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...region--how can work as a multinational community to best provide for our citizens.
A Strategic Inflection Point
A night satellite image of Latin America and the Caribbean reveals some fascinating characteristics that affect governance and security. The lights reflect urbanization, commerce, and development. While one may wonder about the role of the armed forces in an urban environment that is generally the province of law enforcement, there is a clear need to focus on the security imperatives of the darker areas.
Does the night image give us any indication of ungoverned spaces within both the darkest and brightest points? Should security forces have an even greater role in those areas where other government presence may be reduced? Is the protection of the environment and natural resources a subset of enforcing national sovereignty?
In the dark waters surrounding the Americas in this satellite image, you can also see tracks of vessels. The majority of those tracks represent fishing boats and commercial shipping, but some of the maritime movement there indicates the illicit trafficking of weapons, drugs, and people.
How do we sort out the illicit trafficking from the legitimate traffic? How do we inspect vessels for contraband without interrupting the flow of time-critical commerce? And how do naval forces protect human life on the high seas, all the while exercising the right of self-defense?
The answers to these questions will depend on those who have authority over national security, as well as the public will, of each sovereign nation. There are no quick or easy solutions, but it is clear that how we address these issues will directly affect the security of all our citizens. The U.S. Southern Command, and arguably the U.S. Government, is at a strategic inflection point. By that term, I mean a concept coined by Andrew Grove, former CEO of Intel Corporation. Grove has defined strategic inflection points as "points in the life of every industry where you must change dramatically to reach new levels of performance. If you miss these points, you will decline." (1) These are points in time when the environment changes so dramatically that reliance on the skills, behaviors, and practices that made us successful in one paradigm is no longer enough.
To continue to thrive, we must be willing to radically...
NOTE: All illustrations and photos
have been removed from this article.
More articles from Joint Force Quarterly
Limits of influence: creating security forces in Latin America., July 01, 2006
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An interview with Acting Director, DOD Office of Force Transformation:..., July 01, 2006
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