DOD News Briefing with Gen. Fraser from the Pentagon on U.S. Southern Command
Operations
<http://www.defense.gov/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=4804>
Wed, 30 Mar 2011 18:10:00 -0500
_____
Presenter: General Douglas Fraser, U.S. Air Force, Commander Of U.S. Southern
Command (Southcom)
March 30, 2011
_____
DOD News Briefing with Gen. Fraser from the Pentagon on U.S. Southern Command
Operations
CAPT. DARRYN JAMES (Director, Defense Press Operations):
Good afternoon. We're pleased to be joined today by General Douglas Fraser,
the commander of U.S. Southern Command.
General Fraser just finished testifying at the House Armed
Services Committee. We're grateful that he's made himself available to you
this afternoon.
General Fraser took command of U.S. Southern Command in June
2009.
His last Pentagon press briefing was in January 2010, two
weeks after the earthquake in Haiti. General Fraser's here to discuss the
United States Southern Command's accomplishments and future efforts in Latin
America and the Caribbean.
And with that, General Fraser, I'll turn it over to you, sir.
GEN. FRASER: Thank you very much.
Well, thanks, everybody. Thanks for taking the time this
afternoon to come have a discussion with me. I really look forward to the
opportunity. And I'd like to thank you for letting me have this time to talk a
little bit about United States Southern Command and our efforts to support
security and stability in Latin America and the Caribbean.
As we support our role in defending the United States, we
focus significant effort on building and sustaining military-to-military
relations with our partner militaries in the region. Building these
relationships is an enduring part of our efforts. And while I won't
specifically focus my comments on those, I want you to know that it provides us
with a foundation and basis for everything we do and it really provides us with
a basis for what I see as our two primary challenges today.
The first is supporting our friends and responding to the
natural disasters that routinely happen throughout the region. And the second
is the ongoing threat posed by transnational criminal organizations. As you
talk about transnational criminal organization, it is a nontraditional role.
And we just play a small part, if you will, of addressing that issue across the
region. We support our other interagencies as well as the governments within
the nations that are seeing the problems associated with -- with transnational
criminal organizations.
We remain prepared. And while we remain prepared to conduct
disaster relief operations whenever the need arises, we are -- our primary
focus as we look at that is on responding to the hurricane season, as you look
into the Caribbean. That's where we get the best sense of knowing that a
disaster is a potential and we can be prepared to respond to it. Earthquakes,
volcanoes and other types of natural disasters don't give us the same kind of
warning as hurricanes do, and that's why we really focus very significantly on
the hurricane season.
While we're doing that, though, we will remain focused on
transnational criminal organizations. They represent in my mind a continuing
challenge to regional and hemispheric security. These transnational criminal
organizations (TCO) are engaged in illicit trafficking -- illicit trafficking
in drugs, arms, money and people -- through the porous borders throughout the
regions, to the United States and abroad to Europe and into Africa.
They don't respect national sovereignty, laws, governments or
human life. Nowhere in my mind is this more evident than in Central America
and in Mexico, which are besieged by gangs, transnational criminal
organizations and drug traffickers who operate with near impunity. The direct
result is unprecedented levels of violence and the erosion of citizen safety.
And I think the best example of that is the northern triangle of Central
America -- Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras -- which in -- has become probably
the deadliest zone in the world outside of war zones, active war zones in Iraq
and Afghanistan and others around the world.
TCOs operate through international networks and employ
innovative methods to conduct their illicit activities. Recently, we have seen
an increasing use of what we're calling self-propelled, fully- submersible
vessels: vessels that can operate shallow, but beneath the surface of the
ocean, and transit between the northern parts of South America into the
northern parts of Central America and into Mexico. And I'll be happy to answer
any questions on that as we have more time.
Our partner nations are working on these issues and they're
working to counter the problems. And we're working with them to support those
efforts.
We engage with our partners, as I said earlier, to build that
security capacity. Our efforts include military-to-military engagements,
exercises, training, subject-matter expert exchanges wherever we can, to help
build capacity within our military partners; similar, and as an example of
that, interoperability exercises like fused response that we just conducted in
the Dominican Republic with our Dominican Republic partners, as well as special
forces from around the region, a very important opportunity to give us the
ability to respond to those issues we see.
Also, we're working all these in conjunction with our
interagency colleagues and our partner nations. Within that vein, we play a
supporting role in the Central American Regional Security Initiative (CARSI), a
Department of State effort to help build security and capacity throughout the
region; the same within the Caribbean, the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative
(CBSI), a similar effort in the eastern Caribbean that combines with the Beyond
Merida effort within Mexico, as well as with the consolidation plan that the
Colombian government is under. All these plans, although they are separate,
all interrelated into a regional opportunity to address these issues.
