Major changes are under way in the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), which is altering its traditional military responsibilities. More focus will be placed on humanitarian relief efforts and cooperative military engagements; less on the security assistance and defensive procedures of the past 45 years. This reflects a new Navy-wide emphasis on soft power and coincides with the establishment of a Fourth Fleet (headquartered in Mayport, Florida) to execute the new objectives.
The Latin American focus is part of an innovative maritime strategy, unveiled in October 2007 as A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower. A collaborative Navy, Coast Guard, and Marine Corps effort, the strategy includes many traditional missions—forward presence, sea control, deterrence—but also new core capabilities such as humanitarian assistance, disaster response, and maritime security. Previously secondary missions, they are now considered critical.
Because the prevention of conflicts is as significant as winning any eventual conflict, the new doctrine focuses on improving U.S. relationships and image in Latin America.1 The strategy reflects challenges of a multipolar global environment in which war at sea among immense battle groups is no longer at issue, as during the Cold War, and in which emerging superpowers like China and India might compete for spheres of influence previously occupied by the United States.
Humanitarian assistance and disaster response will be especially welcome in disaster-prone Latin America. As does the U.S. West Coast, the Pacific coasts of South and Central America teeter on shifting tectonic plates that produce earthquakes and active volcanoes in the Ring of Fire around the Pacific Ocean. Chile saw the largest earthquake ever recorded when a massive one (9.5 on the Richter scale) hit the region in 1960, killing nearly 2,000 Chileans and leaving 2 million homeless. Hurricanes hit hard all around the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Mitch, which struck Honduras and Nicaragua in 1998, was one of the deadliest Atlantic hurricanes in history.3
Other navies agree with the need for a cooperative effort toward mutual maritime security interests. Admiral Rodolfo Codina, commander of the Chilean Navy, stated in the March 2008 Proceedings: "Today, given the depth of globalization, distant regional troubles threaten the global economic system and world prosperity, to which our welfare is firmly linked. . . . International security is everyone's responsibility."4
A New Model for Combatant Commands
Admiral James Stavridis is the first Navy commander of SOUTHCOM. When he took the helm in October 2006, he recognized Latin America as a different sort of theater in which traditional military requirements may no longer be appropriate. Many of our allies have already switched their military focus and adopted strategies to improve social conditions and humanitarian response efforts.
An intensive organization shift will reflect the command's new initiatives. This began in May 2008, when SOUTHCOM added new directorates vastly different from the J codes of other combatant commands. The new organization will include interagency representatives such as the Department of State and the Department of the Treasury, as well as participants from public and private organizations.
Like its new counterpart the African Command, Southern Command will now have two deputy commanders. The military deputy will be a three-star admiral or general, and the civilian deputy will be a senior State Department official.
What were the J-2 Intelligence and J-3 Operations Departments have become the Security and Intelligence Directorate. The J-5 Strategy Department is now the Policy and Strategy Directorate, and cooperative efforts among partner navies will be coordinated by the Stability Directorate. The directorate leader, a one- or two-star general or admiral, will have a civilian vice-director as his or her principal assistant.
The most visible change will be in the new Interagency Partnering Directorate. Led by a senior civilian representative, that office will seek to enlist the assistance of public agencies and nongovernmental organizations that could complement the command's humanitarian efforts. Groups like Transparency International, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the International Red Cross can help tackle the many social and economic problems.
To explain the new organization to skeptical military representatives, Admiral Stavridis employs Harvard professor Joseph Nye Jr.'s "soft power" paradigm (SOUTHCOM Component Commander's Conference, January 2008, Mayport, Florida). The Security and Intelligence Directorate will be the "hard power" department using traditional military efforts and economic incentives to achieve strategic objectives. The Stability Directorate can be considered the soft power core, and the Interagency Partnering Directorate the softest power, using an exchange of ideas and cultural connections. All three are important to achieve long-term goals of peace and cooperation.
