SOUTHCOM SENDS MEDICATIONS TO BRAZIL NIGHTCLUB FIRE VICTIMS

FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
Southcom Speeds Medications to Brazil for Nightclub Victims
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 2, 2013 - Medication to treat victims suffering from the tragic Jan. 27 nightclub fire in Santa Maria, Brazil, funded by and transported through coordination by U.S. Southern Command, are scheduled to arrive in Brasilia today, Southcom officials reported.

Southcom partnered with the U.S. Embassy in Brasilia, the Brazilian Ministry of Health, American Airlines, Miami Dade Aviation and the Transportation Security Administration to secure the rapid transport of the medication, officials said.

The Brazilian Ministry of Health submitted a request to the U.S. Embassy in Brasilia for 140 doses of the drug Cyanokit to treat victims exposed to cyanide poison when the fire ignited acoustic foam insulation inside the club, they said.

Southcom, in turn, worked with the Defense Logistics Agency to secure the medication under an existing contract with Meridian Medical Technologies. The command used funds from its humanitarian assistance program to pay for the drugs, valued at more than $97,000, officials said.

Southcom also coordinated transport of the medication from St. Louis to Brazil via Miami by working closely with Miami Dade Aviation, TSA and American Airlines. The drugs are scheduled to arrive today aboard an American Airlines flight. In Brasilia, they will be turned over to local health ministry officials to immediately distribute to health care facilities treating victims exposed to the poison, officials said.

The command is one of six geographically focused, unified commands within the Defense Department. It is responsible for U.S. military operations in the Caribbean, Central America and South America.

STABILITY AND SECURITY ARE PROMOTED BY SOUTHCOM

AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE
The guided missile frigate USS Thach, left, passes alongside the dry cargo ship USNS Lewis and Clark as it pulls out in to the Pacific Ocean to participate in PANAMAX 2011 sea phase. U.S. Navy Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Jose Lopez  

Southcom Exercise Program Promotes Stability, Security
By Donna Miles
MIAMI, June 20, 2012 - Several military exercises that just wrapped up or are under way exemplify U.S. Southern Command's robust exercise program, one that officials consider integral to regional stability and U.S. national security.

Exercise Tradewinds 2012, which kicked off in Barbados June 15 and continues through the upcoming weekend, is focused on what Air Force Gen. Douglas M. Fraser, the Southcom commander, calls the most pressing regional challenge: transnational organized crime.

U.S. Marine Forces South is leading the exercise, which has brought together defense and law enforcement from the United States, Canada and 15 Caribbean countries for the 28th year to enhance their ability to work together against a common threat.

Speaking during opening ceremonies in Bridgetown, Barbados, Marine Corps Col. Michael Ramos, MARFOR-South chief of staff, emphasized the benefit of Exercise Tradewinds to participating nations. "We recognize the value of working together to confront these common security challenges," he said. "We are truly united through our collaboration and collective efforts to fight terrorism, illicit trafficking and transnational criminality in all forms and in being prepared to effectively respond to natural disasters."
Another exercise that concluded last week in Colombia, Fuerzas Comando 2012, brought together special operators from 21 regional countries for a grueling counterterrorism and special operations skills competition. That event, sponsored by U.S. Special Operations Command South, was designed to promote military-to-military relationships, increase interoperability and improve regional security.

"This is the one forum that we have annually where we can come together as a region and talk about ideas, [about how to] increase our effect, collectively, against these dangerous non-state-actor threats we face," Navy Rear Adm. Thomas L. Brown II, commander of Special Operations Command South, told American Forces Press Service.

These are just two examples of a broad Southcom exercise program that last year alone included hundreds of training and educational events, 12 major multinational exercises with regional partners and 56 medical readiness training exercises in 13 countries, according to Army Maj. Gen. Gerald W. Ketchum, the command's director of theater engagement.

"You don't want to show up on game day for the big game, when you have never practiced together," Ketchum told American Forces Press Service at the Southcom headquarters here. "And that is really what the exercise program is all about."

Toward that end, the exercise program centers on four basic pillars: security and illegal migration and illicit trafficking, peacekeeping, counterterrorism, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

The annual Peacekeeping Operations-Americas exercise that wrapped up last month brought together the United States and 15 partner nations to train in skills needed to serve as peacekeepers in Central and South America and the Caribbean.

