hard
talk forum Does the Obama administration have a
Dan Restrepo
Our pragmatic approach marks a clean break from
ideologically driven, outmoded definitions of foreign policy.
(CON TINUED ON PAGE 26)
icas today.
Personal insecurity—often driven
by transnational criminal organizations ( TCOs)—pervades the Americas,
threatening our security, hampering
regional prosperity and undermining
democratic governance. To confront
it, we have dedicated unprecedented
resources, including the recent $600
million Southwest Border supplemental appropriation to interdict illicit
flows of weapons and money from
the U.S. to Latin America and the Caribbean and to disrupt criminal financing and other TCO operations
in the United States. Recognizing the
importance of demand reduction, we
have invested more than $10 billion
in drug treatment and prevention in
our first two years, increasing such
funding by 10 percent from the previous two years.
Because the reach of TCOs demands
multinational responses, we are also
pursuing comprehensive security
partnerships across the Americas,
particularly in the greater Caribbean
Basin. With Mexico, we have established a four-pillar strategy: 1) to dismantle TCO operational capacity; 2) to
support sustainable rule of law institutions; 3) to create a t wenty-first-cen-
The Americas are our
shared home. To build a stronger and
more resilient neighborhood, the
Obama administration is promoting a safe, stable, prosperous, and
democratic hemisphere where the
United States and our partners share
responsibility on key regional and
global issues.
In keeping with the President’s Na-
tional Security Strategy, we are lever-
aging our deep ties and working as
equal partners to enhance common
security, expand economic oppor-
tunity, secure a clean energy future,
and defend shared democratic values.
Our pragmatic approach marks a
clean break from ideologically driven,
outmoded definitions of foreign pol-
icy. So, too, does our embrace of
change in the Americas and our un-
derstanding that the U. S. must play a
critical role in tackling the key chal-
lenges facing the people of the Amer-
