A Conversation With

As commander of the Seventh Coast Guard District, headquartered in Miami, Florida, Rear Admiral Brendan McPherson is responsible for all Coast Guard operations in the southeast United States and the Caribbean Basin, including Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Seventh District encompasses an area [ … ]

Noncommissioned officers (NCOs) in Colombia are highly regarded regionally for their professionalism and hard work. Their leadership and experience in managing troops come with the great responsibility of being the commander’s right-hand man. Diálogo had the opportunity to talk with Joint Command Sergeant Major Luis Alfredo Bueno Márquez, sergeant major [ … ]

Strategic military operations such as Sodom (2010) and Armageddon (2012) have earned Joint Task Force Omega national and international recognition. The force has some 8,000 troops from the Colombian Army, Navy, and Air Force to protect citizens and territory in the departments of Meta, Caquetá, and Guaviare from the criminal [ … ]

Colombia has a new military command to confront narcotrafficking and transnational threats — the Command Against Drug Trafficking and Transnational Threats (CONAT, in Spanish). Diálogo had the opportunity to visit CONAT’s facilities to talk with its commander, Colombian Army Brigadier General Walther Adrián Giraldo Jiménez, and to learn about the [ … ]

U.S. Army General James Dickinson, commander of U.S. Space Command (USSPACECOM) is committed to several lines of effort as the command drives toward full operational capability, including strengthening relationships, attracting new partners, and building and maintaining a competitive advantage. Gen. Dickinson spoke with Diálogo about his partnership with nations within [ … ]

Protecting two seas, nine maritime borders, and confronting Colombia’s internal and external threats are Colombian Navy Commander Admiral Gabriel Alfonso Pérez Garcés’ main tasks. This is possible, he says in conversation with Diálogo, thanks to the personnel’s high level of professionalism, the institution’s national and international prestige, its technological means, [ … ]

The Inter-American Defense College (IADC) is turning 60 this year. To celebrate the date, Diálogo visited the educational institution, located at Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., to talk to its director, U.S. Army National Guard Major General James Taylor. Diálogo: How relevant is IADC today? U.S. Army National Guard Major [ … ]

The Brazilian Air Force (FAB, in Portuguese) has a woman at the command of an operational unit for the first time. On January 26, 2022, Brazilian Air Force Major Márcia Regina Cardoso assumed command of the First Communications and Control Group’s First Squadron (1º/1º GCC, in Portuguese), based at Santa [ … ]

The mission is clear: to make Colombia a country free of suspected antipersonnel mines. This is the task of the Army’s Humanitarian Demining Engineer Brigade, which seeks to clear and decontaminate Colombian territory from the threat of antipersonnel mines planted by illegal armed groups. In Colombia, the Navy’s Marine Corps [ … ]

Combating narcotrafficking chains, their leaders, and dismantling criminal networks have been Colombian Minister of Defense Diego Andrés Molano Aponte’s priorities since he assumed his ministerial duties in February 2021. Minister Molano spoke with Diálogo about important topics for the security and defense sector, such as the frontal fight against narcotrafficking, [ … ]