U.S. Army South sponsored the four-phase exercise, conducted over the course of three months in Chile and the Dominican Republic in support of the State Department's Global

Peace Operations Initiative.
U.S. Ambassador to Chile Alejandro Daniel Wolff emphasized the importance of building the skills and interoperability needed for militaries to conduct vital peacekeeping roles. "Exercises like this offer the opportunity to learn from each other and to become more capable in our tasks to create a safer future for everybody," Wolff said during the May 11 closing ceremony in Santiago.

Other Southcom exercises focus primarily on humanitarian assistance. These efforts, Ketchum explained, give military members an opportunity to use their skills while leaving behind tangible improvements in host nations. Sometimes it's a new or renovated school, a newly dug well or new building to serve as an emergency operations center in the event of a natural disaster. Other exercises provide training for host-national medical staffs or desperately needed care in local communities.

For example, Army engineers and medical professionals currently deployed to Honduras and Guatemala for Beyond the Horizon 2012 are providing medical, dental and engineering support. Participants in another joint humanitarian exercise, New Horizons 2012, are providing training, free medical care and critical infrastructure in poor areas of Peru.

Officials said the efforts help address critical needs while showing U.S. support and commitment to the region. For many of the participants, the reward is getting to make a visible difference in others' lives.

"My favorite part of this exercise is seeing the work getting done," said Army 1st Lt. Johnny Robey, commander of the Missouri National Guard's 1140th Engineer Battalion, supporting Beyond the Horizon 2012 in Honduras. "I enjoy going to the sites and seeing the immediate impact of what we're here to do."

Among Southcom's array of multinational security exercises, PANAMAX remains the largest. The annual exercise focuses on supporting the Panamanian government in defense of the strategic Panama Canal.

Eighteen nations participated in last year's exercise, working to improve the interoperability of their military and civil forces to guarantee safe passage through the canal and ensure its neutrality.

"This is a theme that is embraced by virtually everyone in the region: free and open access to the canal and flow of goods through the Panama Canal," Ketchum said. "Everyone recognizes that it is clearly something of great value to the entire hemisphere to ensure that."

Ketchum cited the growing success of the exercise as partners in the region step up to assume major leadership roles. Colombia took on the land component commander role last year, and will retain it during this year's PANAMAX, in August. "They have embraced this role, and done a wonderful job," Ketchum said. "Ultimately, that's good for all of us, because we need interoperability and we need to be able to communicate with each other."

Meanwhile, Brazil is preparing to assume leadership of the maritime component role during the upcoming PANAMAX, Fraser told Congress earlier this year. Fraser called the move "an important step in strengthening the expanding partnerships in the hemisphere."

With expansion efforts under way at the Panama Canal that will increase the seaborne traffic it handles, close, regional cooperation will be more critical than ever, Fraser told the Senate Armed Service Committee in March. "I don't see a direct change to the threat or to the concerns as we look into the future, but our PANAMAX exercise will remain critical to that effort," he said.

Ketchum said the capabilities built and relationships strengthened through the exercise program have a direct impact on regional stability and U.S. national security.

"We truly believe that it takes an international approach to address the challenges we face in the region, and that these engagements are supporting that effort, he said. "We want to be the security partner of choice, and we look forward to continuing to work with our partner nations in the region."

(Army Sgt. Sarah E. Lupescu, from the Missouri National Guard; Army Sgt. Alysia Jarmon, from the 65th Public Affairs Operations Center; and Robert Ramon from U.S. Army South contributed to this article.)

SOUTHCOM COMMANDER SAYS EVENTS IN SOUTH AMERICAN NATIONS AFFECT NATIONAL SECURITY

FROM:  AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE 
Marines attached to a Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force guard an extraction point in the marshes of Santo Tomas, Guatemala, Dec. 6, 2011, as a part of Amphibious-Southern Partnership Station 2012, an annual deployment of U.S. military teams to the U.S. Southern Command region. Partnership is a cornerstone of U.S. military engagement in the Southern Command area of responsibility. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Isaiah Sellers III.  



Regional Challenges Drive Southcom's Agenda
By Donna Miles
MIAMI, June 18, 2012 - Air Force Gen. Douglas M. Fraser, commander of U.S. Southern Command, regularly tells members of Congress, audiences around the region and members of his command that events in South America, Central America and the Caribbean affect U.S. national security.

"The hemisphere is our shared home," Fraser noted in his Command Strategy 2020 "Partnership for the Americas" document issued in July.

