Warsight: "SOUTHCOM looks to acquire Special Mission Vessel ‘mothership’ for maritime operations"

 

 

"SOUTHCOM looks to acquire Special Mission Vessel ‘mothership’ for maritime operations"

 Wilder Alejandro Sanchez

Warsight

5 August 2026

Published: https://warsight.com/2026/08/06/southcom-plans-special-mission-vessel/

 

 US Southern Command has stepped up its efforts to acquire a new Special Mission Vessel that would essentially function as a mother ship for helicopters and unmanned systems involved in operations such as counter-illicit drug trafficking missions.

 

Warsight: "US Southern Command retrains for operations in the jungle"

 

 

"US Southern Command retrains for operations in the jungle"

Wilder Alejandro Sanchez

Warsight

5 August, 2026

Published: https://warsight.com/2026/08/05/southern-command-goes-back-into-the-jungle/

Over the past year-and-a-half the US military has increased its presence across Latin America and the Caribbean. While the US possesses the most powerful military in the world, Latin American and Caribbean armed forces have a skill that US troops will find useful to (re)learn: jungle warfare.

 

 

Janes: "Southern Command will operate Tsunamis USV and test autonomy systems"

 

 

 

"Southern Command will operate Tsunamis USV and test autonomy systems"

Alejandro Sanchez

Janes

15 May, 2026

Published: https://www.janes.com/defence-intelligence-insights/defence-news/defence/southern-command-will-operate-tsunamis-usv-and-test-autonomy-systems

Textron Systems announced, in a 30 April statement, that its Tsunami uncrewed surface vessels (USV) will be operated by US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) and its naval component, 4th Fleet, for three months. 

 

Warsight: "US SOUTHCOM establishes Autonomous Warfare Command"

 

 

 "US SOUTHCOM establishes Autonomous Warfare Command"

Wilder Alejandro Sanchez

Warsight

29 April, 2026

Published: https://warsight.com/2026/04/29/southcom-autonomous-warfare-command-est/

On 21 April 2026, US Southern Command announced the creation of its Autonomous Warfare Command (SAWC), a new entity tasked with deploying unmanned and autonomous systems across Latin America and the Caribbean. The move signals a deliberate shift in how the Pentagon plans to develop, test and deploy autonomous systems across Latin America and the Caribbean.

 

Zona Militar: "Air Forces Southern receives a promotion"

 

"Air Forces Southern receives a promotion"

Wilder Alejandro Sanchez

Zona Militar

31 October 2024

Originally published: https://www.zona-militar.com/en/2024/10/31/air-forces-southern-receives-a-promotion/

Air Forces Southern (AFSOUTH), the aerial component of US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), was elevated to Service Component Command on 11 September. During the ceremony at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, Major General David Mineau also became the AFSOUTH’s new commander.

"El componente aéreo del Comando Sur de EE.UU. es elevado al nivel de Comando de Componente de Servicio"

Wilder Alejandro Sanchez

Zona Militar

31 de Octubre 2024

Publicado: https://www.zona-militar.com/2024/10/31/el-componente-aereo-del-comando-sur-de-ee-uu-es-elevado-al-nivel-de-comando-de-componente-de-servicio/

La Fuerza Aérea del Sur (AFSOUTH), el componente aéreo del Comando Sur de los Estados Unidos (SOUTHCOM), fue elevado al nivel de Comando de Componente de Servicio el 11 de septiembre. Durante la ceremonia en la Base de la Fuerza Aérea Davis-Monthan, en Arizona, el General de División David Mineau también asumió el cargo de nuevo comandante de AFSOUTH.

 

 

 

CSIS: "Changing of the Guard: It’s Time for Washington to Strengthen SOUTHCOM"

 

 

"Changing of the Guard: It’s Time for Washington to Strengthen SOUTHCOM"

Wilder Alejandro Sanchez and Dr. Ryan Berg

Americas Program

Center for Strategic and International Studies

23 October, 2024

Published: https://www.csis.org/analysis/changing-guard-its-time-washington-strengthen-southcom

United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) will soon experience a changing of the guard. On November 7, U.S. Navy vice admiral Alvin Holsey will assume command of SOUTHCOM from Army general Laura Richardson. During her time at the helm of SOUTHCOM, General Richardson carried out several initiatives to strengthen relations with U.S. allies and partners throughout the Western Hemisphere.

With a new commander in Miami and a new administration coming in Washington, it is time for U.S. policymakers to (finally) provide SOUTHCOM with the assets it needs to fully perform its mission. With an area of responsibility encompassing 31 countries and 12 dependencies, the Caribbean Sea, and waters in the Eastern Pacific and South Atlantic down to Antarctica, SOUTHCOM has much to do with limited resources. The change of leadership and the elevation to Service Component Command in mid-September of the U.S. Air Force Southern (AFSOUTH), the air component of SOUTHCOM, should encourage the next administration to engage more actively with SOUTHCOM.

 

Breaking Defense: "Russian warships visit Cuba, sending a message to Washington: Analysts"

 

"Russian warships visit Cuba, sending a message to Washington: Analyst"

Wilder Alejandro Sanchez

Breaking Defense

14 June, 2024

Originally published: https://breakingdefense.com/2024/06/russian-warships-visit-cuba-sending-a-message-to-washington-analysts/

As fighting continues in Ukraine, experts told Breaking Defense there’s no danger of a Cuban Missile Crisis 2.0, but Russia still wants to project global reach.

Continue reading... 

Shephard News: "US supplies latest vessel to strengthen Caribbean and Central American security"

 

"US supplies latest vessel to strengthen Caribbean and Central American security"

Wilder Alejandro Sanchez

Naval Warfare

Shephard Media

29 May 2024

Originally published: https://www.shephardmedia.com/news/naval-warfare/us-supplies-latest-vessel-to-tighten-caribbean-and-central-american-security/

A US Navy Rear Admiral highlighted the importance of the US working closely with allies in its own backyard as Louisiana shipbuilder delivers latest patrol vessel to partner nation.

Continue reading... 

Shephard: "Haiti crisis forces Caribbean militaries to prepare for intervention"

 

"Haiti crisis forces Caribbean militaries to prepare for intervention"

Wilder Alejandro Sanchez

Defence Notes

Shephard Media

12 March, 2024

Originally published: https://www.shephardmedia.com/news/defence-notes/haiti-crisis-forces-caribbean-militaries-to-prepare-for-intervention/

As gangs gain control of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s Caribbean neighbours have been preparing to intervene in the failed state, with the US and other partners waiting in the wings with equipment and financial support.

