Category: Southern Command

Source: United States SOUTHERN COMMAND

WASHINGTON  –  

On Dec. 28, 2016, President Barack Obama published the annual proclamation of January as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is developing next-generation search technologies to help investigators find the online perpetrators of those crimes.

Wade Shen, a program manager in DARPA’s Information Innovation Office, said in a recent DoD News interview that the program, called Memex, is designed to help law enforcement officers and others perform online investigations to hunt down human traffickers.

“Our goal is to understand the footprint of human trafficking in online spaces, whether that be the dark web or the open web,” he explained, characterizing the dark web as the anonymous internet, accessed through a system, among others, called Tor.

“The term dark web is used to refer to the fact that crimes can be committed in those spaces because they’re anonymous,” Shen said, “and therefore, people can make use of [them] for nefarious activities.”

Point of Sale

The approach he and his team have taken is to collect data from the Internet and make it accessible through search engines.

“Typically, this is data that’s hard for commercial search engines to get at, and it’s typically the point of sale where sex trafficking is happening,” Shen explained. “Victims of sex trafficking are often sold as prostitutes online, and a number of websites are the advertising point where people who want to buy and people who are selling can exchange information, or make deals.

“What we’re looking for,” he continued, “is online behavioral signals in the ads that occur in these spaces that help us detect whether or not a person is being trafficked.”

When a prostitute is advertised online as being “new in town” or by specific characteristics, those are hints that person might be trafficked. New in town means a person might be moving around, and the term “fresh” often means a person is underage, Shen explained. “Those kinds of things are indicators we can use to figure out whether or not a person is being pimped and trafficked,” he added.

Trafficking Signals

Before the Memex program formally began in late 2014, Shen’s team was working with the district attorney of New York to determine if they could find signals associated with trafficking in prostitution ads on popular websites.

“We found that lots of signals existed in the data, whether they be phone numbers used repeatedly by organizations that are selling multiple women online, or branding tattoos that exist in photos online, or signals in the text of the ads,” Shen said.

Shen’s team had been working on text-based exploitation programs for big data — extremely large data sets that may be analyzed computationally to reveal patterns, trends and associations, especially relating to human behavior and interactions. But they thought that if they extended the technology to understand images and networks of people, then they could apply it to detecting rings of traffickers and behaviors associated with trafficking online.

“If we could do that,” he said, “we could … generate leads for investigators so they wouldn’t have to sift through millions of ads in order to find the small number of ads that are associated with trafficking. So that’s what we did.”

Prosecuting Perpetrators

Early on, the team realized that search wasn’t quite the right modality for doing such investigations and that there was a lot more work to do before the technology could be adapted to trafficking. That’s when the Memex program began, Shen said.

“Since the beginning of the program, we’ve had a strong relationship with the district attorney of New York, but they’re not the only user of the technology. Over time, we have engaged with many different law enforcement agencies, including 26 in the United Kingdom, the district attorney of San Francisco, and a number of others,” he said.

Investigators for the district attorney of New York were able to use Memex tools to find and prosecute perpetrators, and that resulted in an arrest and conviction in the program’s first year, he added.

“Since then,” Shen said, “there have been hundreds of arrests and other convictions by a variety of law enforcement agencies in the United States and abroad.”

Today, more than 33 agencies are using the tools, he added, and an increasing number of local law enforcement agencies are using the tools.

“As word of mouth spreads about the tools and the fact that we give free access to the tools to law enforcement, more and more people are signing up to use it,” he said.

Shen said it’s easy for his team to work with state, local and federal partners in the United States, but it’s harder to work with agencies abroad.

“But we’re committed to do that,” he added, “so we are in the process of working out deals with a number of those agencies so they have access to the tools we currently deploy and to allow them, after we exit [when the program ends in a year] … to continue to run their own versions of these tools.”

Noble Cause

DARPA funds the Memex project, which, according to the agency’s budget office, has cost $67 million to date. But rather than do the work, as with its other projects, DARPA catalyzes commercial agents, universities and others to develop the technology, Shen said.

“They are experts in their fields — image analysis, text analysis or web crawling and so on — and we engage the best of that community to work on this problem. What they’ve essentially done is form coalitions to … build the tools [needed] to solve the problem, because no one of the entities that we call performers is able to do that on their own,” he added.