"We are all Americans" in the region, he added.

While a mere glance at a map underscores the obvious physical connection among the hemisphere's nations, Fraser cited other bonds that cross economic, cultural, ideological and security lines.

"Latin America and the Caribbean are vitally important to the security and future of the United States," he said. "The nations of the region are inextricably linked, and we face common challenges to our security and stability."

With globalization unfolding at lightning speed over the past decade, transforming commerce, culture, trade and technology, it's had a profound impact on security as well, the general noted in his 2012 Southcom posture statement, released in March.

Fraser said he's particularly concerned about "the parallel globalization of organized crime, violence, murder and kidnapping related to illicit trafficking."

He noted that in many parts of the hemisphere, particularly in Central America, transnational organized crime has evolved to become a "volatile and potentially destabilizing threat to both citizen and regional security."

These sophisticated networks operate across national borders and dividing lines for U.S. geographic combatant commands, demanding an unprecedented level of cooperation among those attempting to counter them -- regionally, nationally and across U.S. agencies, he said.

"The challenge for United States Southern Command is to find creative ways to enhance the interagency, public-private and partner-nation cooperation as we plan, train and operate with regional military to address the predominant security concerns in the region," Fraser said.

Fraser recognized other persistent challenges facing the region, including poverty, crime, corruption, institutional weakness, illicit trafficking and terrorism. "These challenges complicate our collective efforts to secure the hemisphere," he stated in his 2020 command strategy. "At the same time, security helps provide the very means to address these issues."

He cited the vulnerability of much of Latin America and the Caribbean to humanitarian crises, mass migrations and natural disasters.

Southcom works closely with partner nations to strengthen their humanitarian assistance and disaster relief capabilities, Fraser told the House Armed Services Committee in May. "And we remain ready to respond should our assistance be requested," he added.

Meanwhile, Southcom watches for potential geopolitical turbulence that could affect U.S. citizens and military personnel in the region, he said in his posture statement. He cited Cuba, Haiti, Bolivia and Venezuela as areas of particular interest.

Frasier noted the yet-to-be-seen long-term effects of Cuba's market reforms under Raul Castro's leadership. Haiti, while making slow but steady progress, remains vulnerable to natural disasters and economic hardship, the general said.

Meanwhile, he added, public demonstrations in Bolivia related to low wages, high food prices and energy shortages are likely to continue until the Bolivian government addresses these issues. And in Venezuela, Fraser recognized continuing uncertainty about President Hugo Chavez' health, as well as continued economic instability and escalating violence that he said place increasing demands on that country's government.

Adding to the list of concerns, Fraser pointed to Hezbollah supporters operating throughout South America and the fact that the region has become home to a small number of violent extremist organizations.

"We remain vigilant for the potential radicalization of homegrown extremists," he said. Fraser noted that Sunni extremists, while small in number, are actively involved in radicalization efforts.

Jamaica's Shaykh Abdullah al-Faisal, for example, was convicted in the United Kingdom for inciting terrorism, he said. Al-Qaida senior operative Adnan el-Shukrijumah has held valid passports for the United States as well as Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, where he has family and associates. And despite recent convictions in the 2007 plot to attack the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, one of the alleged co-conspirators remains at large in Guyana.

Meanwhile, Fraser noted, Iran represents a troublesome influence in the region, attempting to circumvent international sanctions through ties with Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Cuba. "We take Iranian activity in the hemisphere seriously, and we monitor its activities closely," he said.

In presenting his command priorities, Fraser emphasized four major objectives:

-- Strengthen regional partnerships;
-- Increase partner capability;
-- Confront regional challenges; and
-- Support humanitarian and disaster response, as required.

Fraser called partnership-building "the cornerstone of our strategic approach." It ensures the forward defense of the United States, he said, by promoting capable regional militaries that share in the responsibility of hemispheric security and stability.

"What we focus on in the region is building partner capacity and security cooperation, collaboratively, with willing nations," Navy Vice Adm. Joseph D. Kernan, Southcom's military deputy commander, told American Forces Press Service at the command's headquarters here. "We endeavor to plan extensively with them, ensuring that our efforts to help build their security in ways they believe are helpful to them."

These efforts are coordinated closely with the State Department and with full respect for each partner nation's sovereignty, Kernan said.

