[ad_1]
“South America is critical to the Western Hemisphere — it’s so important! It’s importance surpasses the economic ties and the wealth of its natural resources… Yet, the entire region, to include South America is facing unparalleled threats in the cyber domain and from climate change,” said U.S. Army General Laura J. Richardson, commander of U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), as she welcomed chiefs of staff and regional military leaders to the 2023 South American Defense Conference (SOUTHDEC), in Cartagena, Colombia, September 22-24.
SOUTHDEC’s theme, “Strengthening our Regional Resiliency through Shared Best Practices,” addressed two main topics: cyber defense and climate change and environmental defense.
SOUTHDEC is a SOUTHCOM-hosted annual regional security forum aimed at fostering ties of cooperation, examining challenges, sharing lessons learned, and enhancing cooperation on security and defense issues. This is the 14th annual SOUTHDEC and the second time in Cartagena.
Gen. Richardson said that SOUTHDEC is taking place as the regional security threats are increasing. Vital elements of democracy face a number of cross-cutting challenges, the dire situation in Venezuela, malign activities of transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and Russia, China, and Iran’s efforts to manipulate regional partner nations’ populations through disinformation campaigns and malign cyber activities, among other actions.
“In the cyber domain, malign state actors like China, Russia, Iran — along with non-state cyber-criminal and hacktivist groups — operate in the gray zone, below the threshold of armed conflict, as they deploy advanced and low-cost tools to influence, undermine, and destabilize societies. These malign cyber actors are steadily increasing the size and scope of their attacks on government and nongovernment institutions alike,” added Gen. Richardson.
“Climate Change continues to be a critical issue that negatively affects military readiness and security. This threat expands mission requirements, degrades readiness, and diminishes military resources… Additionally, it is imperative that we recognize the damage to the environment caused by State-owned enterprises from countries like China.”
“Our actions today will further solidify our foundation of shared democratic values and set the stage for future SOUTHDECs. Together, we are Team Democracy. A team of like-minded allies and partners committed to working across all domains and boundaries to ensure a free, secure, and prosperous Western Hemisphere and world, for our generation and generations to come,” Gen. Richardson added.
For his part, General Helder Fernán Giraldo Bonilla, commanding General of the Colombian Military Forces, welcomed participants as he stressed that “Cooperation and resilience are consolidated as core topics, not only of the agenda [at SOUTHDEC], but also as those that play a leading role in the political, economic, social, and cultural life of the Americas and even the whole world.”
Gen. Giraldo pointed out to regional leaders the imperative need to materialize and maximize dialogue and interinstitutional cooperation to guarantee the security of the peoples of the Americas.
“We will created a roadmap based on our concerns, particularly in climate and cybernetic matters, assuming with responsibility the roles we have to play as megadiverse countries that are united not only by the fact of sharing a place in this respected region, but also by being linked by historical and cultural ties from which solidarity and empathy emerge.”
As Gen. Giraldo welcomed participants, he added: “SOUTHDEC stands as a milestone in the international strategic relationship, to strengthen ties and solidify the foundations that lay the foundations for cooperation and resilience in a complex environment, in which we will not give up the purpose of building a homeland in defense of life.”
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and the United States participated in the conference. Canada, France, Spain, and the United Kingdom participated as observers as well as the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy, Western Hemisphere Affairs; the William J. Perry Center; Inter-American Defense Board; Inter-American Defense Board; U.S. Agency for International Development; U.S. National Guard Bureau, and adjutants general from South America’s State Partnership Program. Some U.S. agencies were present virtually.
The themes
The SOUTHDEC 2023 agenda was conducted in the form of briefings and moderated discussions.
SOUTHDEC’s first roundtable focused on cyber defense. The cyber defense working group centered their discussion on the existing structures the region can use to build a regional framework on potential cyber threats, information sharing, and regional cooperation.
Underlining the challenges that cyberspace presents, Peruvian Army Colonel Iván Loayza, head of the Command and Control Division of the Peruvian Armed Forces’ Joint Command, said: “There is exponential growth in the use of the internet, networks have more interaction every day, this also impacts the issue of organization, our states, nations no longer have borders, we can have direct connectivity anywhere in the world and this is an opportunity and a threat. In this context, we must organize, equip, and train ourselves to be able to successfully face the challenges presented by cyberspace.”
The group proposed the creation of the Regional Center of Cyber Excellence with collaboration as a focal point, training opportunities, and special advisory services, formulation of policies and regulation, establishment of capabilities against cyber threats, technological development, and protection of critical cyber infrastructures.
Climate change and environmental defense was the topic of the second roundtable. One of the main point the working group analyzed was environmental security planning factors to be considered because of the threat to strategic natural resources caused by TCOs.
The group also discussed opportunities to build a regional information/intelligence center of the environmental security threat, military efforts to address this issue, and regional cooperation focused on environmental security and defense. At the end, the working group presented an action plan that included a protocol for multinational solutions to existing environmental challenges.
Participants also stressed the importance of collaboration and teamwork to support each other to deter the current security threats.
For Daniel Erikson, deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Western Hemisphere, cyber security and climate defense are very difficult and complex topics that extend across boundaries, for which he urged for deeper cooperation and collaboration among the governments of the region. “These are topics where the responsibility lies across many agencies in our government, not only with the ministries of defense or the armed forces. And so while the armed forces are often called in as part of the last line of defense or the first line of response for the challenges that are posed by either cyberattacks or the negative impacts of climate change or environmental crimes, truly it does require civilian law enforcement, civilian agencies or comprehensive engagement of the intelligence communities as well.”
Speaking on shared interest to counter common threats, Spanish Admiral General Teodoro Esteban López Calderon, chief of Defence Staff of the Spanish Armed Forces, said: “For my country Spain, all matters related to America, to South America, in this case, and if I may, especially the risks and threats are never unfamiliar to us, and of course, we are never indifferent to them… The threats and risks with some small obvious differences — because geography always matters and is fundamental — we face the same global challenges and therefore I believe that the solutions are also very similar. We are all obliged to launch ourselves, to increase or to take forward as far as possible those transformations that have been discussed here in SOUTHDEC.”
Ecuadorian Lieutenant General Nelson Proaño Rodríguez, chief of the Ecuadorian Armed Forces, reminded the need to join forces to accomplished SOUTHDEC goals. “The threats we face today are changing so rapidly that time is of the essence and we cannot let too much time pass. This effort will be for the benefit of each of our countries, but it also it will strengthens us as a group.”
[ad_2]
