The United States Southern
Command (USSOUTHCOM)
traces its origins to 1903
when the first U.S.
Marines arrived in Panama
to protect the Panama
Railroad connecting the
Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans across the narrow
waist of the Panamanian
Isthmus. The Marines
remained to provide
security during the early
construction days of the
Panama Canal.
In 1904, Army Colonel William C. Gorgas was sent to the
Canal Zone (as it was then
called) as Chief Sanitary
Officer to fight yellow
fever and malaria. In two
years, yellow fever was
eliminated from the Canal
Zone. Soon after, malaria
was also brought under
control. With the
appointment of Army
Lieutenant Colonel George
W Goethals to the post of
chief engineer of the
Isthmian Canal Commission
by then President Theodore
Roosevelt in 1907, the
construction changed from
a civilian to a military
project.
In 1911, the first troops of the U.S. Army’s 10th
Infantry Regiment arrived
at Camp E. S. Otis, on the
Pacific side of the
Isthmus. They assumed
primary responsibility for
Canal defense. In 1914,
the Marine Battalion left
the Isthmus to participate
in operations against
Pancho Villa in Mexico. On
August 14, 1914, seven
years after Goethals’
arrival, the Panama Canal
opened to world commerce.
The first company of coastal artillery troops arrived
in 1914 and later
established fortifications
at each end (Atlantic and
Pacific) of the Canal,
with mobile forces of
infantry and light
artillery centrally
located to support either
end. By 1915, a
consolidated command was
designated as
Headquarters, U.S. Troops,
Panama Canal Zone. The
command reported directly
to the Army’s Eastern
Department Headquarters at
Fort Jay, Governor’s
Island, New York. The
headquarters of this newly
created command was first
located in the Isthmian
Canal Commission building
in the town of Ancon,
adjacent to Panama City.
It relocated in 1916 to
the nearby newly
designated military post
of Quarry Heights, which
had begun construction in
1911.
On July 1, 1917, the Panama Canal Department was
activated as a geographic
command of the U.S. Army.
It remained as the senior
Army headquarters in the
region until activation of
the Caribbean Defense
Command on February 10,
1941. The CDC co-located
at Quarry Heights, was
commanded by Lieutenant
General Daniel Van Voorhis,
who continued to command
the Panama Canal
Department.
The new command eventually assumed operational
responsibility over air
and naval forces assigned
in its area of operations.
By early 1942, a Joint
Operations Center had been
established at Quarry
Heights. In the meantime,
military strength in the
area was gradually rising
and reached its peak in
January 1943, when 68,000
personnel were defending
the Panama Canal. Military
strength was sharply
reduced with the
termination of World War
II. Between 1946 and 1974,
total military strength in
Panama fluctuated between
6,600 and 20,300 (with the
lowest force strength in
1959). From 1975 until
late 1994 total military
strength in Panama
remained at about 10,000
personnel.
In December 1946, President Truman approved
recommendations of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff for
a comprehensive system of
military commands to put
responsibility for
conducting military
operations of all military
forces in various
geographical areas, in the
hands of a single
commander. Thus, the
principle of unified
commands was established
and the Caribbean Command
was one of them. Although
the Caribbean Command was
designated by the Defense
Department on November 1,
1947, it did not become
fully operational until
March 10, 1948, when the
old Caribbean Defense
Command was inactivated.
On June 6, 1963, reflecting the fact that the command
had a responsibility for
U.S. military operations
primarily in Central and
South America, rather than
in the Caribbean, it was
formally redesignated as
the United States Southern
Command.
In January 1996 and June 1997, two phases of changes to
the Department of Defense
Unified Command Plan (UCP)
were completed. Each phase
of the UCP change added
territory to SOUTHCOM’s
area of responsibility.
The impact of the changes
is significant.
The new AOR includes the Caribbean, its 13 island
nations and several U.S.
and European territories,
the Gulf of Mexico, as
well as significant
portions of the Atlantic
and Pacific Oceans. The
1999 update to the UCP ─
known as VISION 21 ─ also
transfers responsibility
of an additional portion
of the Atlantic Ocean to
SOUTHCOM. On 1 October
2000, USSOUTHCOM assumed
responsibility of the
adjacent waters in the
upper quadrant above
Brazil, which was
presently under the
responsibility of USJFCOM.
The new AOR encompases 32
nations (19 in Central and
South America and 13 in
the Caribbean), of which
31 are democracies, and 14
U.S. and European
territories covering more
than 15.6 million square
miles.
With the creation of the Department of Homeland
Security, USSOUTHCOM Area
of Responsibility (Oct
2002) experienced minor
upper boundary
redistribution or changes
decreasing its total
boundary by 1.1 square
miles. (14.5 million
square miles (23.2 million
square kilometers.)
With the implementation of the Panama Canal Treaties
(the Panama Canal Treaty
of 1977 and the Treaty
concerning the Permanent
Neutrality and Operations
of the Panama Canal), the
U.S. Southern Command was
relocated in Miami,
Florida on 26 September
1997.
The Southern Command, which has about 3,000 permanently
assigned military and
civilian personnel, has
the following components:
United States Army South (USARSO)
at Fort Buchanan, Puerto
Rico; Commander U.S. Naval
Forces Southern Command (COMNAVSO),
at Naval Station Roosevelt
Roads, Puerto Rico; U.S.
Southern Air Forces (12th
Air Force at Davis-Monthan
Air Force Base in
Arizona); U.S. Marine
Forces South (MARFORSO) in
Miami, Florida; and
Special Operations Command
at Roosevelt Roads, Puerto
Rico. In addition, under
the Southern Command there
are the Joint Inter-Agency
Task Force-East (JIATF-East)
located at Naval Air
Station Key West, Florida;
the Joint Task Force-Guantánamo
located at U.S. Naval Base
Guantánamo Bay, Cuba; the
Joint Southern
Surveillance
Reconnaissance Operations
Center (JSSROC) located at
Truman Annex, NAS Key
West, Florida; the Joint
Task Force-Bravo located
in Honduras; and 26
Security Assistance
Organizations (SAO)
throughout the region.
These SAOs are organized
as Military Groups (MilGps),
Military Liaison Offices (MLOs),
Office of Defense
Representative (ODRs),
Offices of Defense
Cooperation (ODCs), Office
of Defense Assistance (ODCs)
and Military Assistance
Advisory Group (MAAGs).
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