"We truly want to be the security partner of choice," said Army Maj. Gen. Gerald W. Ketchum, director of the command's theater engagement directorate, who oversees many of the programs designed to build those partnerships. "And as we work to build them, we want those partnerships to be enduring."

In establishing new ties and strengthening existing ones, Kernan said, Southcom is demonstrating the deep U.S. commitment to the region.

"We have to pursue a persistent, welcomed presence with countries in the region," he said. "That is what builds lasting relations and mutual respect. We need to be able to stand alongside our partners and talk about collectively addressing common security problems."

Fraser said efforts to strengthen and enhance partner nations' ability to respond to domestic and regional threats -- individually and collectively -- will pay off in long-term security for the region.

"We envision a hemisphere characterized by nations working together to address the emerging security challenges of the coming decade," he said.

SOUTHCOM RELYING ON PARTNER NATIONS TO HELP ACCOMPLISH SOME MISSIONS

FROM:  AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE
One of two interceptor boats delivered to Grenada in May under the Secure Seas U.S. maritime security assistance initiative, part of U.S. Southern Command's theater engagement efforts helping regional partners deter maritime threats. DOD photo by Michael Wimbish  
Southcom Strives to Maximize Theater Engagement Efforts
By Donna Miles
MIAMI, June 7, 2012 - U.S. Southern Command continues to move full steam ahead on its array of theater engagement programs, but recognizing budget realities, is exploring new, more efficient ways to conduct them and to maximize their impact, a senior military leader here reported.

"We all understand what the future looks like. We know the trend is downward for future funding," Army Maj. Gen. Gerald W. Ketchum, director of the command's theater engagement directorate, told American Forces Press Service.

"So we are going to have to be smart," he said. "We probably aren't going to be able to do all the things we have done in the past, so we are going through this very deliberate process right now of ensuring that where we are spending our money is, in fact, where we need to be doing that."

That, Ketchum explained, involves scrutinizing every activity within the command's "robust toolkit" of engagement programs to eliminate those with marginal return in favor of those with proven results. "So you have to ensure that the activity you select truly is going to accomplish what you want and is going to provide the [desired] end results," he said.

Southcom's theater engagement programs run the gamut, from bilateral and multilateral exercises, training programs and educational exchanges to a security assistance program that helps partners meet their defense and modernization needs.

All are designed to help partner nations build their own military capacity and to improve their ability to operate with each other and the United States, Ketchum said. Because partner-nation capability varies widely across the region, Southcom tailors its engagements to address specific requirements, identified through close coordination with the partners themselves as well as the command's service components, U.S. embassy teams and U.S. service members operating in the theater.

Ultimately, these engagements aim to create strong partnerships able to stand up to regional challenges, Ketchum said. "We truly want to be the partner of choice," he said. "And we want those partnerships to be enduring."

The success of the effort has a direct impact on the United States, Ketchum said. "We are a community of nations, and we are completely interlocked because of globalization," he said. "And the threats we face do not end at borders. They are international in nature, and therefore, it takes an international response to address those challenges."

As the Southcom staff studies the way ahead for these programs, Ketchum said it's already well-versed in the creative, cost-effective ways of operating laid out in the defense strategic guidance issued in January.

"We have been doing that in Southcom already for a very long time," he said. "You start to talk about low cost, small footprint, efficient ways of doing business, and [Air Force] Gen. [Douglas W.] Fraser, [Southcom's commander], would say you are describing Southcom."

For example, a unique organizational construct at the command helps ensure its theater engagement efforts build on each other without expensive and unnecessary overlap. Unlike other geographic combatant commands that spread these programs across a variety of staff offices, Southcom consolidates them under one umbrella – the J7 theater engagement directorate that reports directly to Fraser.

"At the very elementary level, this prevents duplication," Ketchum said. "You don't want to have one program doing something and another program doing something very similar – the left hand not talking to the right hand – to be good stewards of the taxpayers' money."

But more importantly, we are looking for synergy," he said.
Ketchum used the example of a security assistance effort that helps a partner nation's military acquire new boats to patrol its waterways. "Wouldn't it make sense, right after that, to come in and provide training to the operators and maintainers?" he said. "And then maybe after that, wouldn't it make sense to have them participate in an exercise using that asset?"

The Secure Seas maritime security assistance initiative, managed by U.S. Southern Command, is helping in this way. The United States is providing interceptor boats and associated equipment, state-of-the-art command and control communications systems and training and technical support to nine Eastern Caribbean nations to help them deter threats associated with transnational organized crime.

