United States Southern Command encompass a sixth of the world’s land mass. One of five unified commands possessing a geographic responsibility.

With its headquarters in Miami, Florida, SOUTHCOM is assigned an area of responsibility (AOR) encompassing the landmass of Latin America south of Mexico; the waters adjacent to Central and South America; the Caribbean Sea and its 13 island nations and European and U.S. territories; the Gulf of Mexico; and a portion of the Atlantic Ocean.

CINC USSOUTHCOM is the principal agent of the Department of Defense for designing, coordinating, and executing a military strategy to support U.S. national security objectives within this region.

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To understand where USSOUTHCOM falls within the DoD Chain of Command it is important to first explain the Service Chain of Command.

The military service chiefs are often said to "wear two hats." As members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, they offer advice to the President, Secretary of Defense, and National Security Council. As the chiefs of the military services, they are responsible to the secretary of the military department of the their service. They are responsible for the day-to-day operation of their respective service. The duties of the Service chiefs as members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff take precedence over all their other duties.

The Service Chiefs have no executive authority to command combatant forces. This is the responsibility of the combatant commanders.

Secretary of the Army: Thomas E. White

Secretary of the Navy: Gordon R. England

Before going into detail about SOUTHCOM and its activities, it is useful to place the command within the context of the Unified Command System, which was created in 1947 to provide strategic direction to U.S. forces worldwide. There are nine unified commands responsible for the effective integration of naval, air, and land forces. Five of these commands have geographical areas of responsibility; they are highlighted in blue.

According to the Goldwater-Nichols Act, these regional combatant CINCs are responsible for US military operations in geographic areas and report directly to the Secretary of Defense and to the President. They are responsible for commanding and controlling U.S. military forces in their theaters.

The responsibilities of the President’s personal representatives in foreign countries, our U.S. ambassadors, are spelled out in the Foreign Service Act. Of particular interest to military commanders is their authority over military deployments. Ambassadors authorize military deployments in their countries after being satisfied that a contemplated military exercise or activity supports their objectives. Military commanders always command and employ the forces to accomplish assigned missions. These sound principles ensure unity of command and the security of our deployed military forces.

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At both national and departmental levels, various processes and systems have been developed to handle the complex problems of setting strategic direction, determining national military policy, requesting resources to execute that policy, and translating the funded military capability into military operations.

Combatant commanders translate national security strategy and national military strategy into strategic and operational concepts through the development of a theater strategy. The theatre strategy embodies the combatant commander’s strategic vision of the arrangement of related operations necessary to attain theatre strategic objectives.

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United States Southern Command’s theater strategy is achieved though interdepartmental and interagency coordination (formal and informal lines of communication). The two major players which synchronize and coordinate these efforts within United States Southern Command’s Area of Responsibility are the Department of State and the Department of Defense incorporating country Ambassadors and their respective country teams, Military Group Commanders, the Department of Justice, the Department of the Treasury, the Drug Enforcement Agency, U.S. Customs.and the Executive Office of the President.

This slide depicts SOUTHCOM forces, both assigned and those in support through our service components. SOUTHCOM is a joint command comprised of Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine elements. Headquarters SOUTHCOM has approximately 850 men and women of all services and 130 civilians. It is the smallest of all the unified command staffs. The headquarters includes representatives from the Department of State, DEA, DIA, NSA, the Coast Guard, and Customs.

The yellow boxes display service schools which support SOUTHCOM by offering Spanish-language instruction to students from countries throughout the region.

There is one subordinate Joint Task Forces (JTF) and one Joint Interagency Task Force (JIATF) within SOUTHCOM. JTF-Bravo at Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras, operates a C-5 capable airfield and supports regional confidence building activities. Joint Interagency Task Force-East (JIATF-E) is an interagency organization designed to facilitate coordination of military counterdrug efforts in the Source and Transit Zones. (JIATF-South, which was located in Panama, merged with JIATF-East effective 1 May 1999.) JSSROC is a fusion cell for sensitive reconnaissance missions. It reports counterdrug radar and link information and provides radar control to aircraft during contingency operations.

Finally, there are 26 Security Assistance Organizations (including one in Mexico, even though it is outside the command’s AOR) representing SOUTHCOM on U.S. country teams throughout the region. (NOTE: SAO in Guyana established summer 1999.)

SOUTHCOM has had clearly derived advantages from our forward presence in Latin America over the years. Our U.S. military facilities in Panama and in Honduras have provided strategic leverage points from which we supported important hemispheric goals. Until recently, our U.S. bases in Panama funneled critical support to regional counterdrug efforts, humanitarian operations, military-to-military contacts, and defense of the Panama Canal.

