US Army to stage counter-drug training exercises in South America

Gen. Joe Ryan attends a meeting in Panama in 2025. U.S. Army / Sgt. 1st Class Rakeem Carter

Western Hemisphere Command is building up a “theater Army,” Gen. Joe Ryan said Monday at AUSA.

The Army is looking to refocus its U.S. Southern Command exercises to focus on counter-cartel operations, Gen. Joe Ryan , who heads Army Western Hemisphere Command , said Monday at the Association of the United States Army annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

The move is part of the nascent command’s mission to build a “theater Army,” Ryan said, above and beyond the largely partner training and disaster response missions its U.S. Army North and South predecessors maintained.

“Future multinational training events will shift away from strictly relationship-building engagements toward operations directly targeting drug cartels and designated terrorist organizations,” he said.

Ryan said the review was directed by SOUTHCOM’s commander, Marine Gen. Frank Donovan, “to better align with current federal priorities and strategy.”

Those priorities include the latest National Defense Strategy ’s shift that puts defending the homeland at the top of the list , with the Western Hemisphere as the Pentagon’s priority theater, a concept dubbed the “Donroe Doctrine.”

That focus on SOUTHCOM gave rise to the administration’s strikes on suspected drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean and the raid to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

“Make no mistake, these designated terrorist organizations operate as global financial networks, utilizing a resilient business model built to endure over decades unless targeted interventions actively disrupt their economic base,” Ryan said.

At the same time, the Army is also beefing up its ability to do the legacy mission of crisis response in SOUTHCOM, Ryan said. The service recently got approval to move more aviation assets and personnel down south, to help move people and supplies.

“We're going to grow that footprint down there, where it's really, you know, it's a relatively modest footprint to date, given the responsibilities it's attended to, and we're gonna give them more aircraft, more crews, more maintainers here over the next couple of fiscal years to help them address some of the natural disasters and threats in the region,” he said.

Help us report on the future of national security . Contact Meghann Myers: mmyers@defenseone.com, meghannmyers.55 on Signal.

NEXT STORY: Army activates sustainment brigade as part of Pacific restructuring

2025年，乔·瑞安将军在巴拿马出席会议。美国陆军/一级军士长拉基姆·卡特

乔·瑞安将军周一在美国陆军协会表示，西半球司令部正在组建一支“战区军队”。

美国陆军正寻求调整其南方司令部演习的重点，使其侧重于打击贩毒集团的行动。陆军西半球司令部司令乔·瑞安将军周一在华盛顿特区举行的美国陆军协会年会上表示。

瑞安表示，此举是新成立的司令部建设“战区陆军”任务的一部分，其任务范围远超其前身美国陆军北方司令部和南方司令部主要承担的伙伴训练和灾害响应任务。

他说：“未来的多国联合训练活动将不再仅仅着眼于建立关系，而是转向直接打击贩毒集团和指定的恐怖组织的行动。”

瑞安表示，此次审查是由南方司令部司令、海军陆战队上将弗兰克·多诺万指示进行的，“目的是为了更好地与当前的联邦优先事项和战略保持一致”。

这些优先事项包括最新的《国防战略》的转变，该战略将保卫国土置于首位，并将西半球作为五角大楼的优先战区，这一概念被称为“唐罗主义”。

对南方司令部的重视促成了美国政府对加勒比海涉嫌贩毒船只的打击以及抓捕委内瑞拉总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗的突袭行动。

“毫无疑问，这些被认定的恐怖组织以全球金融网络的形式运作，它们采用具有强大韧性的商业模式，这种模式旨在持续数十年，除非有针对性的干预措施积极破坏它们的经济基础，”瑞安说。

瑞安表示，与此同时，陆军也在加强其在南方司令部执行危机应对这一传统任务的能力。陆军近期获准向南方调集更多航空资产和人员，以协助人员和物资的运输。

他说：“我们将扩大在那里的影响力，要知道，就目前而言，考虑到它所承担的责任，它的影响力还相当有限。在接下来的几个财政年度里，我们将为他们提供更多的飞机、更多的机组人员和更多的维护人员，以帮助他们应对该地区的一些自然灾害和威胁。”

请帮助我们报道国家安全的未来。请联系 Meghann Myers：mmyers@defenseone.com，或在 Signal 上联系 meghannmyers.55。

下一篇报道：陆军启动后勤保障旅，作为太平洋地区重组的一部分