Vice Adm. Craig S. Faller. US Navy Photo
The current senior military assistant to Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis has been tapped to lead U.S. Southern Command, according to a Thursday Pentagon announcement. Read More
U.S. Southern Command Commander, U.S. Navy Adm. Kurt W. Tidd speaks on Dec. 17, 2017. US Army Photo
Chinese businesses are exploring land development deals near the Panama Canal and offering their skills in building the region’s information technology infrastructure. These are prime examples of Beijing’s stepped-up economic involvement in the Western Hemisphere, the senior American military official for Central and South America told reporters Monday. Read More
U.S. Navy Adm. Kurt W. Tidd, commander of U.S. Southern Command, speaks with service members on Nov. 22, 2017. US Army Photo
The Southern Command’s top officer told the Senate Armed Services Committee he is receiving only a fraction of the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance resources he needs to stem the flow of illegal rugs, people and money into the United States. Read More
Adm. Kurt Tidd (left), commander of U.S. Southern Command, visits with Brazilian Maj. Gen. Jorge Lopes Fossi (right), commander of the PANAMAX 2017 exercise Combined Forces Land Component Command at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, on Aug. 15, 2017. US Army photo.
The United States needs to continually engage in building stronger ties with the nations of Central and South America because “no other region has more impact on our daily lives,” Adm. Kurt Tidd told a gathering of Olmsted Foundation scholars Wednesday in Washington. Read More
Adm. Kurt W. Tidd, commander, U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), speaks to the crew of amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) in 2016. US Navy Photo
Rather than concentrating on cutting off goods moved via illegally trafficking – people, cocaine, opioids, gold, exotic animal and plants – U.S. Southern Command and its national partners are now looking at the best way to disrupt the criminal networks that control that flow, SOUTHCOM commander Adm. Kurt Tidd said at a Coast Guard Academy leadership event Tuesday. Read More
Sailors assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 28 (HSC-28) embrace Haitians after delivering aid to a landing zone on Oct. 16. USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) and the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit are providing disaster relief and humanitarian aid to Haiti following Hurricane Matthew. US Navy photo.
Ground-based Marine Corps and Army aviation units are already leaving Haiti and amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) will likely leave this week, as the military wraps up its Hurricane Matthew response effort and turns the long-term rebuilding effort over to United States Agency for International Development and other organizations. Read More
An Army UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter from the 1st Battalion, 228th Aviation Regiment lands on the flight deck aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen (DDG 82) while conducting deck landing qualifications (DLQs). Lassen is currently underway in support of Operation Martillo, a joint operation with the U.S. Coast Guard and partner nations within the 4th Fleet area of responsibility. SOUTHCOM commander Adm. Kurt Tidd said he’s been pushing for greater inter-agency and international collaboration as well as innovation in his theater, all of which was showcased in Operation Martillo. US Navy photo.
U.S. Southern Command wants to be a hub for innovation, both in serving as an early tester for new technologies and ideas that can be brought into theater and also in seeking creative ways to get more ships into theater to train with regional partners. Read More
USS Lassen (DDG-82) operating in U.S. Southern Command in February 2016 on its way to Mayport, Fla. US Navy Photo
The head of Southern Command told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday that he does not have the ships or aircraft to fully carry out the interdiction mission to stop the flow of drugs and migrants from Central America into the United States. Read More