Our challenge is to continue providing this critical support without the basing structure we enjoyed in Panama. To do this we relocated the headquarters to Miami, Florida, where it occupies a state-of-the-art command and control facility. United States Army South, Special Operations Command South, and an Air Force element have moved to Puerto Rico. JIATF-South merged with JIATF-East in Key West, Florida, in May 1999. Additionally, SOUTHCOM retains Joint Task Force Bravo in Soto Cano, Honduras.

~ As a financial, academic, consular, cultural, and transportation hub for Latin America and the Caribbean, Miami is the strategically appropriate location in CONUS for HQ SOUTHCOM to credibly engage the AOR.

~ For the various reasons shown here Miami holds esteem as a location with credibility (de facto "capital of Latin America") by the countries of the SOUTHCOM AOR. Furthermore, since the relocation decision was made the Caribbean has been added to the SOUTHCOM AOR, further supporting the Miami location for the HQ.

~ Miami Site. The specific location in Miami-Dade County was the result of further evaluation of several locations, to include what remains of Homestead -- now an Air Reserve Station. Using the same broad criteria of Mission, QOL, and Cost, the HQ was located west of Miami Airport in a "build to suit" leased facility. This location maximizes convenient access to airport and "centrality" from other support perspectives. The central location: maximizes access to various housing alternatives located in areas supported by the public schools with top quartile county test scores; offers best flexibility for spouse employment; provides ability to reside in areas below median crime rates; and proximity to areas with lower comparative auto insurance rates. Finally, the west-Dade location provides access to less impactful transportation routes relative to Miami’s high traffic density.

~ Miami is the right "Mission Effectiveness" location. The remaining goal is to use "Smart Business" to ensure the most cost-effective long-term operations in Miami. Example: the current HQ, lease signed in early 1996, was determined to be the most economical "best value" alternative. Subsequently the Khobar Tower and Oklahoma bombings occurred and, as stated in the 27 Apr 99 SECDEF Report, the requirement for additional land (security buffer) and the appreciating value of property in this area of Miami fundamentally changed the business equation to where purchase of the HQ may be the best, most prudent use of taxpayers funds. All aspect of operations should be evaluated.

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Centrality: Miami is the hub for regional Latin American/Caribbean travel, with about 85% of U.S. carrier flights to the AOR. It is the second largest international passenger hub in the U.S. and seventh largest in the world. Nearly all travel within the AOR goes through Miami. Thus significant time and cost is saved from this central location (note, the SOUTHCOM travel office issues approx. 10,000 tickets annually, at $100/ticket the Miami location would save $1M/year).

Diplomatic Support: Close proximity provides efficient and timely processing of visas, trip coordination, and exchange of country-specific information.

Interagency Cooperation: Five federal agencies with a significant role in U.S. foreign policy have offices in Miami / Dade County. SOUTHCOM interfaces principally with four of them: Drug Enforcement Administration of the Department of Justice; regional passport office of the Department of State; Coast Guard Air Station and Base of the Department of Transportation; Customs Service of the Department of Treasury. (Fifth office is the International Trade Commission of the Department of Commerce).

Other Hubs. Medical - Ryder Trauma Center/Jackson Memorial/Miami Childrens...regional evacuation; Educational - supports SOUTHCOM exercise program, FIU, UofM, Latin America and Caribbean Center, Cuban Institute, North-South Center; Finance - leading banking institutions for the AOR; NGO/PVO - Florida Assoc for Volunteer Action/Caribbean Action complements exercise programs.

SOUTHCOM HQ: With the advanced communications architecture in place the HQ now serves as DOD’s Southeastern Hub for Audiodin bypass (message processing). Furthermore, SOUTHCOM’s advanced architecture support many "non-SOUTHCOM" customers (interagency, intelligence, and S. FL military entities).

Significant changes in recent years -- all expanding this commands responsibilities.

out on the assignment of Mexico to our AOR under the UCP.

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United States Southern Command must maintain a balance between its short term imperatives and its long term goals for two reasons:

1) limited funding requires prioritization between short term and long term initiatives and

2) proper focus on short term imperatives ensures accomplishment of long term goals.

As with any military organization SOUTHCOM guides on the vision of its commander. SOUTHCOM’s vision embraces the concept of preventive defense through constructive engagement. By promoting democracy, establishing good working relationships amongst all the countries of the region, and engendering a true respect for human rights, we believe that most conflicts can be resolved peacefully. This is the vision for SOUTHCOM, a community of nations working together for the benefit of all their peoples.