Continue reading... 

Shephard Media: Ecuador turns to local shipyard and international suppliers for military platforms

 

 

"Ecuador turns to local shipyard and international suppliers for military platforms"

Wilder Alejandro Sanchez

Naval Warfare

Shephard Media

15 February 2024

Originally published: https://www.shephardmedia.com/news/naval-warfare/ecuador-turns-to-local-shipyard-and-international-suppliers-for-military-platforms/

As Ecuador attempts to combat so-called “terrorist networks”, the country has turned to the US and Turkey for equipment, while domestic construction and acquisition of new naval platforms has remained a slow process.

Continue reading... 

CIMSEC: The Vibrant Military (and Criminal) Activities Across the Caribbean Sea

 

"The Vibrant Military (and Criminal) Activities Across the Caribbean Sea"

Wilder Alejandro Sanchez

The Southern Tide

Center for International Maritime Security

15 February 2024

Originally published: https://cimsec.org/the-vibrant-military-and-criminal-activities-across-the-caribbean-sea/

While the Caribbean Sea is currently not as dangerous as the Black Sea or the Red Sea, from combating drug trafficking and illegal fishing to humanitarian assistance/disaster relief operations to a belligerent Nicolas Maduro regime in Venezuela, Caribbean naval forces have many daily missions and priorities. The United States, via US Southern Command and the US Coast Guard, and the armed forces of France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom – which have overseas territories across the Caribbean – are all present across Caribbean waters and are critical partners of regional defense forces.

This commentary briefly summarizes the joint military Caribbean exercises scheduled for 2024 and other recent high-level meetings to understand the concrete actions regional armed forces are carrying out to tackle the region’s threats and challenges.

Continue reading... 

CIMSEC: "Provide SOUTHCOM with Permanently Assigned Littoral Combat Ships"

 

"Provide SOUTHCOM with Permanently Assigned Littoral Combat Ships"

Wilder Alejandro Sanchez and Ryan Markey

The Southern Tide

Center for International Maritime Security

24 May, 2023

Originally published: https://cimsec.org/provide-southcom-with-permanently-assigned-littoral-combat-ships/

 The United States Navy has announced plans to decommission two Littoral Combat Ships (LCSs) in 2024. The Independence-variants USS Jackson (LCS 6) and USS Montgomery (LCS 8) will be decommissioned and then available for foreign military sale (FMS) for U.S. allies and partners around the world. At the same time, new LCSs continue to be constructed; the 16th and final Freedom-variant LCS, the future USS Cleveland (LCS 31), was launched in mid-April.

The LCS program has offered mixed results for the U.S. Navy. That said, the LCSs have proven valuable for U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) and its naval component, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. Fourth Fleet, for operations across the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. SOUTHCOM deserves permanently assigned LCSs to help make the most of these ships and to better fulfill the missions within the region.

 Continue reading... 

Geopolitical Monitor: Argentina: In the Eye of the Lithium Storm

 

"Argentina: In the Eye of the Lithium Storm"

Wilder Alejandro Sanchez

Situation Report

Geopolitical Monitor

24 April, 2023

Originally published: https://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/argentina-in-the-eye-of-the-lithium-storm/

Shephard Media: Asian-made fighters stay in the picture for Argentina

 

"Asian-made fighters stay in the picture for Argentina"

Wilder Alejandro Sanchez

Air Warfare

Shephard Media

3 June, 2022

Originally published: https://www.shephardmedia.com/news/air-warfare/asian-made-fighters-stay-in-the-picture-for-argentina/

Recent visits indicate that Argentina may procure Chinese or Indian aircraft to meet a new fixed-wing combat air requirement — although choosing the former could cause friction between Buenos Aires and Washington.

Officials from the Argentine MoD have met potential suppliers of 12 new combat aircraft for the country’s air force (FAA). While it is unclear when the MoD will move ahead with this acquisition programme to renew the FAA’s fixed-wing combat fleet, theories abound regarding the potential supplier.

Continue reading... 

CIMSEC: Exercise Tradewinds 2022: Mexico’s and Belize’s Time to Shine

 

"Exercise Tradewinds 2022: Mexico’s and Belize’s Time to Shine"

Wilder Alejandro Sanchez

The Southern Tide

Center for International Maritime Security

5 April, 2022

Originally published: https://cimsec.org/exercise-tradewinds-2022-mexicos-and-belizes-time-to-shine/

 

Written by Wilder Alejandro Sanchez, The Southern Tide addresses maritime security issues throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. It discusses the challenges regional navies face including limited defense budgets, inter-state tensions, and transnational crimes. It also examines how these challenges influence current and future defense strategies, platform acquisitions, and relations with global powers.

“Whether [working] against COVID, transnational criminal organizations, the predatory actions of China, the malign influence of Russia, or natural disasters, there’s nothing we cannot overcome or achieve through an integrated response with our interagency allies and partners.” – General Laura J. Richardson, Commander, U.S. Southern Command”  

Multinational exercise Tradewinds 2022, the Caribbean’s premier military exercise, will be co-hosted by Belize and Mexico and will take place on May 7-21, 2022. This is a great opportunity to promote greater interoperability among the two host nations, the United States, and Canada, as well as partners from the greater Caribbean.

 Continue reading...

CIMSEC: U.S. Southern Command Needs a Permanently-Assigned Hospital Ship

 

"U.S. Southern Command Needs a Permanently-Assigned Hospital Ship"

Wilder Alejandro Sanchez

The Southern Tide

Center for International Maritime Security

09 September 2021

Originally published: https://cimsec.org/u-s-southern-command-needs-a-permanently-assigned-hospital-ship/

 

Written by Wilder Alejandro Sanchez, The Southern Tide addresses maritime security issues throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. It discusses the challenges regional navies face including limited defense budgets, inter-state tensions, and transnational crimes. It also examines how these challenges influence current and future defense strategies, platform acquisitions, and relations with global powers.

“We focus on partnerships…Our partners want to work with us. They want the advantage of the United States education, training, exercises and military equipment. It’s the best in the world. And so it’s up to us to deliver that in a way that’s relevant and also provides a return on investment for American taxpayer. So that is our focus.” –Navy Adm. Craig S. Faller, commander of U.S. Southern Command, before the Senate Armed Services Committee July 9, 2019.