For example, as part of both CARSI and CBSI, we have a couple
of programs we call Enduring Friendship-Secure Seas, and there are different
names depending on where we're focused, Enduring Friendship into the Central
American region and Secure Seas if you look at in the Caribbean, but a very
similar project where we're helping provide interceptor boats as well as
communications equipment and training to empower and enable our partner navies
to be able to intercept drug traffickers as they transit the maritime
environments of the eastern Pacific and the Caribbean.
And because we see the illicit trafficking as a regional
problem, we continue to communicate and work on a routine basis, on a daily
basis with U.S. Northern Command.
Our boundaries from U.S. forces standpoint is the southern
border of Mexico with Guatemala and Belize. But from our standpoint, that's a
very, very fuzzy boundary, if you will, because the coordination that happens
across that boundary is so secure.
And the agency within U.S. Southern Command, the Joint
Interagency Task Force South, that really conducts our interagency capacity to
detect and monitor traffic in the maritime environments, its boundary really
goes beyond both those geographic Combatant Command boundaries. It includes
parts of both, as well as European Command, parts of European Command, and
Pacific Command.
So you can see we really looked to try and reduce any problems
there may be or any concerns with those boundaries.
So it is a full effort, a regional effort, an interagency and
international effort as we look to address the challenges of transnational
criminal organizations. So I look forward to talking to -- about this with you
today and any other topics that you might find of interest.
Yes, sir?
Q: General, recently, the Mexican government complained about
maybe not enough efforts to prevent the flow of weapons from the U.S. into
Mexico. But according to ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) and some other
agencies, perhaps many of the military-type weapons and explosives are coming
to Mexico throughout the southern border. Have you detected any movement in
this area?
GEN. FRASER: It is a complex issue. And I'll defer to ATF
and others to give you direct answers on how much, because that really is an
effort that they focus on.
The numbers I see is, there are anywhere between 45 (million)
to 80 million weapons in the region, and that's pretty broadly. And those are
a holdover, if you will, from various civil wars, various conflicts that have
happened throughout a number of years. And so there are a lot of sources of
weapons, if you will, throughout the region.
So as you look at the potential for corruption, poor
accounting methodology, other things, we are working programs through -- ATF
has programs to do that. Our embassies have programs to address those issues.
But there is a source of weapons that can transit not only through Mexico, but
it also impacts Central America as well as Colombia.
Q: Do you identify some vulnerabilities from the southern
border from Mexico that might -- can make more difficult the strategy to defeat
the Mexican cartels, due to the recent presence of the Mexican cartels in
Central America as well?
GEN. FRASER: We're working across all those borders. We have
an active role with the governments of -- and the armed forces in Guatemala,
Belize and Mexico, as we work with Northern Command. We're working in
conjunction with all those partners, as well as other interagency partners.
Now, within Guatemala, for example, our embassy is working with the government
of Guatemala to put together an interagency border post to help address the
issues.
It is a complex issue. It is one that provides many -- there
are many places to go across the borders throughout Central America, that
really compound the problem. And so we are working on it on a systematic
basis, but there's no one clear solution to it.
Yes, sir?
Q: Sir, it appears as though the sophistication of the self-
propelled submersible vehicles that you -- or vessels that you mentioned --
semi-submersible or fully submersible -- has been increasing over the past
couple of years, from initially crude vessels to, you know, comparatively
sophisticated boats now.
And I'm wondering if you can -- if you have any indication
about where the technical know-how or expertise comes from that helps
facilitate that? Are there -- are there naval engineers from elsewhere that
come in, or is it just a learning process based on what -- (inaudible).
GEN. FRASER: I think there's a little bit of both within it.
And to back up just a minute and give you a little bit more specifics on it,
what I see is still about 50 percent -- almost 50 percent of the maritime
traffic that transits drugs through the Eastern Caribbean and -- or Eastern
Pacific and the Caribbean is primarily go-fast. And they transit up through --
close to the coast within territorial waters, if you will, on both coasts of
Central America, and then put ashore at various locations, depending on how
they're operating and what their operating standard is. And then once they
come ashore, then they transit -- drugs transit up through Central America into
Mexico and then into the United States.