From Cuba to Cape Horn
The region accounts for one-sixth of the world's landmass (16 million square miles of territory) and includes 32 countries and 13 territories. Of the 540 million people in Latin America, nearly 40 percent live in poverty (below $2 per day) and another 16 percent live in extreme poverty (less than $1 per day). The hopelessness of many people's daily lives is an incentive to turn to drug trafficking or other crimes, or to migrate clandestinely into the United States in search of work—thus contributing to our illegal immigrant problem.
One U.S. military representative reported: "We're trying to improve the underlying conditions. Poverty itself doesn't bring about terrorism, but destitution with no way ahead brings about a turn to a more radical approach."5 Social and economic conditions are at the root of many security problems.
Latin America is also demographically connected to its northern neighbor. By 2050, more than 30 percent of the U.S. populace will be of Latino descent, making it our largest minority. Already we are the second most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world (after Mexico's 97 million).6 Several large U.S. cities are near the Mexican border, and Latinos account for a significant percentage of these urban populations.
This is a notable difference from the last century, when all ten of our largest cities were in the Northeast.7 The U.S. ethnic heritage is entwined with its southern neighbors. As Admiral Stavridis says: "The Caribbean should no longer be considered our backyard, it should be considered as sharing part of the same house."8
Economically, the region is vital to U.S. markets. Twenty percent of our global trade comes from there. Chile, Peru, and most Central American countries have entered into free trade agreements with the United States in the past couple of years, and efforts are under way to extend those treaties to Colombia and Ecuador.
The purchasing power of the U.S. Hispanic population is nearly $1 trillion annually. Thirty-eight percent of U.S. global trade is with countries in the Western Hemisphere, and we import 34 percent of our oil from the region (as compared with 29 percent from the Middle East). Two-thirds of ships that transit the Panama Canal are bound for U.S. ports, and a Canal expansion program is expected to double the amount of shipping by the time improvements are completed in 2013.10
The Fourth Fleet's Responsibilities
In January 2008, CNO Admiral Gary Roughead announced the intent to establish the Fourth Fleet and assign it responsibility for all waters in Latin America. Its predecessor, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command (USNAVSO), was led by a one-star admiral, but the Fourth Fleet will be led by a two-star. The billet could possibly be promoted later to a vice admiral assignment to be consistent with the other numbered Fleet commanders.
Reflecting the paradigm shifts under way in Latin America, the new commander is not a conventional line officer from the ranks of the aviation or surface communities. Rather, Rear Admiral Joseph Kernan, a two-star Navy SEAL and formerly Commander of the Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado, California, has been selected. This is the first time in Navy history that a SEAL has been assigned as a Fleet Commander. Kernan's experience in the special operations community includes coordinating civil-affairs teams, humanitarian-assistance missions, and training with other militaries during foreign internal defense missions, making him ideally suited to SOUTHCOM's new direction. Rear Admiral Kernan is to assume command of USNAVSO on 12 July 2008, at an event doubling as the Fourth Fleet establishment ceremony.
Cooperative maritime security operations, another aspect of the new maritime strategy, have been part of SOUTHCOM plans for some time. In 2003, USNAVSO held the first PANAMAX exercise, bringing together navies from countries that receive an average of 90 percent of their commerce from maritime conveyance. The deployment has grown from its initial 3 participants to more than 30 ships in 2007, representing 19 different countries.11 The exercise is conducted on both the Caribbean and Pacific sides of the Panama Canal, and control of the forces has been delegated to South American navies. Chile and Brazil have the responsibilities in 2008.
In April 2009, the Fourth Fleet will hold the 50-year anniversary of the UNITAS deployment, a series of bilateral and regional exercises conducted by a U.S. Navy task group as it circumnavigates South America. These events embody the cooperation called for in the new strategy.
Soft Power Offers Assistance and Goodwill
In 2007, SOUTHCOM deployed a prototype Global Fleet Station ship in the Caribbean and Central America, for six months. With embarked mobile training teams, the HSV-2 Swift visited 12 ports in seven countries and trained nearly 1,200 foreign sailors in programs like port security, coxswain, small boat ops, maintenance management, and first aid. This 321-foot catamaran can travel faster than 40 knots, carry more than 600 tons, and draw no more than 11 feet of water. The ship's shallow draft makes it ideally suited to enter smaller ports that larger Navy gray hulls do not normally visit.