By Wilder Alejandro Sánchez

The variety of extreme natural disasters that annually hit U.S. Southern Command’s (SOUTHCOM) area of responsibilities, exacerbated by climate change, demonstrates the Command’s need for a permanently-assigned hospital vessel. While the Command can obtain assets if needed in case of a crisis, like the current deployment of the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Arlington (LPD-24), among other naval units, to Haiti after the deadly earthquake on August 14, there are benefits to having a permanently-assigned hospital vessel.

Continue reading...

Quote: US Aims to Expand Military Partnerships in South America

"US Aims to Expand Military Partnerships in South America"
By: Oriana Pawlyk
DOD Buzz
Military.com

2 January 2019
Originally published: https://www.military.com/dodbuzz/2019/01/02/us-aims-expand-military-partnerships-south-america.html 


U.S. officials have expressed concern in recent months that growing influence in the southern hemisphere from countries such as Russia and China may sideline regional stability. As a result, they are aiming to broaden military partnerships and alliances.

Before his departure Dec. 31, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis signaled the need to expand relationships with several nations in South America, becoming the first defense secretary since Chuck Hagel in 2014 to visit the region last August. (Ash Carter traveled to the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago for the 12th Conference of the Defense Ministers of the Americas in 2016, a meeting that focused on increased cooperation during natural disasters.)

During his trip to Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Colombia, Mattis said the U.S. is "looking to expand partnerships where it's mutually beneficial."

"We see Latin America as our neighbor. Some people say we don't pay much attention to it. That is certainly not the case in the military," he said at the time.
But with Mattis gone, will the Pentagon still make an effort to keep Latin American countries close? One expert recommends focusing on exercises conducted by the services in cooperation with other nations and their armed forces to monitor results.

"While we don't see major exercises a la U.S.-NATO, there are many initiatives that do take place," said W. Alejandro Sanchez, a contributor to the Center for International Maritime Security, specializing in Latin American and Caribbean national security issues.

"The U.S. enjoys generally pleasant and friendly relations -- diplomatic, trade, tourism, defense -- with most Latin American and Caribbean states, with the few exceptions," said Sanchez, who also is a member of the Forum on the Arms Trade.

For example, on the defense side, U.S. National Guard partnerships with Latin American states have been a success, as well as the flourishing Air Force exercises held with them, he said.

The Air Force participated in the 20th Air and Space Fair in Santiago, Chile, last April, a biennial international air show that is the largest in Latin America, said Maj. Joost Verduyn, spokesman for Air Forces Southern Command.

According to Verduyn, the F-22 Raptor demo team and the Air Force Academy's Wings of Blue parachute team performed during the show, while two F-35 Lightning IIs, a B-52 Stratofortress, a KC-10 Extender, a KC-135 Stratotanker, a C-17 Globemaster III and a C-130 Hercules were flown in as static displays.
"This marked the first time an F-35 landed in Latin America with the F-35s, F-22s and a Chilean F-16 conducting a formation flight while arriving to the air show," Verduyn said in a recent email.

Here are a few more examples of U.S. participation in the region:

• In July, the Colombian Air Force participated in Red Flag 18-3, the U.S. Air Force's premier air-to-air combat training exercise, with six IAI Kfir fighter jets and their 767 Multi-Mission Tanker Transport Jupiter aircraft, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. The 767 MMTT Jupiter refueled U.S. Navy EA-18 Growlers during the exercise, marking the first time the aircraft had refueled U.S. aircraft.
• Also in July, a three-month training and humanitarian exercise called New Horizons wrapped up in Meteti, Panama. The U.S. Air Force led a joint team conducting engineering and medical training in Panama. Medical teams saw more than 7,200 patients and conducted 315 eye and ear surgeries.
• Twelve partner nations' air force members went to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, to participate in the U.S. Southern Command exercise PANAMAX in August. The annual exercise focuses on building interoperability between countries, enabling quick response to emerging situations.
• An Air Force C-130 and C-17 participated in "Angel de los Andes," a Colombian-hosted international search-and-rescue exercise in September 2018. The two aircraft, along with 90 U.S. airmen, traveled to Colombia to participate in the exercise alongside airmen from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Panama, Peru and Uruguay. The exercise focused on responding to natural disaster scenarios, as well as practicing search-and-rescue techniques.
• F-16 Fighting Falcons and a KC-135 Stratotanker participated in CRUZEX, a Brazilian-hosted air-to-air combat exercise in November. Roughly 130 U.S. airmen went to Brazil to participate in the exercise and worked alongside airmen from Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, Peru, Portugal and Uruguay.

"Nearly every week of the year, the 12th Air Force (Air Forces Southern) and the U.S. Air Force are conducting smaller subject matter expert exchanges across Central and South America and the Caribbean," Verduyn said of the efforts.
Also in 2018, the Pentagon sent the hospital ship USNS Comfort to Colombia's northwestern port city of Turbo to aid Venezuelan refugees who had fled political turmoil and economic hardship. Roughly one million refugees have migrated to Colombia in the onset of the crisis, which began in 2010.

The number of exercises may not have grown from year to year, but the number of countries and service members participating in them is on the rise, Verduyn said.

"What has been increasing is the participation in these exercises," he said. "The air show in Chile earlier [last] year was highlighted by the F-35, and the U.S. Air Force sent more aircraft to participate in the show than it had before. U.S. and partner nation participation in exercises in South America also continue to grow."

But if the U.S. military truly wants to expand its reach in South America to garner influence before its adversaries accomplish their goals, it should bolster its funding toward the Southern Command region, argued Sanchez.

"Over the years that I've followed Southern Command, various posture statements acknowledge that SOUTHCOM is the lowest priority command," he said.

Navy Adm. Kurt Tidd, who recently relinquished command of U.S. Southern Command to Adm. Craig Faller, put it bluntly in a posture statement before Congress in 2016, Sanchez said.

"Because no nation in the region poses a direct, conventional military threat to the United States, Latin America tends to rank fairly low on force allocation priorities," Sanchez said, quoting Tidd.

While Mattis gave additional visibility to Southern Command during his tenure, "there was no visible increase to SOUTHCOM's budget or assets," Sanchez added.

"The Navy didn't [even] give them those decommissioned frigates as they requested to combat drug trafficking in the Caribbean," he said. "So while the departure of Mattis is important, his tenure did not really change US-SOUTHCOM-Latin American-Caribbean relations.

"If I ever hear the next SecDef openly lobbying for a greater budget or allocation of assets to SOUTHCOM, then I will say that things are changing," Sanchez said.

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.

