The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Kain, has summoned defence ministers and senior military representatives from 34 Western Hemisphere countries to a rare meeting on February 11, billed as an effort to build consensus on shared security priorities and deepen regional cooperation. U.S. officials describe the gathering as an opportunity to align approaches to threats that cross national borders, with a particular emphasis on narcotics trafficking and organised crime.
The meeting comes amid an intense U.S. military campaign in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific against vessels Washington calls "drug boats." Since early September, U.S. forces have carried out over 35 strikes that the Pentagon characterises as targeting narcotics operations, actions that U.S. authorities say have killed more than a hundred people. U.S. officials have not published evidence publicly demonstrating that the vessels struck were actively engaged in drug trafficking, and the sustained deployment represents the largest U.S. military presence in the Caribbean in decades.
At stake is more than tactical cooperation. For Washington, the summit is meant to legitimise and internationalise a strategy that links military presence, intelligence-sharing and law-enforcement coordination to choke off routes for illicit drugs and the criminal organisations that exploit them. For many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, the invocation of military-to-military ties raises questions about sovereignty, legal authority over use of force on the seas, and the appropriate balance between policing and military action.
The operation also carries reputational risks. If partner governments and publics conclude that strikes lack transparent evidence or cause civilian harm, the meeting could harden scepticism and complicate future collaboration. Conversely, if the summit yields concrete mechanisms for regional verification, joint investigations and capacity building for interdiction that respect legal norms, it could institutionalise a shared response to transnational crime and defuse bilateral tensions over unilateral U.S. action.
Washington's push to convene so many defence leaders simultaneously signals the diplomatic urgency the United States attaches to the issue, and it will test whether military diplomacy can translate into political legitimacy for contested operations at sea. How participating states frame outcomes — operational protocols, intelligence-sharing agreements, or public standards for evidence — will determine whether the gathering marks a turning point in hemispheric security cooperation or a flashpoint for regional pushback.