The Memex program has 17 different performers, and many of them also work with partners. “So all in all,” Shen said, “we have hundreds of people who are working on this effort. All of them are very dedicated to this problem, because the problem of human trafficking is real.”

When Shen’s team started the program, one of the things they realized was that the cost of people in these spaces, the cost of slaves, is essentially zero, he added.

“That means our lives are essentially worthless in some sense, and that just seems wrong,” he said. “That motivated us and a lot of our performers to do something, especially when we build technology for all sorts of commercial applications for profit and for other motives. That’s what a lot of our folks do on a day-to-day basis, and they felt the need to make use of their technology for a noble cause. We think Memex is one of these noble causes.”

(Follow Cheryl Pellerin on Twitter: @PellerinDoDNews)

Source: United States SOUTHERN COMMAND

Military leaders from 20 states descended upon Fort Sam Houston Jan. 18 in support of the DoD joint security cooperation program, managed by the National Guard Bureau that matches the states/territories of National Guards within the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility of Central and South America and the Caribbean.

Source: United States SOUTHERN COMMAND

SOTO CANO AIR BASE, Honduras  –   Members from Joint Task Force-Bravo completed a two-day troop movement of Honduran soldiers Dec. 17, 2015, in the Gracias a Dios Department (state) of Honduras, as a part of a greater endeavor to assist the Central American nation’s efforts to combat the trafficking of illicit materials through the region.

The troop-movement mission is part of a greater Honduran operation, named CARAVANA, and this iteration was the final one this calendar year, continuing to develop and build on the effects of the operation from the initial vision and request for support from the Honduran president in October 2014.

Originally, the request for aid to move troops came from the Honduran President’s office to Gen. John F. Kelly, U.S. Southern Command commander.

“Our President has recognized the importance of supporting our Central American partners, making the region one of his top foreign policy priorities,” Kelly stated in his March 12, 2015 Posture Statement to Congress. “We are now seeing real progress being made by the three ‘Northern Triangle’ countries. While there are many good examples, the situation is especially encouraging in Honduras, where the government is working hard to combat the drug trade, re-establish governance in remote areas, and take meaningful action to protect human rights.”

Since its initiation, Operation CARAVANA has facilitated the movement of nearly 5,000 troops and over 210,000 pounds of cargo between remote locations in the eastern part of Honduras, giving the country the ability to quickly focus and adjust their forces against the ever changing tactics traffickers use in the region.

As Operation CARAVANA continues to evolve in its execution, JTF-Bravo continues to work in support of the Honduran Forces to ensure we facilitate efforts to gain significant effects against the trafficking organizations working within Honduras. 

“The execution of this operation on a consistent basis has not only achieved the right effects within Gracias a Dios, but also effects throughout the region – impacting the overall trafficking network,” said Col. Robert Harman, JTF-Bravo commander. “In addition, it has increased our interaction with the Honduran Staff in developing detailed and integrated plans, and also integrated command and control throughout the Honduran 30 day rotations of Operation CARAVANA. This operation is not only impacting the environment but providing the time and space for further development of our partnered forces.”

Source: United States SOUTHERN COMMAND

MIAMI (March 22, 2024) — The commander of U.S. Southern Command, U.S. Army Gen. Laura Richardson, accompanied U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo during a visit to Costa Rica March 21-22.

During the visit, Richardson joined the Secretary as she met with President Rodrigo Chaves Robles, Costa Rican government officials and representatives from the semiconductor industry to highlight the U.S.-Costa Rican bilateral commercial and investment relationship, and to underscore the need for diverse and resilient semiconductor supply chains. The Department of Defense is an interagency partner in a whole-of-government effort under the CHIPS and Science Act.

During the meeting with President Chaves March 22, Richardson discussed both nations’ ongoing collaboration in the shared fight against drug trafficking. She discussed working with the State Department to develop a “holistic, comprehensive strategy” to assist President Chaves’ goal to scan 100% of shipments into and out of the country.  In addition to port scanners, the strategy will include investments in training, infrastructure, and tools necessary to counter the flow of narcotics.   

