Happening now: @USNorthernCmd @Southcom commanders testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee
SASC Chair @SenJackReed says there will also be a classified briefing on #China's growing influence in Central & South America...
SASC Chair @SenJackReed says there will also be a classified briefing on #China's growing influence in Central & South America...
"Now, more than ever, I feel a sense of urgency about the global threats we face here in our neighborhood" @Southcom's Commander, Adm Craig Faller, tells lawmakers
Faller says top 2 threats are #China & transnational criminal organizations
Faller says top 2 threats are #China & transnational criminal organizations
#China working on "over 44 deals" in the @Southcom area of responsibility per Adm Faller
Deals include "significant loans", push for IT infrastructure
"We can't let them prevail" per Faller
Deals include "significant loans", push for IT infrastructure
"We can't let them prevail" per Faller
Transnational criminal organizations "drive illegal migration and they allow bad actors like #China to gain influence" per @Southcom's Adm Faller
#Venezuela: "#Maduro continue to cling to power w/the support of #Cuba, #Russia, #Iran & #China" per @Southcom's Adm Faller
"The only way to counter these influences, these threats is to strengthen partnerships" per @Southcom's Adm Faller "That's how we'll win the strategic competition"
"We have entered an era of renewed global competition & this time we're facing two peer competitors, both nuclear armed" per @USNorthernCmd @NORADCommand's Gen Glen VanHerck
"We must adapt"
"We must adapt"
"The rise of transnational criminal organizations & the subsequent strains on governance & the instability they create has created additional opportunities for our competitors that they are working to exploit" per @USNorthernCmd @NORADCommand's Gen VanHerck
"We must invest early & often in relationships w/allies & partners to develop a global team of like-minded nations" per @USNorthernCmd @NORADCommand's Gen VanHerck
.SASC Ranking Member @JimInhofe asking about border security/immigration
"All nations deserve secure borders" per @Southcom's Adm Faller "Our focus has been on that heinous insecurity in Central America caused by transnational criminal organizations"
"All nations deserve secure borders" per @Southcom's Adm Faller "Our focus has been on that heinous insecurity in Central America caused by transnational criminal organizations"
"They market in drugs, and people and guns and illegal mining" per @Southcom's Adm Faller
"One of the prime sources that underwrites there efforts is Chinese money laundering" he adds
"One of the prime sources that underwrites there efforts is Chinese money laundering" he adds
Illegal migration - "The #1 deterrent that I hear of when I speak to all our partner nations is the United States judicial system" per @Southcom's Adm Faller
"Border security is nat'l security" per @USNorthernCmd's Gen VanHerck "I agree that we must consider out laws that are in place"
Says NORTHCOM providing support to @DHSgov - both aviation & ground support
Says NORTHCOM providing support to @DHSgov - both aviation & ground support
.@Southcom has less than 1% of US intelligence, surveillance & reconnaissance [ISR] assets, per Adm Faller
"Our influence is eroding & that margin is shrinking" @Southcom's Adm Faller tells lawmakers "It is important that we remain engaged... proximity matters"
Region "is sinking in the violence & it is sinking in #Chinese influence" per @Southcom's Adm Faller "What I hear from our partners is... 'We want to partner w/you but when your drowning you need a life ring - you're going to take the life ring from whoever throws it'"
Drugs - "We can't interdict our way out the narcotics problem" per @Southcom's Adm Faller "We've got to get our partners in the game"
Faller says partners have increased efforts despite #COVID19
Faller says partners have increased efforts despite #COVID19
#Arctic - "Both #Russia & #China are trying to establish new norms & rules of behavior" per @USNorthernCmd's Gen VanHerck
#Disinformation: @Southcom's Adm Faller tells lawmakers about one US partner who complained to him about #China's technology - supposed to help fight crime - "but then oddly appears outside the US embassy & other places which are in the most secure part of the city" per Faller
"These efforts have got to require a whole of gvt, whole world approach where we offer a safe technology & safe, affordable solutions" per @Southcom's Adm Faller
"We've really participated w/US Special Operations Command in standing up appropriate information & capabilities to counter in the information space" per @Southcom's Adm Faller
"That effort is nascent. It's having some effect but its' very small scale given the volume"
"That effort is nascent. It's having some effect but its' very small scale given the volume"
"In #Russia alone they had over 17 million #disinformation hits last year in social media" per @Southcom's Faller
Russia's #Spanish efforts increased 3x last year, "trying to discredit everything the United States did to help our partners recover from the [#COVID] pandemic"
Russia's #Spanish efforts increased 3x last year, "trying to discredit everything the United States did to help our partners recover from the [#COVID] pandemic"
#China trying to win influence in @USNorthernCmd area, per Gen VanHerck, pointing to Chinese 5G efforts in the #Bahamas, efforts in #Mexico
#China moving into @Southcom area w/"heavy handed mask & vaccine diplomacy" per Adm Faller
"The are using the vaccines to leverage deals for their IT, their 5G" he says "And they're using it to try to drive a wedge between some nations like #Taiwan & others in the region"
"The are using the vaccines to leverage deals for their IT, their 5G" he says "And they're using it to try to drive a wedge between some nations like #Taiwan & others in the region"
US Southern border - "I'm aware of intelligence reports that corroborate" foreign nationals from #Africa #Asia trying to cross into US from #Mexico, per @USNorthernCmd's Gen VanHerck
"I believe that we must continue to monitor anybody who has nefarious desires for our country" per @USNorthernCmd's Gen VanHerck "There will be people taking advantage of the opportunity to come across that border"
.@Southcom's Adm Faller describes #China's effort to gain dominance in Central & South America as a "full-court press"
"I look at this hemisphere as the front line of competition" he says
"I look at this hemisphere as the front line of competition" he says
To push back vs #China, @Southcom needs "additional intelligence assets, continued security cooperation [w/partners]... & then enough assets to stay on the field" including US security force assistance brigades (SFABs), per Adm. Faller
Law of the Sea Treaty - @USNorthernCmd's Gen VanHerck says it's in US interest to join
"It gives us a better posture, a seat at the table, more credibility when we work many of the issues that we have to work around the globe w/allies, partners & potential competitors"
"It gives us a better posture, a seat at the table, more credibility when we work many of the issues that we have to work around the globe w/allies, partners & potential competitors"
.@USNorthernCmd's Gen VanHerck agrees w/assessment from @SenAngusKing that the treaty especially needed w/developments in the #Arctic
"The disinformation by #Russia seeks to discredit every act of goodness, & we do many" per @Southcom's Adm Faller "To the extent that drives migration, there's no doubt"
"The transnational criminal organizations are just murderous, violent organizations" per @Southcom's Adm Faller "They're murdering ppl, driving migration. And they're fueled on corruption"
.@Southcom's Adm Faller calls corruption a "common element" linking crime orgs & #Russia #China
"There is an interconnection" he says, adding "the money laundering connection is the most significant"
"There is an interconnection" he says, adding "the money laundering connection is the most significant"
#Hezbollah: "The long arm of #Iran|ian malfeasance is felt globally & in this hemisphere" per @Southcom's Adm Faller
"We have seen an increase, presence of Iran activities in #Venezuela" per @Southcom's Adm Faller "We've seen the continued involvement w/the diaspora & economic fundraising particularly down in the tri-border region neighboring #Paraguay, #Argentina, & #Brazil"
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