U.S. Southern Command
For more than 50 years, U.S. Southern Command has worked to build regional and interagency partnerships to ensure the continued stability of the Western Hemisphere and the forward defense of the U.S. homeland.
A descendent of U.S. military units dispatched to Panama in the early 20th Century, U.S. Southern Command’s history as a unified military headquarters began during World War II when U.S. planners established the U.S. Caribbean Defense Command.
During the 1950s, the command’s responsibility shifted from U.S. military missions in the Caribbean basin to operations focused, primarily, in Central and South America. In 1963, U.S. authorities gave the command its current name, U.S. Southern Command.
Learn more: History of U.S. Southern Command