Marine Forces South Commander Maj. Gen. John M. Croley joined U.S. Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Larry L. Palmer at the first delivery ceremony, in Dominica, May 31. The initial delivery package included similar provisions for Grenada and St. Lucia.

This building-block approach to theater engagement works particularly well when the staff who oversee each piece of the larger effort work closely together and report to the same boss, Ketchum said. "Organizationally, it is much easier if they are all part of the staff where individuals providing the equipment are sitting in the next cubicle or down the hall from the guy who is organizing the training," he said. "That's what we have here in the new U.S. Southern Command headquarters building."

The new headquarters, which opened in December 2010 and replaced numerous smaller buildings in the Miami area, also includes representatives from other agencies who bring insights and experience to the decision-making process.

"The whole idea is to look at this holistically, to take all our tools, and with that awareness and visibility, to look at a whole-of-government approach," Ketchum said. "It is absolutely critical to everything we do here at Southcom. It's not a sound bite. It's something we have embraced."

DEVELOPING TECHNOLOGIES TO SUPPORT MISSIONS

FROM:  AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE
U.S. Southern Command's Science, Technology and Experimentation program is committed to providing technical capabilities to enhance U.S. and partner nation capabilities in the region. In this Oct. 10, 2011, file photo, Colombian military members explain their water purification and jungle survival techniques to U.S. Marines during Amphibious-Southern Partnership Station near Turbo, Colombia. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Juancarlos Paz  



Southcom Program Plugs Science, Technology Gaps
By Donna Miles
MIAMI, June 6, 2012 - A little-known office here at the U.S. Southern Command headquarters is making a big impact by identifying technical capabilities to support the mission, and lacking them, helping develop new ones.

Southcom stood up its Science, Technology and Experimentation program in 2002 to strengthen its support to Colombia's war on drugs and drug cartels. The problem, explained Juan Hurtado, the command's science advisor, was that existing capabilities, even in light of $1.3 billion in U.S. funding, weren't sufficient to meet Colombia's counterdrug operational challenges.

"As the money ... to support Plan Colombia came in, we realized that a broad spectrum of the capabilities we needed to support Colombia and other partner nations were not available," Hurtado told American Forces Press Service. Among the gaps, he said, were the tools to promote situational awareness and communication, particularly in deep jungles, and to share information.

All, he noted, are essential to both U.S. and interagency efforts and partner-nation counterdrug interdiction operations.

"So it wasn't about money. It was about having the right tool sets to do the job," Hurtado said. "Some capabilities didn't exist and you could not buy them."

Modeled on a similar program at U.S. Pacific Command, Southcom's Science, Technology and Experimentation office set out to find ways to get those technology-related capabilities. Its mission, Hurtado said, was "to find ways to do things better or do things cheaper."

That boils down to taking gaps and requirements as identified by U.S. forces and partner nations in the theater, converting them into technical requirements, then going out to the science and technology community for solutions.

DOD's own advanced technology arms -- the Office of the Secretary of Defense's Rapid Fielding Directorate; the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; the Army Research, Development and Engineering Command; the Office of Naval Research; and the Air Force Research Laboratory, among them -- typically get first shot at the proposals. "We work through the DOD technical community and bring back something cheaper, something that helps us do things more effectively or creates new capability," Hurtado said.

But increasingly, Southcom is broadening its net to include other advanced technology programs. For example, the command hosts an annual science, technology and experimentation conference that brings together the most innovative minds in the defense, interagency, industry, academic and international communities and encourages them to pursue projects to support recognized capability gaps.

The program has been highly successful, although Hurtado admits that most of its best achievements are classified and can't be divulged publicly.

He did, however, offer a sneak peek into some of the new technologies being developed, tested or put to use in the theater. These include:

-- New radars that enable U.S. and partner nations' militaries and law enforcement officials to increase situational awareness of activities in jungle environments. In the past, the heavy foliage found in the jungles provided the perfect camouflage for illicit trafficking activities and the infrastructure that supports them. The new radars have the potential to provide "information superiority" Hurtado said, ultimately reducing sanctuaries for bad actors to operate freely.

-- Robotics, communication devices and low-light cameras able to detect mines and improvised explosive devices. Among the places where this technology may be applied is Colombia, which Hurtado said faces a troubling IED problem.

