Nestled inside the Captain’s meeting room aboard a ship sit two women. Suddenly, three men in blue military service uniforms and armed with assault rifles burst in and begin to search the area while another armed man takes the women to the main deck for interrogation about suspicions of human [ … ]
Special Report


Colombian War College: Female Officers Who Make a Difference
Colombian Air Force Major Ligia Alexandra Medina Gómez, a student in the General Staff course [CEM, in Spanish] 2021 at the General Rafael Reyes Prieto War College (ESDEG, in Spanish), told Diálogo that “the women who are in the CEM are making a difference. Our professionalism and capacity are not [ … ]

Empowering the Enlisted Forces of Partner Nations: SOUTHCOM’s ELPD Program
They are the doers of the armed forces, the eyes and ears of their commanders, who guide and inspire the troops to get the job done. Often referred to as the backbone of the military, noncommissioned officers (NCO) have long been recognized within the U.S. service branches as critical to [ … ]

National Action Plans and Peacekeeping: An Important First Step for WPS Efforts
The landmark United Nations Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security (WPS), which addresses the importance of women’s full and equal participation in conflict resolution, peacebuilding, peacekeeping, humanitarian response, and post-conflict resolution, aims to mainstream gender in U.N. institutions and peacemaking processes of all governments. Consistent with this, [ … ]

Athena’s Sentinels: The Presence of Women in Special Operations Forces of Latin America
The Greek civilization, which flourished between the years 2000 and 500 B.C., revered the goddess Athena, a mythological deity linked to wisdom and battle strategy, the antithesis of Ares, god of war and violence, giving her attributes such as sagacity and astuteness, while aggressiveness and impulsivity were characteristics bestowed upon [ … ]

Costa Rica Achieves Record Drug Seizures with US Assistance
Costa Rica seized 71.2 tons of drugs in 2020, a twofold increase in two years and a new record for the country, which has emerged as a major initial transshipment country for South American drugs en route to the United States. The year 2021 shows no signs of letting up, [ … ]

Bahamas Storm
Ballistic missile submarines and long-range bombers are two of the three legs of the nuclear triad maintained by the United States. Together with land-based intercontinental missiles, the three legs are linked by Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications (NC3) networking capabilities. On August 18, U.S. strategic forces conducted a GLOBAL STORM [ … ]

How China Helps the Cuban Regime Stay Afloat and Shut Down Protests
On July 11, thousands of people across Cuba took to the streets, fed up with the lack of food, basic products, medicine, and vaccines to combat COVID-19. They were the first large-scale demonstrations in Cuba since 1994, and the largest since Fidel Castro took power in 1959. Protesters used social [ … ]

US Army War College — Lasting Bonds of Friendship, Understanding, and Cooperation
In the uncertain times of the 21st century, the role of diplomacy, multilateral cooperation, international organizations, and coalitions of allies and partners is more important than ever before. Today, the challenges facing most nations are less about state-on-state military conflict and more about asymmetric threats from terrorist or criminal groups, [ … ]

Strategic Intelligence in Colombia as a Power Maximizer to Combat Transnational Crime
Since the Constitution of 1991, Colombia has become a social state under the rule of law; that is, the state must ensure the integrity of citizens, and therefore, the country’s sovereignty rests with the people. It is a state with a democratic political system that has developed successfully in recent [ … ]

Strong Institutions Are the Antidote to Disinformation
It is commonly understood that the internet age has meant a significant shift in how citizens get their information, and that the social media era has generated more opportunity for disinformation and misinformation to flourish. While this may be true, it overlooks that the same opportunity bad actors exploit is [ … ]

The Dangers of Potential Russian Counter-UAV Technology Exports to Latin America
The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology has proliferated globally, resulting in myriad uses, both military and civilian. With the steady rise in non-military uses comes the potential and dangers of this technology’s misuse. Presently, the Latin America (LATAM) region is home to major energy and extractive industries infrastructure, port, and [ … ]