2026 Session list 

Conference Summary and Key Sessions 

Tech and Data Tools for Hemispheric Security

The Miami Security Forum featured a high-level discussion on the way new and emerging technologies can be better leveraged by governments in confronting hemispheric security threats. Tech business executives and experts pointed to data analytics and artificial intelligence offer Western Hemisphere governments a decisive advantage against transnational threats that have overwhelmed traditional enforcement capacity. Leading practitioners demonstrated how modern tools can compress months of investigative work into minutes, processing billions of data points to identify critical vulnerabilities in criminal networks. Illegal fishing operations involving thousands of Chinese vessels can be disrupted by targeting just 22 key support ships; fentanyl supply chains depend on roughly 250 chemical suppliers in China and India; and cartel oil smuggling generating revenues rivaling narcotics profits can be detected through pattern analysis of shipping and customs data. These systems-level insights enable resource-constrained governments to focus enforcement on network choke points rather than chasing individual actors.

Panelists argued that implementation of such tools requires understanding that AI augments rather than replaces institutional capacity, serving as a force multiplier for customs officers, analysts, and investigators. Examples of successful Ecuador's partnership with data analytics firms has improved narcotics interdiction at customs checkpoints, while maritime tracking systems have helped Treasury identify cross-border smuggling schemes previously hidden in legitimate commerce. However, criminal organizations and hostile state actors are rapidly adopting these same technologies, with evidence that scam networks and trafficking operations already deploy sophisticated AI tools.

 

Future of Venezuela and Cuba

The Miami Security Forum examined the most pressing policy issues in the Americas, including the shifts on the ground in Venezuela and Cuba amidst the Trump Administration’s major shifts in policy. The January 3rd operation removing Nicolás Maduro from power has created the most significant opportunity for democratic transition in Venezuela in 27 years, but success requires sustained pressure to prevent the regime from making cosmetic changes while consolidating control. Venezuelan opposition leadership under Maria Corina Machado backed by credible U.S. enforcement demonstrated on January 3rd, is pursuing "full democracy" rather than negotiated power-sharing with a criminal structure responsible for cocaine trafficking (800 tons annually) and systematic repression. The transition requires dismantling repression apparatus, guaranteeing opposition safety, and holding free elections before regime normalization occurs, with the ultimate goal of making Venezuela a reliable hemispheric partner with developed energy resources enabling diaspora return. European Union weakness threatens this progress through proposed sanction relief on figures like Delcy Rodríguez despite regime inaction, creating perverse incentives that reward minimal compliance.

Cuba presents distinct challenges from Venezuela: 67 years without democracy versus 25, complete infrastructure collapse versus partial functionality, but significant advantages through overseas Cuban capital and expertise positioned to rapidly rebuild the island once the Castro family exits power. The Trump administration's enforcement of comprehensive embargo (three months without petroleum) has produced unprecedented demonstrations that panelists expect will escalate until mass mobilization forces transition, though preventing civil war and ensuring political stability remain critical concerns given Cubans' inexperience with self-governance. Discussions of transitional justice models range from Nuremberg-style tribunals to South African truth commissions or Spanish amnesty, with consensus that international community involvement beyond the United States is essential for comprehensive reconstruction. The European Parliament faces calls for moral reset to stop financing Cuban, Venezuelan, and Nicaraguan regimes through programs nominally supporting civil society, freeze family assets in Spain, and recognize that treating these actors as politicians rather than criminals has produced systematic policy failure over decades.

 

Faith and Security Breakfast

The Miami Security Forum also featured a discussion around session exploring the role of religious leaders and faith, with speakers pointing to faith diplomacy as a strategic framework for hemispheric security. Faith leaders from the U.S. and Latin America outlined how Latin America's 170 million evangelicals constitute an untapped geopolitical force through state and non-state networks at local, state, and federal levels, now formally integrated into U.S. policy through White House Faith Office directives placing religious advisors in every cabinet department. The Monroe Doctrine revival and Shield of the Americas military coordination are framed not merely as security policy but as spiritual warfare.

 

Extra-Hemispheric Partnerships in the Americas

The Miami Security Forum featured important discussions on leveraging international partnerships to strengthen hemispheric security, moderated by Alex Gray, former Chief of Staff of the National Security Council. The panel brought together Colombia's Minister of Defense Pedro Arnulfo Sanchez and Lithuania's Minister of Foreign Affairs Kestutas Budras to explore how extra-hemispheric allies can serve as force multipliers in the Western Hemisphere.

