By Alexis J. Gartner
Alexis J. Gartner outlines the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s work on weapons of mass destruction non-proliferation in USSOUTHCOM’s area of responsibility. Haga clic en este enlace para leer este artículo en español.
Disclaimer: This article is an unofficial publication. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and are not necessarily those of the Department of Defense, DTRA, or USSOUTHCOM.
Although the threat of weapon of mass destruction (WMD) use in Latin America and the Caribbean is low, the conditions for a potential event are ever-present. The abundance of dual-use and precursor materials, coupled with already established trafficking networks, could be utilized by both state and non-state actors to elicit a WMD event that disrupts fragile governance throughout the region.
United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) with support from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) is collaborating with partner nations to counter these persistent WMD threats. DTRA is the Department of Defense (DoD) agency established to provide technical, operational, and intellectual foundations of the DoD’s WMD expertise. DTRA serves two distinct, yet highly integrated and complementary roles as both a Defense Agency and Combat Support Agency.
As a Defense Agency, this role is strategic in nature, working to reduce global WMD and emerging threats by deterring would-be adversaries’ acquisition and use of such materials. Examples include supporting key DoD policy and priorities through cross-service, department-wide programs such as nuclear assurance, treaty support, and building partner capacity.
In its more operational role, DTRA functions as a Combat Support Agency to identify, develop, and field solutions to counter WMD and emerging threats, leveraging their unique capabilities and expertise in direct support of Joint Staff and Combatant Command (CCMD) requirements.
This support to CCMDs includes having a liaison team and embedded capability to assist the CCMDs achieve their strategic countering WMD goals. USSOUTHCOM, located in Miami, Florida, is one of eleven CCMDs (seven geographical, four functional) in the DoD. They are responsible for providing contingency planning, operations, and security cooperation in its assigned area of responsibility, which includes Central America, South America, and the Caribbean (except for U.S. commonwealths, territories, and possessions). The command is also responsible for the force protection of U.S. military resources at these locations to include ensuring the defense of the Panama Canal.
Engagements
Since 2013 DTRA has been working with Latin American and Caribbean partner nations to counter WMD and strengthen national and regional CBRN capabilities. Security cooperation events have occurred in the Dominican Republic and Panama as part of a larger USSOUTHCOM effort to strengthen and enhance their CBRN capabilities. Panama is a particularly important engagement for USSOUTHCOM and DTRA due to the high visibility of the Panama Canal, through which five percent of global commerce passes annually.
Building resilience against WMD proliferation threats through the Canal is a critical objective for USSOUTHCOM, and DTRA provides subject matter expertise to assist in the mitigation of that threat. Another notable engagement was the assistance provided to Brazil as they prepared for the 2016 Olympics.
DTRA facilitated the enhancement of their practical capabilities through CBRNe scenario table-top exercises and associated subject matter exchanges. It is by participating in USSOUTHCOM-sponsored training exercises and participating in different regional CWMD-related events that the nations in USSOUTHCOM’s area of responsibility benefit from DTRA collaboration to strengthen their competence against WMD threats.
Cooperative Threat Reduction
One of those efforts is through the cooperative threat reduction (CTR) program. The CTR program works with foreign partners to eliminate, consolidate, and secure WMD-related systems and materials, and detect and interdict WMD-related trafficking or outbreaks of especially dangerous pathogens. This requires certain authorities from the Office of the Secretary of Defense to execute these programs in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility. As of this publication date, USSOUTHCOM is working concurrently with DTRA to acquire funding from the Office of the Secretary of Defense to realize both cooperative threat reduction and biological threat reduction programs in the region.
In April 2023, DTRA utilized a global CTR authority to repatriate two cobalt-60 radioactive sources from Guatemala. In close partnership with Guatemala’s Ministry of Energy and Mines and the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, DTRA arranged the transportation of container and packing material needed to transport the radioactive material safely and securely from a hospital in Guatemala City. This event highlighted the benefits of CTR to the USSOUTHCOM region by demonstrating DTRA’s ability to secure global proliferation threats and make not only Guatemala but the world safer and more secure.
Proliferation Security Initiative
The Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) is an international initiative to stop shipments of weapons of mass destruction, their delivery systems, and related materials to states and non-state actors of proliferation concern. The foundations of PSI are grounded firmly in existing international and domestic authorities and frameworks. Since 2003, 112 countries have made political commitments to support the PSI by endorsing the PSI Statement of Interdiction Principles.
The 2023 Western Hemisphere PSI event at USSOUTHCOM’s headquarters was the first PSI event post-COVID that focused on reinvigorating PSI engagements in the region, reinforcing connections made before the pandemic, and strengthening communication among PSI-endorsing nations. Following this meeting and the High-Level Political Meeting in the Republic of Korea in June 2023, Chile announced they would host 2024 Western Hemisphere Multilateral PSI Workshop in Santiago; this event took place in March 2024.
Planning has begun in earnest for the 2025 Western Hemisphere PSI event, where DTRA and USSOUTHCOM look to capitalize on the success of the two prior PSI events. These conferences are a testament to the PSI’s value in providing the impetus for endorsing states to take proactive measures to combat the threat of WMD proliferation.
Other Programs
The USSOUTHCOM Command Surgeon Office hosts an annual Global Health Security of the Americas Conference, bringing together partner nations to address strategies to improve biosafety and biosecurity to prevent biological incidents and to strengthen biological risk management and response through emergency operations centers, enhancing partner nations’ abilities to rapidly detect, surveil, and report biological incidents. At the 2023 Conference, DTRA provided an orientation brief of the agency and its capabilities to make partner nations aware of how DTRA working through the Surgeon’s office could improve health security issues in their respective countries.
In 2024, NCT invited USSOUTHCOM and DTRA participation in their América del Sur CBRNe conference in Bogotá, Colombia. This was a great opportunity to orient participating nations like Ecuador, Colombia, Chile, and Brazil to how DTRA working through USSOUTHCOM can enhance their CBRNe skills. Further participation by DTRA is slated for 2025 and beyond to build upon the engagements from NCT América del Sur 2024.
Way Ahead
Current events around the world could increase the likelihood of WMD use in Latin America. The increasing influence of external state actors such as the People’s Republic of China, the Russian Federation, and Iran only exacerbates these fears. There is a growing demand signal from partner nations in the region for CBRN training and equipment to mitigate their marginal organic CBRN capabilities.
Recently, DTRA has established strategic campaigning approaches to counter WMD and emerging threats to align the Agency’s efforts to achieve desired effects. Linking these campaign approaches with USSOUTHCOM’s campaign plan objectives accentuates DTRA’s combat support agency role and sets the conditions for the Joint Staff and Combatant Command to effectively counter WMD and emerging threats both now and in the future.
Alexis J. Gartner is DTRA’s Senior Combatant Command Representative to USSOUTHCOM.