 

CIMSEC: USNS Comfort’s Latest Humanitarian Mission Throughout Latin America

"USNS Comfort’s Latest Humanitarian Mission Throughout Latin America"
Wilder Alejandro Sanchez
The Southern Tide
Center for International Maritime Security
17 December 2018
Originally published: http://cimsec.org/usns-comforts-latest-humanitarian-mission-throughout-latin-america/39234

The Southern Tide
Written by W. Alejandro Sanchez, The Southern Tide addresses maritime security issues throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. It discusses the challenges regional navies face including limited defense budgets, inter-state tensions, and transnational crimes. It also examines how these challenges influence current and future defense strategies, platform acquisitions, and relations with global powers.

“My plain and simple message to our friends in the region is ‘the United States is a reliable and trustworthy security partner….Latin America and the Caribbean are not our backyard. It’s our shared neighborhood… And like the neighborhood … where I grew up, good neighbors respect each other’s sovereignty, treat each other as equal partners with respect, and commit to a strong neighborhood watch.”  –Vice Admiral Craig Faller, USN,  before the Senate Armed Forces Committee, Sep. 25, 2018. 

By W. Alejandro Sanchez

Introduction
USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) has finished another deployment to the Western Hemisphere as part of the Enduring Promise initiative. The U.S. hospital ship’s latest tour took it to Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, and Peru where it provided free medical assistance to thousands of individuals in need. This is an example of medical diplomacy at work and a great initiative to improve U.S.-Latin American relations at a time when more cohesion among governments in the Western Hemisphere is needed.

Current Deployment
Comfort is a large vessel, with a length of 894 feet and a beam of 105 feet, the same as its sister ship, USNS Mercy (T-AH-19) – the two are converted San Clemente-class super tankers. According to the U.S. Navy, each platform “contain[s] 12 fully-equipped operating rooms, a 1,000 bed hospital facility, digital radiological services, a medical laboratory, a pharmacy, an optometry lab, a CAT-scan and two oxygen producing plants,” along with helicopter decks. Hence, the vessel is able to provide for vast numbers of patients simultaneously with different services. The vessel’s most recent tour, the sixth time that it has been deployed to the region, lasted 11 weeks.

Comfort was well-received by the local populations. For example, the vessel was in the city of Esmeraldas, Ecuador, from 22-26 October. According to the Ecuadorian Ministry of Defense the medical staff attended between 500-750 per day, while a Southern Command press release stated that “Comfort has treated more than 4,000 patients, including nearly 2,500 medical patients, 1,100 optometry patients, 450 dental patients, and performed 81 surgeries.” An Ecuadorian ministry press release explained “The arrival of the vessel is part of the strengthening of defense relations between Ecuador and the USA.”
Comfort then traveled to Paita, in northern Peru, where it treated over 5,000 patients, according to the Peruvian government. The U.S. hospital ship also donated wheelchairs and medical supplies. The Peruvian government noted that this is the third time that Comfort has visited Peru, in 2011 it provided medical assistance to 7,352 patients, and in 2007, it aided 9,223 Peruvian citizens.

The vessel’s stops in Colombia and Honduras had similarly positive results. In Colombia, the U.S. hospital ship docked in Turbo (Antioquia) and then Riohacha (La Guajira), with the local government estimating that some 7,400 patients were treated by Comfort’s medical staff. As a final point, it is worth noting that the citizens of these nations were not the only ones to receive treatment aboard Comfort. Case in point, while in Colombia medical personnel also helped Venezuelan migrants who have settled in Riohacha as they flee the political and socio-economic crisis in their homeland.

Discussion 
Enduring Promise is an example of a medical diplomacy initiative that helps promote a positive image of the U.S. In this case, the people that were helped by Comfort, along with their families and other loved ones, will likely now have a more positive view of the U.S. and its military due to the free and professional medical services they received. An indigenous person from the Wayuu ethnic community in Colombia described Comfort’s visit as a “blessing from God” as it helped vulnerable communities, peasants, and Venezuelan migrants, according to Colombia’s daily El Nacional. Even more, governments also get a load taken off their shoulders, as Comfort provided services that local medical services could not offer, or were too financially costly for families to afford. For the U.S. and its partners, this was a win-win situation.

One important fact to mention is that Comfort visited Ecuador. A few years ago, when former President Rafael Correa was in power, this trip would have been unthinkable, as the former South American leader was known for his anti-U.S. sentiments. He famously expelled the U.S. military from its base in Manta, in 2009, and he was a close ally of the late-Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.
Nevertheless, President Lenin Moreno has carried out a complete turnaround to Ecuador’s foreign policy by rapproaching the U.S. In recent months, the Ecuadorian Esmeraldas-class corvette BAE Los Ríos (CM 13) participated in the U.S.-sponsored UNITAS multinational exercise in Colombia, personnel from the U.S. Naval Small Craft Instruction and Technical Training School visited the South American country, and Defense Minister Oswaldo Jarrin has visited the headquarters of U.S. Southern Command. Comfort’s visit, thus, is the proverbial cherry on top of the cake of improving bilateral relations.

As for Honduras, the visit is likewise significant as a caravan of Central American migrants, mostly Hondurans, is attempting to enter the U.S. as they escape poverty and violence in their homeland. Comfort’s visit to the Central American state is an example of SOUTHCOM and the U.S. Navy providing humanitarian aid to Hondurans in need, irrespective of the rhetoric coming out of Washington lately. Hence, it is refreshing to read SOUTHCOM’s 25 October communique, which explains that “the embarked medical team will provide care on board and at land-based medical sites, helping to relieve pressure on national medical systems caused partly by an increase in cross-border migrants. The deployment reflects the United States’ enduring promise of friendship, partnership and solidarity with the Americas.”

China’s Peace Ark 
As a caveat to this analysis, it is necessary to mention China’s hospital ship, Peace Ark. In a previous CIMSEC commentary, “The Significance of U.S. and Chinese Hospital Ship Deployments to Latin America,” the author discussed how both Washington and Beijing utilize their hospital vessels as diplomatic tools in order to improve their image in countries that said ships visit during their humanitarian tours. As it turns out, both ships would be deployed simultaneously to the Western Hemisphere. While Comfort visited the aforementioned nations, Peace Ark visited Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, and Venezuela. Even more, on 15 November the Ecuadorian Ministry of Defense announced that the vessel had docked in Guayaquil to provide medical assistance to as many as 3,200 patients.