-- The All Partners Access Network, which is designed to be as user-friendly as Facebook and enables regional partners to share information and collaborate as they deal with common threats.

-- New power-generation, communications and water-purification kits that forces can use to better support a broad spectrum of operations in isolated areas.

-- An intercoastal and riverine monitoring system able to differentiate between illicit trafficking and legal commerce transiting waterways that constitute major supply routes in much of the region. This system was tested last fall in Belize, with participation from the U.S. Navy, Colombian navy, Guatemalan foreign ministry and Mexican special forces.

-- Nano satellites that can be launched far less expensively than traditional satellites and provide dependable communications capability at a fraction of the cost. This initiative, being developed by Army Space and Missile Defense Command, is expected to be "transformational" for operational forces, Hurtado said.

As the Southcom staff continues to seek out technologies to support current missions, Hurtado said they're keeping a steady fix on the horizon as well.

"We are the team who looks out to the future with an eye on improving our capability and support to our partner nations by enabling advanced technologies -- not just for the near term, but 10 to 15 years out," he said.

U.S. SOUTHCOM PROMOTES HUMAN RIGHTS WITH REMINDER CARDS

Photo Credit:  Wikimedia.
FROM:  AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE
Southcom's Engagement Program Promotes Human Rights
By Donna Miles
MIAMI, June 1, 2012 - An active theater engagement program at U.S. Southern Command is making notable progress in promoting respect for human rights within regional militaries, the command's human rights coordinator reported.

"Throughout our entire area of responsibility, many nations in this region have had a history of human rights abuse in the past 20 or 30 years," Leana Bresnahan acknowledged in an interview with American Forces Press Service.

Bresnahan credited Southcom's human rights policy, the first for a U.S. combatant command when it was issued in 1990, and its standup five years later of the first COCOM human rights office, with helping reverse that course.

"This emphasis on human rights is something that is unique for a combatant command," said Army Maj. Gen. Gerald W. Ketchum, director of Southcom's theater engagement directorate. "But the reality is that it is integral to everything we do."

Southcom's human rights office represents an institutional statement of U.S. values and the command's commitment to maintaining a robust human rights program in the region, Bresnahan said.

"Human rights are part of our national values, our history, our traditions," she said. "The bottom line is -- it is what we do as a nation."

That principle underpins U.S. engagements with countries around the world, and is written into foreign security assistance laws. The so-called Leahy Law, for example, prohibits U.S. military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights with impunity.

"We are prohibited from providing security assistance or any other DOD-funded training to a unit of a foreign national military if there are credible allegations of gross human rights abuse unless there has been effective action to investigate and prosecute those human rights abuses," Bresnahan said.

That congressional mandate provides the carrot that has helped Southcom inculcate respect for human rights within the region, she noted.

Bresnahan said she's been encouraged, as the region has put decades of military dictatorship and conflict behind it and embraced democracy, at how open regional partners have been to the human rights message.

The American Convention on Human Rights, for example, established the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to protect and promote human rights, as well as the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to enforce these rights.

"The transformation has been amazingly positive, and the militaries serving in these countries today are receptive to the human rights message," Bresnahan said. "They know that human rights are an issue, and there is a great deal of awareness. They are aware of their responsibilities and open to assistance."

As part of its charter, Southcom's human rights office works with regional militaries to help them develop doctrine that encompasses human rights principles and training programs that introduce them to their forces. The staff also works with them to help strengthen their internal control systems and increase cooperation with civilian authorities.

These efforts are particularly important and relevant, Bresnahan said, in the few countries where the governments call on their militaries to help local police forces provide internal security.

Ketchum emphasized that the United States strives to be a facilitator, supporting partners in their efforts and promoting shared values. "We are not dictating what people should be doing," he said. "We provide forums and minimal resourcing that allows everyone to come together on this issue. We emphasize the importance of it and try to help where we can as they develop their own path for training, for integrating that into institutions, into how they develop their doctrine."

"And we have had some real success stories in providing support," he said.
The training focuses at every level, through classroom courses and field training exercise scenarios to senior-level military colleges and seminars.

The Western Hemisphere Institute of Security Cooperation at Fort Benning, Ga., integrates human rights into every course it provides to Latin American mid-level officers and noncommissioned officers every year, Bresnahan said.