The USNS Comfort's (T-AH-20) deployment to 12 Latin American nations in 2007, called Operation Continuing Promise, illustrated SOUTHCOM's humanitarian aspect and put into effect the new CNO strategy establishing humanitarian efforts as a core mission.12 Equipped with operating rooms; intensive care treatment; and dental, optometry, and laboratory facilities, the ship's soft-power mission also featured international cooperative efforts through fostering goodwill and partnerships.
During its four-month deployment, the Comfort treated almost 400,000 patients and conducted more than 1,100 shipboard surgeries. The crew also provided shore support such as assessments of infrastructure, assistance with engineering and construction, and veterinary assistance for almost 18,000 animals.
In fall 2008, the USS Kearsarge (LHD-3) will continue the humanitarian efforts started by the Comfort. During a 120-day deployment, the amphibious vessel will stop in nations including Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, the Dutch Antilles, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama, and Trinidad and Tobago. It will be on station during hurricane season, equipped with helicopters, landing craft, and a 1,500-person crew ready to respond to crises.
A Good Start-and Much More Needed
In a region where leadership is resistant to and suspicious of U.S. involvement, and where other militaries are already focusing on humanitarian assistance and peacekeeping operations, we also have now committed to helping improve impoverished conditions. This new approach is the right one.
However, with the Iraq War consuming $2 billion out of our military budget every week, not much money remains. We need to take the following steps.
- Fix the interagency problem. The lack of personnel and budgetary support for SOUTHCOM's initiatives will undermine Admiral Stavridis's efforts to tackle the myriad socioeconomic problems. While our 2007 DOD budget was greater than $530 billion, the Department of State received less than $14 billion.
Even Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said at Kansas State University (26 November 2007) that the Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) needed increased budgets: "There is a need for a dramatic increase in spending on the civilian instruments of national security-diplomacy, strategic communications, foreign assistance, civic action and economic reconstruction and development."
But after adding nearly 1,100 foreign service officers by 2009 (the largest increase ever), the Department of State will still only have 6,600, less than the crew of one aircraft carrier.13 And 30 percent of USAID foreign service officers are eligible for retirement this year.
- Lift classification restrictions on Latin American navies. In 2003, the Argentine destroyer ARA Sardinia was deployed with a U.S. carrier battle group; then in 2007, the Chilean frigate CS Latorre was included in an afloat task force around South America. Both reported feeling sidelined, because information restrictions prevented them from fulfilling more important task group warfare assignments.
A 2003 report in the Naval War College Review concluded: "Is there a place for small navies in network centric warfare? Or will they be relegated to the sidelines, undertaking the most menial of tasks, encouraged to stay out of the way . . . or stay at home? The 'need for speed' in network centric operations places the whole notion of multinational operations at risk."14
- Reactivate the Rio Treaty. A collective security agreement among South American countries to respond militarily to aggressors, the Rio Treaty would serve as a deterrent to troublemakers such as Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez. His mobilization of troops on the Colombian border in March 2008 seemed to indicate his willingness to initiate a conflict against neighboring countries.
- Close down Guantanamo Bay. Harvard's Nye and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage recently opined in the Center for Security and International Studies report on "Smart Power" that "legitimacy is central to soft power." To much of Latin America, the Guantanamo Bay prison represents illegal detention, extrajudicial procedures, the cancellation of due process, and the unconstitutional trials by military tribunal. This situation provides ammunition for the political diatribes of anti-American leaders such as Chavez, Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, and Evo Morales of Bolivia.
Nye and Armitage concluded that we need to "eliminate the symbols that have come to represent the image of an intolerant, abusive, unjust America."15
- Establish an afloat task group each year comprised of Latin America ships. It can serve as a ready response to counter-drug operations and disaster or humanitarian crises, and will be an effective way to practice coalition operations and participate in exercises such as UNITAS and PANAMAX.
