United States Southern Command
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The United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM, or informally: SOUTHCOM) is a Unified Combatant Command responsible for all United States military activities in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean basin (except Cuba and Puerto Rico, which are the responsibility of United States Northern Command). Its headquarters is in Miami, Florida, but it also has operations at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas (US Army South), Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona (U.S. Air Force South), Key West, Florida (Joint Interagency Task Force South), and Joint Task Force Bravo in Soto Cano, Honduras. In addition, it has Forward Operating Locations (FOLs) in Comalapa, El Salvador, Manta, Ecuador, and the islands of Aruba and Curaçao (Netherlands Antilles). Although Cuba is in the area of responsibility for Northern Command, Southern Command operates Joint Task Force Guantanamo, located in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
USSOUTHCOM is a joint command comprised of Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps components.
Admiral James G. Stavridis assumed command of USSOUTHCOM on 19 October, 2006. He is the first commander who is a Navy officer. Traditionally, a US Army general has commanded.
For many years, USSOUTHCOM was located in the Panama Canal Zone at Quarry Heights, an Army installation at the Pacific opening of the Panama Canal, and served as the base for the largest number of U.S. military and civilian personnel in Latin America. On 26 September 1997, it was moved to Miami. Of the five American regional unified commands, USSOUTHCOM is one of the two whose headquarters are not within its area of operations. (The other such regional unified command is United States Central Command, currently based in Tampa, Florida.)
In the war against drugs, USSOUTHCOM provides logistical support to other U.S. agencies, such as the Drug Enforcement Administration, Department of Justice, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, To interdict the flow of drugs from these areas, SOUTHCOM conducts surveillance of the air and maritime routes to the United States and other countries. For this reason, it receives approximately one percent of the total Federal counterdrug budget ($17.8 billion for FY2000).
USSOUTHCOM forms part of the Unified Command System that was created in 1947.
[edit] Components
- United States Army South (Fort Sam Houston, Texas)
- United States Naval Forces Southern Command
- United States Marine Corps Forces, South
- United States Southern Command Air Forces
- Special Operations Command South
- Joint Interagency Task Force South [1]
- Joint Task Force Bravo [2]
- Joint Task Force Guantanamo
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- United States Southern Command website
- Southern Command (entry at globalsecurity.org)
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|---|---|
| Regional responsibilities | |
| Africa Command - Northern Command - Central Command - European Command - Pacific Command - Southern Command | |
| Functional responsibilities | |
| Special Operations Command - Joint Forces Command - Strategic Command - Transportation Command | |
| Proposed new commands | |
| Unified Medical Command | |