Meanwhile, the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies in Washington is introducing more human rights into its strategic-level curricula for senior-level officers and civilians. In addition, the Defense Institute of International Legal Studies incorporates respect for human rights into training it provides at the schoolhouse in Newport, R.I., and around the region through its mobile education teams.

But equally important, Bresnahan said, is the troop-level training conducted predominantly by partner-nation military members themselves.

Often the U.S. military members' biggest contribution, she said, is the example they set. "The respect that partner nation militaries have for the U.S. military is tremendous," she said. "These guys in uniform are the best messengers you can get. It is very powerful."

Every member of Southcom's staff as well as service members traveling or operating in its area of responsibility are required take an online human rights course and carry a pocket-sized card describing the command's human rights policies. The reverse side covers the so-called "five Rs" of human rights: recognize, refrain, react, record and report.

"They need to recognize what a human rights violation is, refrain from committing a violation, react if they see one being committed by someone else, and if they can't prevent it, immediately record it and report it up their chain of command," Bresnahan said.

While acknowledging that some military members initially questioned why they were getting involved in human rights training, she said, "increasingly, our own military personnel are realizing the influence they can have on this issue."

U.S. State Department and other governmental as well as nongovernmental organizations share that assessment. "They recognize that our military people have a level of influence on other militaries that they might not have," Bresnahan said.

With recognized successes, Ketchum acknowledged that the mission isn't yet complete.
In some cases, Southcom can't support a partner nation because of its human rights record. "Some of our countries are challenged and we really want to help, but human rights remains an issue that is going to have to be discussed and overcome," he said.

Navy Vice Adm. Joseph D. Kernan, Southcom's deputy commander, said that's a challenge the command struggles with as it engages in the region. "Human rights are important, and countries that ask us at the leadership level to come in and work with them know we are going to advocate human rights," he said.
"And we often advocate strongly for providing support to a country that may have had a long past human rights issue," Kernan continued. "We remain very sensitive to human rights abuses, but our perspective in some cases is that we would like to work with willing partners and promote human rights through side-by-side engagement."

"This, as well, affords us the opportunity to build a more expansive partnership across a number of other common interest areas," he added.

Bresnahan emphasized the increasingly complex security challenges the region's military forces are being tasked to meet, and warned that promoting respect for human rights is a long-term effort. "One should never assume the war has been won," she said. "Like freedom itself, respect for human rights requires constant vigilance."

U.S. TOP BRASS SPEAKS ON TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME

The following excerpt is from a U.S. Department of Defense American Forces Press Service e-mail:

Dempsey Discusses Combatting Transnational Organized Crime

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

MIAMI, March 26, 2012 - Transnational organized crime is not specifically mentioned in the new defense strategy, but leaders understand the threat, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said at U.S. Southern Command today.

One of the main missions of the command is to deal with the threat posed by drug cartels, human traffickers and gunrunners -- what the command calls transnational organized crime. The command works with regional allies and with U.S. interagency partners to combat this transnational threat.

Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey spoke during a Southcom town hall meeting before leaving for a visit to regional allies. Before the town hall, he met with Air Force Gen. Douglas Fraser, Southcom's commander, and received briefings on the range and breadth of threats and opportunities in the region.

"I want to assure you that we recognize the threat that transnational organized crime presents, not just because of what they transport to our shores, but what they could also transport -- terrorists and weapons and weapons of mass destruction," the general said.

These crime organizations present many of the same problems that other threats in the world pose the United States. "They are networked, they are decentralized and they are syndicated," he said.

Crime organizations are using 21st century technologies to commit their crimes. They are able to exercise command and control over a wide area and adapt quickly. Dempsey noted that the semi-submersible drug-running craft that is used as a display at Southcom headquarters is just a thing of the past to cocaine traffickers. They now use true submarines that carry a small crew, and a large cargo of cocaine.

The crime networks are decentralized, the chairman said, and will not mass against the United States because they will lose. Rather than challenge the American military directly, they'll work in an asymmetric manner.

Finally, they are syndicated. This means they will ally themselves with other organized crime gangs, weak governments, rebel groups, or whoever suits their needs at the time.

To defeat them, the United States has to be quicker than they are, Dempsey noted. The United States must be a partner in a regional network, and the Defense Department must be a part of a network that includes all aspects of government. The military can clear an area, but if the government cannot hold it -- and bring jobs, education and health care benefits -- it will lose that area.