“We continue to work very hard and very fast to mitigate this security challenge. At the request of President Chaves for port scanners, it is my intent to allocate funding for the port scanners to Costa Rica to help with this bold effort,” said Richardson. “These efforts demonstrate the power of Costa Rica and the Team USA partnership. Our aggressive efforts to improve security for the people of Costa Rica are based on our shared values and our common goal of creating a safer, more prosperous democratic region.”

Throughout the trip, the Secretary addressed the need for geographical diversification of the semiconductor ecosystem to like-minded nations through meetings with Costa Rican government officials and representatives from the semiconductor industry.

The trip included participation in Costa Rica’s national semiconductor strategy event, a meeting with private sector representatives at AMCHAM Costa Rica to discuss the importance of U.S. commercial investment, and the launch of Costa Rica’s Regional Center of Excellence which aims to create a hub for workforce development for Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity countries in critical digital technology sectors.

Source: United States SOUTHERN COMMAND

Forty-three U.S. Air Force active duty and reserve Airmen traveled to St. Kitts and Nevis in support of this year’s Lesser Antilles Medical Assistance Team mission, where they will be working alongside host nation counterparts to foster mutual collaboration and training, and provide the best possible care for patients.

Source: United States SOUTHERN COMMAND

The crisis in Haiti requires an international solution that also includes the Haitian perspective, said Army Gen. Laura Richardson, commander of U.S. Southern Command. 

Southcom has a wide range of contingency plans and is prepared for a possible mass migration from Haiti or elsewhere, she said today at an Atlantic Council event. 

“We want to be able to do what’s right and humane and be able to take care of the populations that are trying to escape the crisis,” Richardson said. 

As of now, the U.S. doesn’t have plans to send troops into Haiti, she said. The State Department is working with other governments in the region and internationally, as well as with nongovernmental organizations, to provide solutions. 

Richardson said there’s a lot of international support for Guyana, as neighboring Venezuela disputes their common border. “We continue to watch the situation very, very closely,” she said. 

When asked about a Chinese space facility in Argentina, Richardson said the U.S. continues its close collaboration with Argentine government. “That is for Argentina to decide on how that facility will remain, if it remains there, and what the way ahead for it is.” 

Regarding China’s strategy for the region, Richardson said Beijing is eager to import minerals and food from various nations. China’s trade within Southcom’s area of responsibility has gone from about $12 billion to about $300 billion over the last 20 years and is expected to double by 2035. 

She said China has also provided loans to nations in the region with strings attached. The U.S. doesn’t do business with strings attached “because we’re a like-minded democracy. We would like this region to remain free, secure and prosperous,” Richardson said. 

Equipment Swap 

Nine nations in the region have Russian military equipment, she said. The U.S. is offering to swap out that equipment for use in Ukraine and will backfill it with U.S. equipment, which is much better than Russian-made equipment. 

Richardson said she’s enthused that women’s peace and security efforts in the region are making progress. Women are being integrated into the military, thereby increasing readiness of nations. 

The general said she looks forward to continuing to engage with partners in the region to cut down on illegal fishing, mining and logging and the trafficking of people, drugs and counterfeit goods, as well as other criminal activities. 

Source: United States SOUTHERN COMMAND

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent and the Grenadines  –  

Under the direction of U.S. Southern Command, 12th Air Force (Air Forces Southern) successfully pioneered its first Lesser Antilles Medical Assistance Team mission to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, March 4–12.

The team of 34 active duty and reserve Airmen traveled to St. Vincent to work closely with their host nation medical counterparts in an effort to hone skills through mutual training and education while ultimately benefiting patient care.

“We came here with the mission of providing needed medical care for the communities of St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” said Lt. Col. Jessica Arcilla, troop commander. “But we have achieved more than that in the short time that we’ve spent here on the island working side-by-side with this country’s experienced providers.”

Throughout the 10-day mission, the team treated over 500 patients, providing services that amounted to approximately $800,000 in free medical care. LAMAT members also disseminated needed medical supplies amounting to $186,000 to local healthcare facilities.

“Words are not enough to express gratitude to you for the resources you have brought with you and which will remain with us in our healthcare system,” said Cuthbert Knights, permanent secretary for the Ministry of Health, Wellness and the Environment. 