We saw a rise in the semisubmersibles, if you will, those
vessels that float on the surface -- hundred feet long, can carry up to 10 tons
of cocaine and can travel a thousand to 2,000 miles. They can easily transit
from the northern part of South America to Mexico or Guatemala.
We have seen a downturn in the number of those vessels since
2007. We've seen a continuing decline in the vessels that we have been able to
disrupt or detain. And we're starting to see now an increase in what we're
calling those fully submersibles.
It is still -- we have been working with the Colombian
government and the government of Ecuador. They have been able to detain two of
those vessels.
Differing sophistication, where they're getting the expertise
to construct these -- that is an issue we're still working on to make sure we
can understand exactly who and where and how.
Where they're getting the expertise to construct these -- that
is an issue we're still working on to make sure we can understand exactly who
and where and how.
But if you look at it, this is not -- this is an evolution, if
you will, and how much of it is semisubmersible -- manufacturers, if you will,
producing fully submersibles -- and how much of it is a new manufacturing
capacity and a new capability, I don't have a good answer for you. It's an
effort we're continuing to explore.
Yes, sir?
Q: On those submersibles, you said they were unmanned?
GEN. FRASER: No, sir. They are manned. Though they're
normally manned by a crew of four or more, and they will transit from in the
western part of Colombia or Ecuador up through the Pacific, in some cases we've
seen and have indications that they go around the Galapagos in transit and then
up through the Eastern Pacific to somewhere off of Central America or the
southern part of Mexico.
Q: And what are your rules of engagement if you should
encounter one?
GEN. FRASER: From our standpoint, this is a law enforcement
issue. And as we work our way through the effort, our role from a U.S.
military standpoint is detection and monitoring. We will get indications from
law enforcement normally, domestic law enforcement in whatever agency these
vessels depart from, and then that information is handed off to us, to Joint
Interagency Task Force South, and then they look for that vessel. Once they
detect it, they will monitor it until it gets to a location where there is
either, again, domestic law enforcement who can intercept that vessel or
international ships that also have law enforcement capability on a Coast Guard
element or a Coast Guard ship.
So we're following law enforcement rules. There is no rule of
engagement from a U.S. military standpoint other than to detain and stop that
ship. And then it's -- it is a law enforcement effort to detain the people,
detain the cargo, and then move them into prosecution.
Q: They're not armed or presenting a threat to the U.S. naval
vessels -- (inaudible).
GEN. FRASER: On a normal basis, from semi-submersibles and
fully submersibles, we have not seen any indications of them being armed.
Yes, sir?
Q: Sir, I'd like to go back to your statement about
Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras possibly being the deadliest area in the
world. Just a -- a couple of questions. I'm surprised to see El Salvador in
that, because the El Salvadoran army -- I mean, I've been with those folks –
(inaudible) -- and they were an amazingly professional organization. Are they
unable to go against these transnational gangs?
And it is a law enforcement sort of aspect to it. Do you have
law enforcement folks in your headquarters? And how do you -- how do you
actually combat something that is at its -- at its basis a law enforcement
problem with the military?
GEN. FRASER: Let me address that in a couple of different
ways, if I can. The numbers that I'm using are U.N. numbers. Their drug
agency is where those numbers come from. And to use specific numbers, if we
look at Iraq in 2010, the violent deaths per 100,000, according to U.N.
numbers, was 14 per 100,000. In Honduras last year, it was 77 per 100,000. In
El Salvador, it was 71 per 100,000. That's the basis that I'm making that
comparison of violent of a -- of a region it has become, unfortunately --
again, very much because of gangs, as well as transnational criminal
organizations.
There are very capable militaries, but it is a broad issue.
And if you look at the transnational criminal organizations, it's a well-
financed, capable capacity -- an enterprise, if you will. Our estimates are
anywhere from, on an annual basis, on a global basis, the transnational
criminal organizations bring in $300 billion to $400 billion a year. That's a
significant number when you put it against the capacities of the governments
that we're talking about.
Because of the concern from a law enforcement standpoint --
and I'll use El Salvador as an example. The president, to address this issue,
has asked and brought in the military, in to support law enforcement, very much
in the same manner that we talk about within the United States. Within their
authorities, they work with the law enforcement to address the issue. But
almost half of the military of El Salvador is working to address the violence.
And we're seeing the same things -- not to the same level -- happen within
other parts of the region. So it is an effort to address the immediacy of the
violence in which militaries are being brought in.
