US Calls for Military Unity Across Western Hemisphere

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth called on defense chiefs and other senior military leaders from 34 Western Hemisphere countries to unite in deterrence against bad actors who may already be operating in, or working to encroach upon, the region.

Convened by Air Force General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and held in downtown Washington, on February 11, the daylong, first-of-its-kind Western Hemisphere Chiefs of Defense Conference focused on regional security cooperation against narco-terrorism and other criminal enterprises throughout the hemisphere, while also analyzing common security priorities between allies and partner nations.

"We, like you, want — and will — achieve a permanent peace in this hemisphere. So, let's work together [with] our militaries: exercising, training, operations, [intelligence], access, basing, overflight, you name it — let's work together," Hegseth told the gathered leaders.
"To achieve these goals, we have to stand together; there's no other way to do it," he added.

Hegseth said the War Department, under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump and his administration, is prioritizing protecting the homeland and key territories throughout the hemisphere for the first time in decades.

"The United States is asserting, reestablishing and enforcing the Trump corollary of the Monroe Doctrine," Hegseth explained.

Issued in 1823 by President James Monroe, the Monroe Doctrine declared that the Western Hemisphere was off-limits to any new attempts at colonization by European nations, and that any interference by those powers would be viewed as a hostile act against the United States.

Along with the residual benefits of closing the border — which Hegseth said include the biggest drop in illegal border crossings in the past 50 years, he also pointed out the successes that the U.S. military and law enforcement are having through the anti-narco-terror mission to the south, specifically with Operation Southern Spear.

Launched last year by U.S. Southern Command, Southern Spear is a joint U.S. military campaign aimed at disrupting drug trafficking in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.

"Operation Southern Spear has restored deterrence against the narco-terrorist cartels that profit from poisoning Americans and killing our people and your people," Hegseth told the group.

Hegseth also pointed to the success of Operation Absolute Resolve, in which U.S. forces last month captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife.

"Yes, policing is important [and] enforcing is important, but military power is [also] important," Hegseth said, adding that the countries represented during the day's conference must work together to combat and dismantle narco-terrorism and drug trafficking cartels in the Western Hemisphere.

"We need to build those bonds of partnership to defeat the challenges to our security and our sovereignty," he added. "So, as you might say, we can make the Americas great again."