“We are a very resilient country, a very resilient population, but that resilience requires that we acknowledge that we can’t do this alone,” said Dr. Simone Keizer Beache, chief medical officer to St. Vincent and the Grenadines. “The Ministry of Health’s motto is, ‘your health is a shared responsibility,’ and this is how we work.”

LAMAT not only seeks to strengthen cooperation between the U.S. and its partner nations, it capitalizes upon the unique local environment, serving as a readiness mission to better prepare Air Force personnel for deployments to austere environments.  

“You taught us how to be inventive, resourceful, creative and better problem solvers,” said Arcilla during the mission’s closing ceremony. “Thanks to what our counterparts in St. Vincent have taught us, we have become better doctors, nurses, medics, technicians, dentists, logisticians and administrators.”

Notably, the LAMAT orthopedic team performed St. Vincent’s first-ever knee arthroscopy surgery. The procedure is used for diagnosing and treating joint problems by inserting a small camera that allows a surgeon to see inside the joint without making a large incision.

“This mission is not just a testament to our shared commitment to health and wellbeing, but also to the enduring partnership between the United States and St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” stated U.S Coast Guard Cmdr. Jamie Collins, U.S. Embassy in Barbados senior defense official. “Let us look forward to a future filled with promise and possibility, where the bonds between our countries grow ever stronger.”

The LAMAT 2024 mission has impacted over 2,200 patients across three locations, including Suriname, St. Lucia and St. Vincent, with additional medical teams set to support St. Kitts and Nevis this coming week and progressing until the end of March.

Source: United States SOUTHERN COMMAND

CASTRIES, St. Lucia  –  

After two weeks of high-volume patient care, alongside local medical personnel, the Lesser Antilles Medical Assistance Team mission concluded in St. Lucia, March 8, 2024.

This mission brought 17 Air Force, surgeons, nurses, and technicians to St. Lucia, where they participated in health engagements and developed strong relationships with medical counterparts.

The LAMAT team marked several success stories along the way, performing 50 surgeries while exchanging valuable information and knowledge with host nation medical personnel. This effort enabled local facilities to build greater vascular surgery capacity for patients. Additionally, the team was able to build valuable relationships with their counterparts in St. Lucia.

“This mission was heavenly because of the camaraderie, networking, and above all, the use of the knowledge at the appropriate time…the wisdom that was transferred was immeasurable,” said Dr. Jason Tobierre, OKEU general surgeon. “The long-term impact is going to help a lot of people, not just from this island but from other islands as well.”

U.S. Air Force active duty and reservist Airmen worked alongside 32 St. Lucian medical personnel to train with each other and build positive relationships during their short but impactful time together.

“As the 17 LAMAT members prepare to leave, we can say with confidence that this mission has indeed sealed our special friendship with the United States military, founded on the principles of knowledge exchange, humanitarian effort, and commitment to partnership,” said Dr. Lisa Charles, OKEU director of clinical services.

The troop commander of the St. Lucia LAMAT team expressed that this mission was the best moment of his career.

“I can unequivocally say these past two weeks have been the pinnacle of my military and professional career,” said Lt. Col. Devin Watson, LAMAT troop commander. “This experience has been a journey of immense personal growth, as each day presented new challenges, new triumphs, and new relationships that have left an indelible mark on my soul.”

Mission planners included scrub nurses, post-anesthesia care unit nurses, biomedical engineering technicians, and other specialties as part of the LAMAT team in St. Lucia to ensure a broad scope of knowledge exchange.

“I would like to express our sincerest gratitude to counterparts here in St. Lucia for trusting us with your patients’ care, for treating us with such respect as colleagues and teammates, for showing us the pride, beauty, and joy found in this great country, and for reaffirming the ‘why’ many of us went into medicine in the first place,” said Watson.

“While extremely grateful for the over 220,000 Eastern Caribbean dollars of donated supplies, the truth is that this United States humanitarian effort would have been impossible without the expertise of the men and women who traveled here with the singular purpose of working alongside us to serve those in need,” said Charles.

LAMAT 2024 incorporated missions in addition to St. Lucia, including recently concluded missions in Suriname and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Additional medical assistance team members traveled to St. Kitts and Nevis as the final stop for the LAMAT mission through the end of March.

