The U.S. Army’s 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade (SFAB) will deploy an advisory team to Colombia June 1 to support U.S. enhanced counternarcotics cooperation with Colombian security forces.
The brigade’s company-sized advisory team will provide military support to U.S.-Colombia diplomatic and development efforts by training, advising, and assisting host units with strengthening capabilities crucial to U.S.-Colombia enhanced counter-narcotics cooperation.
The deployment marks the first time an SFAB advisory team supports a partner country in the region and will support the Enhanced Counternarcotics Operation announced April 1 by U.S. President Donald Trump.
“The SFAB mission in Colombia is an opportunity to show our mutual commitment against drug trafficking and support for regional peace, respect for sovereignty, and the lasting promise to defend shared ideals and values,” said in a statement U.S. Navy Admiral Craig S. Faller, commander of U.S. Southern Command.
SFAB members receive specialized education at the Military Advisor Training Academy at Fort Benning in the United States, where they learn to assist the professional military forces of U.S. partners and allies based on operational and institutional needs. They are trained and equipped to assess, support, advise, and liaise with defense and security partners around the globe.
In Colombia, the team will work with host units in areas designated by the Colombian government as “priority areas,” where they will focus on logistics, services, and intelligence capabilities directly supporting U.S.-Colombia counternarcotics collaboration and information sharing.
Upon arrival in Colombia, the team will comply with the country’s mandatory 14-day preventive isolation and biosecurity protocols required to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 virus. The team will remain with their host units as determined by U.S. and Colombia military leadership assessment.
The U.S. and Colombia have a longstanding history of supporting cooperative solutions and collaborative responses to security challenges and threats of concern in the Western Hemisphere.