- Remember the war on drugs. Colombia has made great strides against narco-terrorism in the past four years, but trafficking still affects all countries in the region. Drug money leads to corruption among government and police officials, empowers organized crime in major cities, creates domestic social problems, and results in 10,000 cocaine-related deaths in the United States each year. The problem is getting worse: the amount of cocaine transported out of South America rose to 1,421 tons in 2007, a 40 percent increase over that in 2006.16
Create New Allies through Trust
Changing our military's strategy to incorporate foreign allies and strengthen relationships is a necessary step, especially in light of the challenges we face in Iraq and Afghanistan. Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center, testified to Congress that worldwide impressions of the United States are overwhelmingly negative because "the ongoing conflict in Iraq continues to fuel anti-Americanism. The war on terrorism is perceived negatively in the region, and the perception that the U.S. acts unilaterally in foreign policy is a big negative not only in the Middle East but around the world." A former U.S. ambassador declared that "hostility toward America has reached shocking levels."17
At the 2007 International Seapower Symposium, Admiral Roughead commented: "The key to all this is trust. We believe that trust is something that cannot be surged. Trust is something that must be built over time."
A stable Western Hemisphere requires partnership. This will provide mutual security interests against emerging asymmetrical threats. If we bring humanitarian efforts into impoverished areas, knock down the walls of information sharing, enhance others' at-sea exercise proficiency, and increase liaison opportunities for our foreign area officers, our Navy can achieve trust. SOUTHCOM and the new Fourth Fleet, with its Navy SEAL commander, may become a model for U.S. military commands in other parts of the world.
1. A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower, October 2007, coauthored by the Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, the U.S. Navy Chief of Naval Operations, and the Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard. Available online at http://www.navy.mil/maritime/MaritimeStrategy.pdf.
2. U.S. Geologic Survey Earthquake Hazards Program, http://earthquake.usgs.gov/, 30 May 2008.
3. National Hurricane Center, http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/. Hurricane Mitch killed nearly 11,000 people and left more than 8,000 missing. The storm caused damage estimated at over $5 billion.
4. Rodolfo Codina, "The Commanders Respond," U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, March 2008.
5. Major General Tim Ghormley, USMC, "Challenges Far from Home," New York Times, 17 September 2006, p. A2.
6. Lydia Polgreen, "Census Shows Latin Influence," Washington Post, 1 February 2008, p. A3.
7. Admiral James Stavridis, "The Last Hour. . . Or the First?" Remarks at the Americas Quarterly magazine debut, New York City, 22 October 2007, http://coa.counciloftheamericas.org/article.php?id=729. Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and San Francisco are among the largest cities in the States. All of those but San Francisco are near the Mexican border.
8. Admiral James Stavridis, remarks at SOUTHCOM military conference, February 2008.
9. U.S. Energy Information Administration. Based on January 2008 data, Mexico provides 12 percent, Venezuela 12 percent, Ecuador and Brazil 2 percent each, and Colombia just over 1 percent. Quantities can be referenced at http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/.
10. Nicholas Kristof, "Canal Construction to Expand Trade," New York Times, 25 August 2007, p. A6.
11. Panama, Chile, and the United States participated in the first PANAMAX exercise in 2003.
12. See Admiral Mike Mullen, "What I Believe: Eight Tenets that Guide My Vision for the 21st Century Navy," U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, January 2006 (accessed 30 May 2008 at http://www.navy.mil/navydata/cno/mullen/proceedingsjan06.html.
13. Robin Wright, "New Hires, Weak Dollar Part of State's Increase," Washington Post, 5 February 2008, p. 13.
14. Paul Mitchell, "Small Navies and Network-Centric Warfare: Is There a Role? Naval War College Review, spring 2003, p. 83-99.
15. Richard L. Armitage and Joseph S. Nye Jr. "CSIS Commission on Smart Power: A Smarter, More Secure America," Center for Strategic and International Studies, November 2007, http://www.csis.org/component/option,com_csis_pubs/task,view/id,4156/type,1/.
16. "Latin American Drugs I: Losing the Fight," International Crisis Group Latin America Report 25, 14 March 2008, http://www.crisisgroup.org/library/documents/latin_america/25_latin_american_drugs_i_losing_the_fight_final.pdf.
17. Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon, "The War of Unintended Consequences," Foreign Affairs, March-April 2006, p. 179.