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Transnational Crime: The Americas’ Leading Security Threat

March 29, 2012
With "transnational organized crime" a growing concern and threat to security, what was once the pervue of local governments is increasingly a focus for the U.S. military. For example, many of the most effected nations in Central America lack the resources to adequately provide a level of security that matches threats to borders and citizens alike. To learn more about the situation in the region, we spoke with the man in charge. United States Air Force General Douglas Fraser serves as Commander of U.S. Southern Command, working with a variety of South and Central American governments in an effort to combat a host of criminal activities such as drug trafficking, smuggling, and kidnapping. Gen. Douglas M. Fraser is Commander, U.S. Southern Command, Miami, Fla. USSOUTHCOM is responsible for all Department of Defense security cooperation in the 45 nations and territories of Central and South America and the Caribbean Sea, an area of 16 million square miles.

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Latin America Program

The Wilson Center’s prestigious Latin America Program provides non-partisan expertise to a broad community of decision makers in the United States and Latin America on critical policy issues facing the Hemisphere. The Program provides insightful and actionable research for policymakers, private sector leaders, journalists, and public intellectuals in the United States and Latin America. To bridge the gap between scholarship and policy action, it fosters new inquiry, sponsors high-level public and private meetings among multiple stakeholders, and explores policy options to improve outcomes for citizens throughout the Americas. Drawing on the Wilson Center’s strength as the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum, the Program serves as a trusted source of analysis and a vital point of contact between the worlds of scholarship and action.  Read more