While governments are free to decide which vessels from foreign powers can enter their ports, it is impossible to avoid the irony that the hospital vessels of two nations that continue to be at odds with each other, from trade wars to incidents in Asian waters, are back-to-back welcomed in the territory of third-party states. As a result, Ecuadorians living in the Esmeraldas and Guayaquil regions enjoyed free medical services from two rival powers, while Quito maintains good relations with both nations.

Final Thoughts 
Medical diplomacy is an effective way to improve bilateral ties between the U.S. and its Latin American allies. Comfort’s visit to four Latin American nations, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, and Peru will improve the U.S. image at the grassroot level, as the citizens of these nations that received free and professional medical service will know that, irrespective of the current rhetoric coming out of Washington, U.S. medical personnel are still there to help those in need.

Wilder Alejandro Sanchez is a researcher who focuses on geopolitical, military and cyber security issues in the Western Hemisphere. Follow him on Twitter: @W_Alex_Sanchez.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect those of any institutions with which the author is associated.

CIMSEC: Tropical Currents: SOUTHCOM’s 2018 Posture Statement

"Tropical Currents: SOUTHCOM’s 2018 Posture Statement"
W. Alejandro Sanchez
"The Southern Tide"
Center for International Maritime Security
21 March, 2018
Originally published: http://cimsec.org/tropical-currents-southcoms-2018-posture-statement/35714


The Southern Tide

Written by W. Alejandro Sanchez, The Southern Tide addresses maritime security issues throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. It discusses the challenges regional navies face including limited defense budgets, inter-state tensions, and transnational crimes. It also examines how these challenges influence current and future defense strategies, platform acquisitions, and relations with global powers.

“The security environment in Latin America and the Caribbean is characterized by complex, diverse, and non-traditional challenges to U.S. interests.” Admiral Kurt W. Tidd, Commander, U.S. Southern Command, before the 114^th Congress Senate Armed Services Committee, 10 March 2016.

By W. Alejandro Sanchez

U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), which oversees most of Latin America and the Caribbean, has released its 2018 Posture Statement as its commander, Admiral Kurt W. Tidd, testified before the Senate Armed Forces Committee of the 115^th U.S. Congress on 15 February. In this commentary, we will discuss some of the major points brought up by the Statement regarding maritime security issues in the Western Hemisphere.

SOUTHCOM as a Low Priority

• “… the combined impacts of defense spending caps, nine years of continuing resolutions, and insufficient spending in the diplomacy and development arenas make it increasingly difficult to sustain this regional network. Because our global security responsibilities outpace the resources available to meet them, we have had to make a series of tough choices, resulting in compounding second and third order effects. The net result is the perception among our friends—and the palpable anticipation among our competitors—that we no longer stand by our commitments, that we are relinquishing our strategic position, and that we don’t take the challenges in this region seriously.” –Admiral Kurt Tidd

Past Posture Statements have, in very straightforward manners, declared that SOUTHCOM is the lowest priority of the Combatant Commands (COCOMs) (see the 2015 Posture Statement), thus it receives limited resources. Part of the reason for this situation is that most Latin American and Caribbean nations that fall under SOUTHCOM’s area of responsibility have close and cordial diplomatic relations with the U.S. Moreover, the countries that are at odds with Washington do not pose a traditional military threat to U.S. national security.
In other words, since most governments have good relations with Washington, and the few countries that do not are not going attack the U.S. anytime soon (if ever at all), then there is little reason to assign significant numbers of assets and platforms to SOUTHCOM. Thus, the concern is that, regional allies may interpret this situation as Washington no longer being interested in supporting their own security problems, which include transnational challenges like drug trafficking. SOUTHCOM’s lack of naval platforms is an example of this situation and potential perception.

It will be interesting to see if the Fiscal 2019 defense budget proposed by the Trump administration, which requests USD$686.1 billion, will trickle down to SOUTHCOM, though this seems unlikely given other U.S. military operations elsewhere on the globe. Nevertheless, a 12 December, 2017 story in the Navy Times reports that SOUTHCOM will receive “Littoral Combat Ship and Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport vessels,” which will be of great help for counter-narcotics and assistance operations.
The USCG

• “I’d like to go on record to express my strong support for the U.S. Coast Guard’s efforts to recapitalize its fleet, especially its medium endurance cutters, which directly support JIATF South-led interdiction operations. As I have stated repeatedly, without U.S. Coast Guard cutters, USSOUTHCOM would have virtually no afloat maritime forces.” –Admiral Kurt Tidd

SOUTHCOM’s naval component, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/Fourth Fleet, relies on platforms that are temporarily assigned. For example, aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN-73) participated in the 2015 UNITAS exercises, while USS Somerset (LPD 25), USS Chafee (DDG 90) and USCGC Escanaba (WMEC 907) participated in 2017 UNITAS. SOUTHCOM does occasionally get assigned surface platforms, especially Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates prior to their decommissioning, which are deployed to patrol Caribbean waters to combat maritime crimes, particularly drug trafficking, as well as the hospital ship USNS Comfort.

With that said, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) is arguably the cornerstone enabler of SOUTHCOM maritime operations, particularly as employed by Joint Inter Agency Task Force South (JIATF-S) in the Greater Caribbean region. Indeed, there is a regular stream of reports about drug smuggling vessels being successfully interdicted by USCG platforms, like USCGC Tahoma (WMEC 908), which successfully interdicted over 1,800 kilograms of cocaine during a two-month tour in 2017. USCG platforms have also carried out humanitarian assistance in the Caribbean region, including, interestingly, in Nicaragua – via USCGC Northland (WMEC-904) in early 2018.

The LCS and SOUTHCOM

• “I’d also like to express my unqualified support for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), which we can leverage for multiple mission sets, including D&M, SOF support, partner nation capacity building, and potentially HA/DR response and medical engagements…My view is that the sooner we can deploy these ships in theater, the greater the impact we can have on interdicting the flow of illicit drugs into our country.”–Admiral Kurt Tidd

Admiral Tidd’s support for the LCS program is not surprising since, as previously mentioned, a number of them will hopefully be deployed to SOUTHCOM this year to help combat maritime crimes. The US Navy has reportedly decided not to re-activate its Perry-class frigates to support SOUTHCOM operations, thus all eyes are on the LCS and the Spearhead-class vessels for these operations.