From our role, we are working very much hand in hand with the
Department of State, with USAID, with all our interagency partners as well as
host nation governments, to address this issue in an interagency process. We
are a part of the solution; we are not the entire solution. It's much more
complex than that. And we have to address it, in my mind, on a regional basis,
and not just on a country by country basis.
We'll have country by country relations, but we also have to
look at it on a regional basis, and we're continuing to do that.
That's where I go back and talk about the Central American
Regional Security Initiative, the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative. Those
are ones that help empower the law enforcement capacities, the judicial
capacities; also address some of the other endemic issues that are associated
with supporting law or criminal activity. It's a multi-pronged effort.
Yes, sir?
Q: Continuing on that then, can you say what -- what
specifically is the U.S. military's part of it? What are you guys doing in
these countries? How many -- how many personnel are involved? What kind of
assets or capabilities do you bring to that problem there?
GEN. FRASER: Ours goes very much back to very traditional
building partnership capacity. So it is working with our militaries to help
train, help provide expertise so that they can train themselves. As you look
at it, because our role is very clearly defined as a detection and monitoring
area, as well we help support, as I mentioned, those interceptor vessels in the
maritime environment, and we've seen growing success within that. So we are
continuing to engage with that and working with our partners in State and AID
to make sure our efforts are coordinated.
So it's very traditional in a building partnership capacity
and looking, as militaries getting more pulled into this, how do we help train
them to understand how to operate in a law enforcement environment also,
because it is different than operating in a military. And it crosses a
security line that we all need to be very, very deliberate about. All the
militaries that we work with are very, very deliberate about it.
Yes, sir?
Q: You mentioned Honduras's levels being sky-high pretty
much. How does that affect JTF-Bravo's OPTEMPO? I mean, does that increase
their training mil-to-mil inside Honduras and the rest of Central America? And
does that -- and does that also increase their interdiction efforts as well?
GEN. FRASER: They have been involved for quite a number of
years supporting counter-narcotics activities; in other words, supporting
host-nation domestic tactical response teams in conjunction with the Drug
Enforcement Agency capability to move and address wherever they might have an
opportunity to support that effort. So they have been supporting that
primarily from a transport standpoint, if you will.
We're seeing an increase in that activity, if you will, and
we're working to look for more coordination. But, you know, they're also there
within -- operating from Honduras to help support and provide a response for
disaster relief. So they have -- they remain having a multi-pronged effort and
focus in supporting all our efforts within Central America.
Q: But has there been consideration given to maybe boosting
the assets at JTF-Bravo, given that the level of -- I think -- (inaudible) --
hearing today you said that 40 percent of the cocaine transits through
Honduras. Wouldn't it behoove you to actually increase --
GEN. FRASER: We're looking at an effort right now on
balancing those out. So, yes, we are looking to see where we can pull in and
where it makes it sense to address these issues.
But, again, it's a very complex -- there's not just one
solution. So it's not just JTF-Bravo; it is also looking at the maritime
environments to help us understand that. It's working within the northern
parts of South America to address where the production is.
We have to work on each one of those levels. And that's what
we're doing, looking to find better information, looking to figure out how we
can support our partner better, and then looking to see where it makes a
difference for our forces to come in and support.
That said, this is really at the invitation, as you look at
it, from domestic -- or from host nations.
And they are working these issues within their own capacities
now, working with us, helping from a training and an exercise standpoint.
Q: And one last one. Are you looking at ISR [intelligence,
surveillance and reconnaissance] because it sounds like --
GEN. FRASER: Yes, we are.
Q: Can you expand on that with more specifics?
GEN. FRASER: We're looking at a lot of nontraditional methods
of doing this also, if you will. So we're looking at where we can provide ISR
capacity. But we have linkages, if you will, right now. I'll have to get you
the acronym [CNIES] but we have -- I'll have to get you the title of the
acronym [Cooperative Nation Information Exchange Service]. It's a CNIES
capability. And it's a computer system that allows us to coordinate activities
with our partners. When we see a vessel coming and they're close to it, then
there's a cooperation, coordination that happens between Joint Interagency Task
Force South and that partner nation's military that they are now able to go
respond. So that's a broad area.
And our focus remains in the maritime environments. Once you
come domestically, now it's working with each nation to address the information
requirements there. And we're working that on a -- on a bilateral basis as the
-- as the opportunity presents itself.
Yes, ma'am?
Q: Thank you. Also with this triangle on the Central
American, a couple of weeks ago we learned that the U.S. was helping Mexico
with drones, which was a bit controversial -- to track down -- because it was a
bit controversial because Mexico has very concrete laws against the use of
other -- this kind of military equipment from another country.
