Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) :OUR NO-FAIL MISSION: DETENTION OPERATIONS

OUR NO-FAIL MISSION: DETENTION OPERATIONS The team at Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) continues to conduct detention operations with the utmost professionalism and strict adherence to international standards. 

Our troops take very seriously their responsibility to provide safe, humane, transparent, and legal care and custody of detainees. I could not be prouder of these young men and women. 

On top of this demanding mission, they support ongoing military commissions, habeas corpus proceedings, periodic review boards, and visits by congressional and foreign government delegations and organizations like the International Committee of the Red Cross. 

We appreciate the support provided in the FY18 NDAA for barracks construction, and we are currently reviewing other key facilities that require replacement or upgrades to enable the JTF to sustain operations as we move forward. 

As relayed previously, I have concerns related to providing specialized, long-term medical care for the aging detainee population. 

We are working with the Department to resolve this issue and will keep this Committee informed on the way-ahead.

OUR REQUIREMENTS 

As I alluded to earlier, while Latin America and the Caribbean is inextricably tied to the security and prosperity of the United States, this region fares poorly in the competition for finite national resources. The ability of our interagency partners to strengthen governance, rule of law, and economic opportunities directly impacts our ability to achieve our military objectives. Persistent gaps in ISR, cyber, and analytic capacities hinder our ability to anticipate crises or adequately mitigate challenges. 

The paucity of our own assigned forces presents another complication; our presence and persistent engagement not only builds trust and confidence with partners, but is especially important to counter threats or malign influence and contain crises in the Western Hemisphere. Mr. Chairman, to put it another way, you have to be on the field to compete, understand, confront, and degrade threats and adversaries. 

I look forward to working with the Congress in the year ahead to help ensure we maintain our competitive advantage in this vital part of the world. I’d like to close by providing a brief overview of our mission requirements and highlight the importance of continued support to our interagency teammates. Defense budget. 

The Congress has provided great support to the USSOUTHCOM mission over the years. Just last year, the Congress recognized the dire need for housing for our troops at JTF-GTMO, authorizing and fully funding a barracks project that would provide that housing. 

We saw this need in even more stark terms with the recent passing of multiple hurricanes through the Caribbean Basin, necessitating the evacuation of personnel from the island because of inadequate housing facilities. Though this project was supported by both the House and Senate, we are unable to proceed with this much-needed project that will directly support our deployed personnel due to the lack of an FY18 Budget—a very real impact of the delay in appropriations. 

This is in addition to the emotional toll this takes on all our people in the way of the disruption and uncertainty they deal with every time we face a potential—or in this case actual—government shutdown, which has become an increasingly regular occurrence. Our men and women deserve better. Regional access. As the only U.S. forward-operating base in the Caribbean and the gateway to the Gulf of Mexico, Naval Station Guantánamo Bay plays a critical role for USSOUTHCOM, the State Department, Navy, Coast Guard, and DHS. The Naval Station is pivotal during mass migration events, counterdrug and search and rescue operations,

humanitarian assistance, and disaster-relief operations in the Caribbean. Similarly, Comalapa, El Salvador (home to one of our two Cooperative Security Locations that directly support the D&M mission) and Soto Cano Airbase (which houses JTF-Bravo, Special Operations Forces, and the SPMAGTF headquarters) provides the bulk of our forward presence in Central America. This access allows us to advance security cooperation efforts, initiate regional disaster response, and support law enforcement operations to disrupt threat networks. These two locations are vital to USSOUTHCOM, and we thank the Congress for its support to their continued operations.