Source: United States SOUTHERN COMMAND

CASTRIES, St. Lucia  –  

The U.S. Air Force Lesser Antilles Medical Assistance Team deployed ready-medics, for the second year, to work alongside St. Lucia’s health teams to achieve mutual benefits and build trust in the region from Feb. 26 to March 10, 2024.

The team consists of 17 Active Duty and Reserve Airmen who are participating in this year’s LAMAT mission, assisting in health engagements, exchanging best practices and developing stronger relationships with host nation counterparts.

“We are excited to engage and learn from one another while building the relationships so crucial to the future of our partnership,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Devin Watson, troop commander. “We thank our counterparts here in St. Lucia for allowing us to work alongside them in their medical facilities and we look forward to building upon the relationships developed last year between our two medical communities.”

The LAMAT mission seeks to strengthen U.S. partnerships in Latin America and the Caribbean region by providing relief to overwhelmed medical facilities through collaboration with host nation medical practitioners and respective Ministry of Health officials.

“I want to take the opportunity to highlight that the United States medical mission not only provides timely medical and surgical support to our patients, but also builds capacity in our country as our clinical teams work alongside the U.S. Air Force to facilitate training and knowledge transfer,” said Dr. Sharon Belmar-George, Ministry of Health, Wellness and Elderly Affairs chief medical officer.

On the heels of the most recent celebration of Saint Lucian Independence Day, the LAMAT team arrived on the island with surgeons, nurses, biomedical technicians, logistics personnel and surgical technicians. Patients were pre-selected in coordination with hospital medical directors and physicians under the direction of the host nation’s Ministry of Health.

“With us, we brought $75,000 worth of supplies and pharmaceuticals, weighing over 1,336 kilos, to support the mission and continue to provide ongoing mutual benefits to both the U.S. and St. Lucia beyond our time here,” said Watson.

This medical assistance training opportunity offers real-world benefits to the United States, the people of St. Lucia and their medical teams by relieving strained medical systems, training U.S. and local medical professionals, and promoting the health and well-being of the communities.

“As the 17-strong LAMAT team joins us…we can confidently say we have sealed a special partnership and friendship with the United States military based on knowledge exchange, skills development and shared objective to improve care for the clients we serve,” said Dr. Lisa Charles, Owen King European Union Hospital director of clinical services.

“I feel a profound sense of both gratitude and optimism for the future when I see what can be done when like minds, driven by a shared passion for improving the lives of people, takes root through cooperation, helping us achieve together what we could not do alone,” said Charles.

Source: United States SOUTHERN COMMAND

PARAMARIBO, Suriname  –  

The Lesser Antilles Medical Assistance Team mission is underway for a second year of health engagements across four nations, beginning in Suriname, 19 Feb.

Forty-two U.S. Air Force active duty and reserve personnel will work alongside Surinamese military and civilian medical counterparts over the next two weeks to assist in providing medical care, training, and education within the communities.

“We are excited to engage and learn from one another, while building the relationships so crucial to the future of our partnership,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Robert Noll, troop commander.

This is the second year the LAMAT mission has visited Suriname. Selected patients have been identified in coordination with hospital medical directors and physicians under the guidance of Suriname’s Ministry of Health. Cases will be aligned with USAF member’s specialties spanning surgery, nursing, dental and family health.

Director of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Rakesh Gajadhar Sukul, spoke highly of the preparation that went into planning this year’s LAMAT mission, including taking the time to build upon relationships from last year’s success and determining the needs of hospitals and the communities they serve.

“We have to make priorities so that we can save as much life as possible and serve the community,” said Sukul.“I’m more than convinced that the work will be done very successfully.”

The medical assistance team brought approximately 10,000 pounds of supplies and equipment valued at $250,000. The supplies are meant to provide ongoing benefits to patients during the mission as well as after the conclusion of LAMAT.

“This is something that’s people-to-people, coming together to work on common challenges,” said Robert Faucher, U.S. Ambassador to Suriname. “I think the cooperation that we’ll see today and in the coming weeks will be evidence of the United States being a strong partner and a friend of Suriname.”

Further medical assistance teams under the LAMAT 2024 mission will travel to St. Lucia, St. Vincent, St. Kitts and Nevis through March 29.