Medical Diplomacy and HA/DR

• “From a goodwill and engagement perspective, operational funding for the Navy’s hospital ship COMFORT has been a proven game-changer for USSOUTHCOM. We ask for the COMFORT every other year, but the Navy has been unable to source its employment due to the ship’s maintenance challenges.”
• “We are working to transition future iterations of UNITAS from a traditional scripted exercise to an actual humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HA/DR) capable force that can exercise at sea against real world, unscripted missions.” –Admiral Kurt Tidd

As previously mentioned, USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) has participated in several HA/DR operations in the Western Hemisphere in recent years. As the author explains in a 16 January commentary for CIMSEC, “Comfort was deployed to Puerto Rico to assist those in need after Hurricane Maria hit the island. The vessel also traveled to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake to assist with the relief and support efforts as part of Operation Unified Response.” The platform has also operated in initiatives like Partnership for the Americas and Operation Continuing Promise.

It could be argued that Comfort should be permanently assigned to Fourth Fleet so that it could be deployed more regularly to the region, but logistics, the ship’s age, and the fact that there is only one other hospital ship in the fleet, USNS Mercy (T-AH-19), make this highly unlikely.

It is worth noting that after Hurricane Matthew hit Haiti in 2016, Comfort was not deployed to the Caribbean island, but rather USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) and USS Mesa Verde (LPD-19), which provided humanitarian relief. Given recurring natural disasters, the general lack of inter-state warfare (maritime or not) in the region, and not being able to deploy the Comfort with much regularity, it makes sense that future multinational naval exercises, such as UNITAS, focus on disaster response so that regional countries can also provide relief services quickly when the next disaster occurs.
China and Russia

• “China, Russia, and Iran are courting some of our most strategically important Latin American and Caribbean partners and supporting authoritarian, anti-American regimes.”
• “Expanded port and logistics access in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela provide Russia with persistent, pernicious presence, including more frequent maritime intelligence collection and visible force projection in the Western Hemisphere.”
  
• “China’s commercial and diplomatic advances move it closer to its larger strategic goal of reshaping global economic and governance architectures… Increased reach to key global access points like Panama create commercial and security vulnerabilities for the United States…”–Admiral Kurt Tidd

China and Russia’s presence in Latin American and Caribbean waters is quite limited. The most significant deployment, in terms of numbers, occurred in 2008, when a small Russian fleet traveled to Caribbean waters to carry out military exercises with Venezuela – some of the vessels included “nuclear-powered Peter the Great cruiser and anti-submarine warship Admiral Chebanenko.” Nevertheless there have been some recent incidents, like in 2017, when intelligence ship Viktor Leonov docked in Havana, Cuba, and also traversed international waters off the East Coast of the U.S.

Meanwhile, China is known in the region for the 2011 and 2015 deployment of its hospital ship Peace Ark (866 Daishan Dao), a Type 920 hospital vessel. There have also been sporadic visits of Chinese warships to the region, like the 2013 visit to Argentina, Brazil and Chile of destroyer Lanzhou, frigate Liuzhou and supply ship Boyanghu.

It is conceivable that, in a more challenging scenario, Chinese warships could be invited by Latin American and Caribbean states to participate in naval exercises in the region, particularly as most of them have diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China, not the Republic of China (ROC/Taiwan). The Posture Statement’s reference to the Panama Canal is likely tied to the fact that the government of Panama switched from having relations with Taiwan to China in 2017.

Maritime Crime

• “Criminal networks move drugs and engage in a wide array of illegal activity, including weapons trafficking, chemical importation, poppy and coca cultivation, fentanyl smuggling, and illegal mining.”
• “Naval Special Operations Forces in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Panama are now among the most competent and responsive counternarcotic (CN) units in Central America, integrating with air assets, effectively responding to JIATF South “cues,” and executing numerous joint and individual interdiction operations”
  
• “We also supported our partners in the Dominican Republic to improve maritime interdiction in the Caribbean through the establishment of a Joint Task Force that combined SOF-trained CN units with Dominican naval aircraft.”
• “We see great opportunity to build on the multinational cooperation that characterizes these international interdiction efforts, especially the successful inter-institutional coordination of last year’s Operation KRAKEN, in which the United States, Colombia, Panama, and Costa Rica targeted illicit maritime pathways in the Central American littorals.”–Admiral Kurt Tidd

Over the past year, U.S. platforms, whether from the Navy or Coast Guard, have successfully interdicted several vessels in Caribbean waters carrying narcotics. Additionally, U.S. allies in Central America and the Caribbean are modernizing and expanding their naval forces. Fortunately, they have also enjoyed successes, for example the naval force of El Salvador’s seizure of over 700kg of cocaine aboard a suspicious vessel in January 2018.

Certainly, and tragically, these accomplishments are only slowing down the flow of drugs from south to north, as production continues in the former and there is still a market for drugs in the latter. The successes of SOUTHCOM and its regional allies against drug trafficking must go hand-in-hand with more comprehensive strategies to address this problem.
Final Thoughts

• “We seek to mobilize and organize the unique strengths of each of our partners and Allies, to expand information sharing and collaboration, and to align security, development, and capacity building activities that allow us to translate short-term successes into long-term gains, sustained by an adaptive and inclusive regional security network.”–Admiral Kurt Tidd

In spite of being the lowest priority COCOM, SOUTHCOM has achieved various successes in maritime security in recent years, including a plethora of successful interdictions of suspicious vessels that were transporting contraband, particularly drugs. Humanitarian missions via USNS Comfort and other vessels are also a great achievement toward strengthening relations with regional states and exercising soft power.

SOUTHCOM benefits from the fact that most Latin American and Caribbean nations have cordial relations with the U.S. and would actually welcome greater U.S. defense assistance. Obviously, SOUTHCOM cannot do everything itself, hence it is important for it to promote the professionalism and modernization of the naval forces of partner nations. (While this commentary has focused on SOUTHCOM’s operations, other branches of the U.S. government, namely the State Department, should continue to work together with this COCOM to promote U.S. national interests in a region full of U.S. partners.)

SOUTHCOM’s 2018 Posture Statement demonstrates that while the U.S. continues to enjoy a network of allies in the Western Hemisphere, there are plenty of clear and present dangers and concerns that warrant greater support from Washington for this region.

W. Alejandro Sanchez is a researcher who focuses on geopolitical, military, and cyber security issues in the Western Hemisphere. Follow him on Twitter: @W_Alex_Sanchez.
The views presented in this essay are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of any institutions with which the author is associated.