SOUTHCOM believes that military institutions have roles as positive, non-political, defense-oriented elements of their societies. They provide the State the force required to protect sovereignty from foreign and domestic enemies. Absent such legitimate armed forces operating in support of their civilian-elected leadership, the possibility of internal conflict and chaos increases.

Turning now to our counterdrug mission, the President's National Drug Control Strategy provides a comprehensive 10-year plan to reduce drug use and its consequences. The Strategy focuses on shrinking America’s demand for drugs through treatment and prevention and attacking the supply of drugs through law enforcement and international cooperation. The principal task of the U.S. agencies involved in the counternarcotics struggle in Latin America is to reduce the amount of cocaine and heroin being illegally smuggled into the United States.

The U.S. Armed Forces are not the lead U.S. agency in the fight against drugs. We support other U.S. agencies--Drug Enforcement Administration, Department of Justice, U.S. Customs--and help our allies where appropriate. To this end, we receive approximately one percent of the total Federal counterdrug budget ($17.8 billion for FY2000) to support the efforts of the other U.S. agencies and host nations committed to the counterdrug cause. In addition, we receive approximately 25 percent of the DOD drug funds.

SOUTHCOM is integrating its assets to support the interagency and host nation countries in detecting, monitoring, and tracking drug traffickers. Due to the withdraw of U.S. forces from Panama, JIATF-S merged with JIATF-E in Key West, Florida, on 1 May 1999. This new organization will monitor the activities in both the Transit and Source zones, identifying the critical coca growing and processing areas in the Source Zone and interdicting the flow of drugs from these areas. In addition, to defeat the transshipment of drugs through the Transit Zone, they will conduct surveillance of the air and maritime routes to the United States and other countries. (Drugs coming to the U.S. from South America pass thru a 6 million square mile transit zone, roughly the size of the continental U.S., which includes the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and eastern Pacific Ocean.)

Sources of supply of coca, the raw material for cocaine, are principally the South American countries of Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru. Regional efforts to eradicate coca cultivation have been successful in Bolivia and Peru, while Colombia has had a more difficult time due to the underdeveloped and remote growing regions, which are often under the influence of guerrilla or paramilitary forces.

To interdict the flow of drugs from these areas, SOUTHCOM conducts surveillance of the air and maritime routes to the United States and other countries. The information collected is handed off to the host nation for final execution of their end game strategy, which normally leads to the arrest or force down of the drug trafficker before he delivers his goods. The end game strategy is a very important part of the battle against narcotraffickers and, to date, has been fairly successful in terms of the amount of support we have been able to provide to the host nations and interagencies, as evidenced by the Good News portion of this slide.

The SOUTHCOM strategy initiates with a fully integrated association of military, interagency, and country team organizations working with all the programs available to achieve our regional objectives. These regional objectives that you see listed here result in regional stability and cooperation. This strategy operates constantly under the threats of transnational influences and regional instability. Only through an efficient and organized approach that utilizes all of our tools to the best of our ability can we succeed in attaining the overall goal.

The Commander in Chief of SOUTHCOM is responsible for all U.S. military activities on the landmasses of Central and South America, the island nations of the Caribbean, and the surrounding waters south of Mexico.

The dimensions and diversity of this theater are often not well understood by our citizens. From north to south the distance is approximately 7,000 miles, and from east to west more than 3,000 miles. Brazil is larger than the continental United States; Peru is three times the size of California. There are 32 sovereign nations in this theater, each one committed to the development of social and political systems appropriate to its culture and circumstances. This is a theater that offers both challenges and opportunities to U.S. policy makers, who often must take a different view of the Americas, as depicted in this slide.

SOUTHCOM is dedicated to the U.S. policy objectives of furthering democracy and fostering the conditions for economic growth throughout the hemisphere. We will also continue to improve, with our host nation counterparts, regional cooperative security with professional militaries in democratic societies.

The Commander in Chief of SOUTHCOM is responsible for all U.S. military activities on the landmasses of Central and South America, the island nations of the Caribbean, and the surrounding waters south of Mexico.

The dimensions and diversity of this theater are often not well understood by our citizens. From north to south the distance is approximately 7,000 miles, and from east to west more than 3,000 miles. Brazil is larger than the continental United States; Peru is three times the size of California. There are 32 sovereign nations in this theater, each one committed to the development of social and political systems appropriate to its culture and circumstances. This is a theater that offers both challenges and opportunities to U.S. policy makers, who often must take a different view of the Americas, as depicted in this slide.

SOUTHCOM is dedicated to the U.S. policy objectives of furthering democracy and fostering the conditions for economic growth throughout the hemisphere. We will also continue to improve, with our host nation counterparts, regional cooperative security with professional militaries in democratic societies.