemisphere, the admiral said, proximity and shared borders add another dimension to an already complex environment, enabling a number of criminal networks to operate.
“So as we think about Latin America, we have to recognize there’s no longer any such thing as a regional challenge,” he said.
“From the activities of China and Russia, to the illicit flows of drugs, weapons and people, to natural disasters and humanitarian crises, the challenges that we confront in this part of the world have one thing in common: they are transregional. … They affect not just this hemisphere, but the rest of our world,” Tidd said.
The framework for Southcom’s work, the admiral said, “centers around maintaining our competitive advantage in the defense and security sectors, countering transnational threat networks, and rapid response to crises.”
Chinese, Russian, Iranian Influence
The answers to three questions inform Southcom’s strategy, he said: “The first being, how should we view the activities of China, Russia, Iran and the Western hemisphere?”
There tend to be two views on that question, Tidd said. “Some say that these so-called external actors don’t pose a significant challenge to U.S. interests in Latin America, at least in the near term. Others worry that we’re ceding ground in a global game of influence and leadership.”
The admiral said he believes that what happens in Latin America or the Caribbean can’t be divorced from what’s happening in the rest of the world. Chinese, Russian and Iranian activities in Southcom’s region are matters for concern, he said.
“Any nation seeking to build regional relationships should respect the inter-American principles of peace, the rule of law, and transparency,” he said. “… The truth is nations like China, Russia and Iran have a mixed track record, at best, on some of these issues.”
Building Partner Capacity
Those nations’ activities deserve Southcom’s scrutiny, Tidd said, but the command’s focus is on building partner relationships. The admiral said he has allowed partner-nation liaison officers to attend a formerly closed intelligence and operations briefing to help develop “knowledge that builds trust; knowledge that expands our friendly networks; knowledge that when applied in a cohesive manner will make us all more effective in defending our shared home.”
He said Southcom is also seeking ways to expand partner nation’s access to “cutting-edge research, new technologies and experimentation opportunities that will advance our collective efforts to confront complex security challenges.”
The second question, Tidd said, is how to address those challenges.
“In Latin America and the Caribbean, the overarching security challenge is a very big one indeed: The destabilizing operations, corruption influence and global reach of transnational threat networks,” the admiral said.
Countering Criminal Networks
Regional criminal networks funnel cocaine and heroin, weapons, illegally mined gold, and “tens of thousands of women and children” to global markets, he said, as well as transporting known terrorists, recruiting fighters for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and laundering and transporting “dirty money.”
Regional threat networks offer a highly logistical infrastructure that lead into the United States, Eu