CIMSEC: OPINION: THE USES OF THE U.S. NAVY’S FOURTH FLEET

"The Uses of the U.S. Navy's Fourth Fleet"
W. Alejandro Sanchez
Opinion
Center for International Maritime Security
March 21, 2016
Originally published: http://cimsec.org/opinion-uses-u-s-navys-fourth-flee/23415

On March 10 Admiral Kurt Tidd, the new commander of Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee and presented his posture statement. In his analysis of Western Hemisphere geopolitics and security issues, he acknowledged that he does not possess sufficient vessels to carry out SOUTHCOM’s multiple maritime operations. This statement serves as an ideal point of departure for one of SOUTHCOM’s arguably least well-known agencies, the U.S. Fourth Fleet(FOURTHFLT).

A (Very) Brief History

The history of the Fourth Fleet is actually fairly brief. It was created in 1943 and tasked with protecting the South Atlantic Ocean from Axis warships and submarines. Nazi German vessels had a fairly constant presence in that area, best exemplified by the Admiral Graf Spee incident in 1939. The FOURTHFLT existed for a short period after the war ended as it was dissolved in 1950 and its area of operations was inherited by the Second Fleet.

In 2008, then-President George W. Bush reactivated the Fourth Fleet. It was officially reestablished on July 12 and its headquarters is shared with U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command (USNAVSO). The commander of USNAVSO (COMUSNAVSO) is also the commander of the Fourth Fleet; currently that officer is Rear Admiral George Ballance.

It is important to note that the current SOUTHCOM commander is no stranger to the Fourth Fleet since then-Rear Admiral Tidd was the COMUSNAVSO/FOURTHFLT commander from 2011 to 2012. He first relieved Rear Admiral Vic Guillory and was subsequently relieved by Rear Admiral Sinclair Harris a year later. “The mission executed day in and day out by the men and women of the NAVSO/4th Fleet team is important; we are operating on the seas and in the littorals throughout the region every day, building and strengthening partnerships with nations who share a common heritage and a common sense of purpose with us,” Admiral Tidd said during the 2012 change of command ceremony. Admiral Tidd would return to SOUTHCOM this past January 14, when he became its newest commander.

The Fourth Fleet’s reestablishment must be placed in the proper geopolitical context. In 2008, the hemisphere was sprinkled with several Latin American governments that held anti-U.S. sentiments. Then-President Hugo Chavez spent billions of Venezuelan petro-dollars to modernize his country’s military by purchasing equipment from Russia and China, while critiquing “el imperio.” The governments in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Nicaragua had a similar ideology, while the Lula government in Brazil and the Kirchners in Argentina were neutral at best, if not occasional critics of Washington’s historical hegemony in the region. Moreover, in 2008 Russian warships visited the Caribbean, carrying out exercises with the Venezuelan Navy.

In other words, in 2008 there was a geopolitical logic for reestablishing the Fourth Fleet. This was a highly-visible method for Washington to remind the world that it remained the sole military power in the Western Hemisphere.

Current Activities

The Fourth Fleet/COMUSNAVSO’s website summarizes its activities:

No vessels or aircrafts will be permanently assigned to U.S. Fourth Fleet as part of the re-establishment. U.S. Fourth Fleet is an organizational fleet staffed to fulfill a planning and coordination mission. U.S. Fourth Fleet is focused on strengthening friendships and partnerships and will have five missions: support for peacekeeping, Humanitarian Assistance, Disaster Relief, traditional maritime exercises, and counterdrug support operations.

Even though it has no permanently assigned vessels, the ships it oversees have helped the FOURTHFLT have an ongoing presence in Latin American and Caribbean waters. A major initiative occurred in late 2015 when the carrier USS George Washingtonand its support vessels (i.e. the USS Bighorn, USS Guadalupe, among others), took part in the Southern Seas 2015 deployment. This included their participation in the multinational UNITAS 2015 exercises as well as making port calls in Brazil, Chile, and Peru. The previous year, the USS America took a tour of the Western Hemisphere during which it docked in Colombia, Brazil, Chile, and Peru.

As impressive as the carrier George Washington is, it is the USNS Comfort which arguably has the most continuous presence in the region. The U.S. Navy’s hospital vessel regularly travels throughout the Caribbean and Central America to provide humanitarian support. From April to September of last year, the vessel took in part in Continuing Promise 2015, in which the Comfort visited a total of 11 countries, from Guatemala to Dominica, carrying out procedures like general surgery, ophthalmologic surgery, veterinary services and public health training. This was the Comfort’s fourth trip as part of the Continuing Promise initiative. According to SOUTHCOM, the vessel previously participated in the mission’s 2007, 2009 and 2011 incarnations.

Finally, various U.S. Navy warships regularly patrol the Caribbean Sea in order to help partner nations combat illicit trafficking. In the interest of brevity we will provide only a couple of examples. In 2014, the USS Vandegrift, in a joint operation with the U.S. Coast Guard, successfully stopped a suspicious vessel off the coast of Central America. Upon boarding the vessel, security personnel found almost two thousand pounds of cocaine. More recently, in January 2015, the USS Gary and the U.S. Coast Guard successfully seized more than 1644 kilograms of cocaine from a “go fast” vessel. These two operations were part of Operation Martillo.

As for the Fourth Fleet’s upcoming operations, in an interview with the author, a USNAVSO/FOURTHFLT spokesperson explained that it “will conduct Southern Partnership Station 2016 with USNS Spearhead (JHSV-1) and multinational exercises UNITAS and PANAMAX 2016. We are also supporting a bilateral exercise with Peru, Silent Forces Exercise, and Integrated Advance with SOUTHCOM, this year being a mass migration exercise.” Additionally, ships like the USS Lassen and USS Shamal will participate in Operation Martillo.

The aforementioned examples demonstrate how the FOURFLT has an active presence in Latin American and Caribbean waters, and has successfully partnered with friendly nations to jointly crack down on transnational maritime crimes.  

Does the Navy Need The FOURTHFLT?

The intention of this commentary is not to criticize U.S. naval operations in Latin America and the Caribbean. Rather, the goal here is to understand how the FOURTHFLT has helped SOUTHCOM.

On February 12, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) organized an on-the-record event entitled “A Navy in Balance? A Conversation with Admiral John Richardson, Chief of Naval Operations.”During the Question & Answer section, this author asked Admiral Richardson whether the Fourth Fleet is necessary, given that it only seems to have the USNS Comfort on a quasi-regular basis while it rotates its other vessels instead of having any permanently deployed to it. The Admiral responded that the Fourth Fleet is “very important” and mentioned the aforementioned USS George Washington deployment and the success of security operations in the Caribbean. “The productivity of that fleet continues to show its value,” the Admiral declared.