Is something like that going in Central America as well,
something -- this kind of aid, even by -- if these countries have asked for it?
Or are there any similar problems like with Mexico that forbids this kind of
--
GEN. FRASER: We have to work it on a bilateral basis, each
country by country.
What we're really trying to work is within each country, as
they have a capacity. For example, within Belize, they have captured a drug
trafficking organization, a Beech King Air-like aircraft. And we're working
with them to see how we can equip that to now help them provide their own ISR
capability. That is how we're really working to help address our partners,
wherever those capacities are, that we can help support their capability to
provide this on -- within their own capacity.
Yes, sir?
Q: Yeah, General, this morning at the hearing, you stated
that there were some concerns of the automatic weapons that the Russians are
selling Venezuela; that they could end up in other hands, you said.
GEN. FRASER: Uh-huh.
Q: Which hands? Could you elaborate a little more? I'm
asking because it's only the Colombian guerrillas, or could be perhaps another
group, even an outside group from Latin America?
And also, if I may, how do you see now the relationship
between the Chavez government and the guerrillas, now that the Chavez
government is in good terms with the Colombian government? Is it going better
or --
GEN. FRASER: My concern within the automatic weapons is -- as
we talked about earlier, it is the availability of automatic weapons. And so
it's the availability to anyone who might be able to get a hold of those
weapons. That's my larger concern, as you look at weapons. So it's not just
targeted on the FARC [Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia], or targeted on a
specific organization. It is just the availability of those weapons, because
of the transnational criminal organizations and their desire to get a hold of
weapons.
The relations between Venezuela and Colombia have improved
significantly. They continue to improve. In fact, I think as you know, from
my understanding, President Chavez will visit Colombia and talk with President
Santos on Friday, and so I see that as a positive effort.
How that will now translate into illicit activities across the
border, that is an issue that they are working government-to- government, and
they're better able to answer those questions than am I.
CAPT. JAMES: General, we have time for one more question.
Q: Could I ask you about Iran's engagement in the -- in the
region. Both you and the director of national intelligence have flagged this.
You did in your testimony today. What is the level of engagement with
Venezuela and Bolivia, as you mentioned? Are they -- are they trying to
broaden deeper relations with other nations to, you know, blunt the United
States, or even to develop their own network of terrorist or Hezbollah
surrogate-like -- surrogates in the region?
GEN. FRASER: What I see Iran doing is working into expand its
relations with many countries within Latin America. They have doubled their
number of embassies over the last five years. They now have 11 embassies.
There should be another one that will open this year. They also have cultural
centers that they have established in 17 different countries.
So I see them working to establish those relationships
throughout the region in an effort, again, in my assessment, to reduce the
potential for international isolation and also to reduce U.S. influence, if you
will, wherever they're partnering and wherever they find the opportunity to do
that.
Q: Well, how about bankrolling surrogates to attack the
United States asymmetrically, if we ever got into a shooting conflict with
Iran? Any evidence -- (inaudible).
GEN. FRASER: My only concern is because of traditional, in
other parts of the world, relationship.
I have not seen any evidence of that relationship translating
beyond or into Latin America. What I see is there are groups, Hezbollah, in
the region. They have been there for a long time. They continue to conduct
illicit activity. But a lot of that continues -- that money, if you will,
flows back to their parent organizations. I haven't seen any evidence of any
connection within Latin America.
Q: You know what I'm getting at because Iran and Hezbollah
are very close. And --
GEN. FRASER: We're -- I'm skeptical. I continue to watch. I
have not seen any indications of that to date.
CAPT. JAMES: General, I think that's all the time we have.
GEN. FRASER: Thank you very much. It's a pleasure -- talking
with you. And I look forward to future discussions.
U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
On the Web: http://www.defense.gov/Transcripts/
Media Contact: +1 (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public Contact: http://www.defense.gov/landing/questions.aspx or +1 (703)
428-0711 +1
Update your subscriptions, modify your password or e-mail address, or stop
subscriptions at any time on your User Profile Page
<http://service.govdelivery.com/service/user.html?code=USDOD> . You will need
to use your e-mail address to log in. If you have questions or problems with
the subscription service, please e-mail [email protected].
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
--------------------------
Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list,
[email protected].
--------------------------
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[email protected]
http://www.intellnet.org
Post message: [email protected]
Subscribe: [email protected]
Unsubscribe: [email protected]
*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods,
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,'
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtmlYahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
[email protected]
[email protected]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[email protected]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
