CDR Salamander - The National Security & Defense Strategy in Action South of the Border

It is easy to be cynical about published strategies. Often they don’t quite align with what actually happens (history has her own plays), or they distract themselves with unimportant or irrelevant “latest thing” socio-political posturing.

While everyone’s eyes have been focused over the last half-year on U.S. and Israeli actions against Iran, does everyone remember where military action this year started?

Venezuela.

Let’s step back a bit and look at a couple of quotes from documents we discussed in detail over the last year, the National Security Strategy (NSS) and the National Defense Strategy (NDS).

As the NDS is subordinate to the NSS, let’s start there.

After years of neglect, the United States will reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere, and to protect our homeland and our access to key geographies throughout the region. We will deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets, in our Hemisphere. This “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine is a common-sense and potent restoration of American power and priorities, consistent with American security interests.

Our goals for the Western Hemisphere can be summarized as “Enlist and Expand.” We will enlist established friends in the Hemisphere to control migration, stop drug flows, and strengthen stability and security on land and sea. We will expand by cultivating and strengthening new partners while bolstering our own nation’s appeal as the Hemisphere’s economic and security partner of choice.

Look at that last part. The three are intertwined. The same cartels that control the drugs flooding the U.S. are also the ones who are making bank on each illegal alien that crosses the southern border.

…control migration, stop drug flows, and strengthen stability and security on land and sea.

So, how do you “operationalize” this concept?

Let’s look to the NDS.

In recent decades, our nation has been overwhelmed by a flood of illegal aliens. At the same time, narcotics have poured across our borders, poisoning hundreds of thousands of Americans. Narcotics traffickers in our hemisphere have profited enormously off this evil and are rightly designated as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs)…

At sea, we have seen direct action against drug-running boats and their resupply vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.

Ashore, there have been hints here and there, but now we are seeing combined operations out in the open.

Via CBS,

U.S. troops helped Ecuador dismantle a local branch of Mexico’s notorious Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), arresting more than 30 members, Ecuador’s interior minister said Thursday.

Quito, a Washington ally, is enthusiastically cooperating with President Trump’s crackdown on organized crime across Latin America.

Thursday’s early-morning operation “was conducted jointly with U.S. troops and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA),” Ecuadoran Interior Minister John Reimberg wrote on X.

Over 30 Ecuadorans were arrested for allegedly belonging to the group with a “direct connection to the CJNG,” he said.

The minister said the group was involved in trafficking cocaine from Colombia, the world’s largest producer, to international markets via ports in southwestern Ecuador.

Some 320 Ecuadoran police officers and 50 uniformed personnel from the U.S. Southern Command took part in the operation spanning several cities, he said.

While I think there are some good faith arguments against attacking drug boats (as I’ve stated from the start, I support this direct action that I used to dream about in the 1990s, when I was chasing these people on the high seas), it is hard to argue against the coordinated action with South American nations. Heck, even Marine Raiders are getting in on the action.

After all, it is the money via demand from the U.S. (and Europe) that is enabling these cartels destroying the rule of law in other nations. It is only fitting that we invest our resources to help mitigate this negative secondary effect.

Political shifts to the right in South America are opening the door to more cooperation with the U.S. against these cartels. This is a gain for everyone.

President Daniel Noboa tied the raids to his speech at the U.N. General Assembly a day earlier, where he said “no state can confront alone an enemy that crosses borders.”

So much potential here, and we are only getting started.

Cappy has a good 30-minute summary of the action, with more detail than you will find anywhere else.

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