The uses of the Fourth Fleet can be divided in three arguments:

1. This author asked the aforementioned FOURTHFLT spokesperson how its reestablishment has helped SOUTHCOM, particularly from an administrative and logistical point of view. The response was that by being “dual-hatted” and reporting to both the CNO and SOUTHCOM, “we are able to represent multiple operations and opportunities for our partner nations in the Navy specific chain of command as well as the Combatant Command chain of command. The establishment of Fourth Fleet elevated us from an echelon 3 command to echelon 2.” Moreover, the reestablishment of the FOURTHFLT has allowed the training of a Maritime Operations Center Staff “to include the USNAVSO Fleet Command Center that planned and executed Lines of Operations in support of USSOUTHCOMs Theater Campaign Plan.”

Indeed, having a Fourth Fleet has also provided a command chain that allows SOUTHCOM to deal with major operations. As the FOURTHFLT spokesperson explains, “a key event was our response to the earthquake in Haiti in January 2010 where 4th Fleet served as the Navy Component Commander during Operation Unified Response, the Navy’s largest ever Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief (HA/DR) contingency response. The response consisted of 17 ships, 89 aircraft, and over 15,000 Sailors and Marines assigned to Commander, Task Force Forty, and the Joint Force Maritime Component Commander in support of Joint Task Force Haiti.”

2. Another issue is whether the Fourth Fleet has brought any clear budget or equipment-related advantages to SOUTHCOM. In 2014, six years after the Fourth Fleet was reinstated, then-SOUTHCOM commander General John Kelly declared in his posture statement to the House Armed Services Committee that, “as the lowest priority Geographic Combatant Command, U.S. Southern Command will likely receive little, if any, ‘trickle down’ of restored funding. Ultimately, the cumulative impact of our reduced engagement will be measured in terms of U.S. influence, leadership, and relationships in the Western Hemisphere.”The former commander indirectly talked about the Fourth Fleet, stating that “insufficient maritime surface vessels and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance platforms impair our primary mission to detect threats and defend the southern approaches to the U.S. homeland.” (The 2014, 2015, and 2016 posture statements list activities carried out by USNAVSO/FOURTHFLT).

Regarding the acquisition of additional equipment, in an interview with the author, SOUTHCOM spokesperson Jose Ruiz explained that SOUTHCOM “submits requests for naval resources, including personnel, ships and aircraft, through the Joint Staff. We work the requests with our naval component, [USNAVSO]. The military services weigh all geographic combatant command requests for people and platforms against prioritized national security requirements around the globe, and allocate resources to our command based on what is available after higher priority national security needs are met.” Spokesperson Ruiz added SOUTHCOM does not exclusively rely on the U.S. Navy “for maritime resources to accomplish important missions […] Other important interagency partners, such as the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection also provide key sea and air platforms and forces to support those missions.” (This author has discussed U.S. Coast Guard activities in the Greater Caribbean in “The US Coast Guard’s Western Hemisphere Strategy”).

In his posture statement Admiral Tidd explained the success of the various U.S. security and defense agencies (including the Coast Guard and law enforcement agencies) that come together under the umbrella of Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-S) to combat transnational organized crime (TOC) in SOUTHCOM’s area of operations. Nevertheless, during his testimony to the Senate, when asked about his lack of resources he simply stated that “I do not have the ships, I do not have the aircraft” to deal with the amount of TOC in the region. He explained that at any given time, he may have on average five to six surface ships, namely Coast Guard platforms, and one to two Navy platforms, while he ideally needs 21 vessels. Thus, it would appear that the FOURTFLT has not brought additional resources to SOUTHCOM.

3. The one clear advantage brought by the reestablishment of the Fleet is that it helped the U.S. military appear to have a bigger presence in the Western Hemisphere in the eyes of Latin American and Caribbean states, not to mention nations like Russia and China. The word “fleet” conjures images of a plethora of frigates, submarines, and a carrier or two docked in Florida, under SOUTHCOM’s command. Hence, it comes as no surprise when the FOURTHFLT was reinstated, media outlets around the region published numerous commentaries about Washington’s plans – case in point, a 2008 commentary in the Colombian daily El Espectador has the headline “The Return of the Fourth Fleet: What is the objective of this new initiative by the U.S. government?” Unsurprisingly, the Venezuelan government critiqued this decision.

Nevertheless, Admiral Tidd’s posture statement explains that “Russia’s actions [in Latin America and the Caribbean] are directly connected to its broader global efforts to demonstrate that Russia is a global power capable of challenging U.S. leadership and the established rules-based international system.” (P. 8-9). Thus, the FOURTHFLT’s shortage of Naval platforms (Coast Guard vessels notwithstanding) is arguably affecting SOUTHCOM’s, and by extension Washington’s, influence in Latin America and the Caribbean to Moscow’s benefit.

Final Thoughts

At the aforementioned AEI event CNO Admiral Richardson declared that the Navy “will continue to support [the Fourth Fleet] with every resource that we can spare.” Nevertheless, the CNO also stated that allocating resources is “fundamentally a matter of prioritization.” It is clear that SOUTHCOM is low in Washington’s list of defense priorities. Admiral Tidd understands this as he stated in his 2016 posture statement that “because no nation in the region poses a direct, conventional military threat to the United States, Latin America tends to rank fairly low on force allocation priorities.” (P. 2)

To recapitulate, the objective of this analysis is not to critique U.S. naval operations, but rather question the necessity of the Fourth Fleet itself. U.S. Navy vessels have participated in training exercises with regional partners as well as security initiatives like Operation Martillo. Moreover, the 2010 Haiti earthquake highlights how having the Fourth Fleet has provided a more robust command chain which SOUTHCOM can utilize for future major operations.

Nevertheless, it is the opinion of this author that the Fourth Fleet’s reestablishment has not brought any major budgetary or equipment-related advantages. Moreover, given Washington’s focus on Syria, Russia and China, it is unlikely that SOUTHCOM will receive additional naval resources soon.

The views presented in this essay are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of any institutions with which the author is associated.

Alejandro Sanchez Nieto is a researcher who focuses on geopolitical, military and cyber security issues in the Western Hemisphere. Follow him on Twitter: @W_Alex_Sanchez.

The author would like to thank the Public Affairs offices of SOUTHCOM and USNAVSO/FOURTHFLT for their help in drafting this report.