Minister Sanchez highlighted Colombia's journey as a NATO global partner since 2017, describing how NATO certification transformed the country's special operations capabilities. He recounted a dramatic operation where special forces extracted 150 cartel terrorists from a hamlet of 8,000 people with zero collateral damage—a mission made possible by NATO training standards. The partnership has elevated Colombia's military effectiveness while improving human rights protections, with complaints reduced by nearly 40 percent. Notably, Colombia's special forces represent the only NATO-certified unit in Latin America outside the United States and Canada.

Minister Budras shared Lithuania's experience standing up to authoritarian influence, emphasizing that the principles for resisting Russian and Chinese interference are universal whether on Europe's frontlines or in Latin America. He described how Lithuania systematically eliminated Russian company presence from all strategic sectors over a decade by cutting corruption links, strengthening institutions, and denying access to energy, transport, and financial services. The minister noted that both Russia and China had manipulated Lithuania's economic dependencies for political purposes, with China applying its harshest economic coercion to any country after Lithuania opened a Taiwanese representative office in Vilnius.

The discussion explored the global nature of the drug trade, with Minister Sanchez explaining that while cocaine is produced at relatively low cost in Latin America, it's commercialized at exponentially higher levels in Europe, the United States, and Australia. He revealed that Colombia has captured criminals from 11 nationalities in recent operations, most of them European, underscoring the transnational character of organized crime. Both ministers emphasized that trust serves as the foundation for all cooperation, enabling information sharing, joint operations, and technology transfer between military and police forces.

The panel addressed critical supply chain vulnerabilities, particularly regarding strategic minerals. Minister Budras expressed surprise that markets were shocked when China imposed export controls on critical minerals in October 2025, noting that intelligence agencies had been warning of this eventuality. The controls had immediate impact—Lithuanian automotive factories reduced operations from three shifts to one within weeks. Minister Sanchez described Colombia's struggle with illegal gold mining, where approximately 20 of the 70 tons exported annually represent illicit production worth over $1 billion, fueling violence and environmental destruction.

 

Intelligence Sharing and Hemispheric Threats

The conference convened experts on intelligence cooperation under the moderation of Brent Sadler, a Heritage Foundation fellow and former submarine commander. The panel included EU Ambassador to the United States Jovita Neliupšienė, former Defense Intelligence Agency Director David Shedd, and Heritage Foundation's Rob Greenway, architect of the Abraham Accords.

Ambassador Neliupšienė detailed the European Union's sophisticated approach to combating transnational crime, highlighting the Entry-Exit System (ETS) that digitally tracks all border crossings—processing 24 million people in its first month alone. She described how the EU has invested 270 million euros in strengthening Latin American law enforcement capabilities and cited Operation Raptor as a success story, resulting in over 270 arrests across 10 countries and the seizure of $210 million in cash. The ambassador emphasized that the EU maintains the world's most rigid financial controls and is the only jurisdiction with comprehensive cryptocurrency regulation, critical tools for following money flows in the digital age.

David Shedd defined intelligence as providing a decision advantage that adversaries don't know you possess, emphasizing that it requires both collection and certainty about the information's reliability. Drawing on his experience in Mexico, he noted that cartels now possess capabilities approaching those of state actors, making intelligence collection and vetting far more complex. He stressed the critical importance of partnerships, particularly highlighting that maritime intelligence cooperation represents the strongest pillar of intelligence sharing—navies naturally collaborate in ways other services don't. Shedd warned about China's role in the hemisphere, noting their amoral approach to activities like providing precursor chemicals for fentanyl production and their use of corrupt practices to buy influence.

Rob Greenway drew parallels between intelligence sharing in the Middle East and opportunities in the Western Hemisphere, noting that successful cooperation with Israel and regional partners in integrated air defense and maritime security provides applicable lessons. He emphasized that intelligence sharing establishes both cooperation and boundaries—countries cannot expect closer relationships while hosting Chinese Huawei 5G infrastructure in their telecommunications networks. Greenway highlighted the dark fleet as a major vulnerability and opportunity, with the EU and UK having identified 650+ shadow fleet vessels carrying Russian oil. He explained how interdiction efforts contributed to dropping oil prices from $75 to $55 per barrel, reducing Russia's GDP growth from 4.25 percent to just 1.25 percent.

The panelists agreed that trust takes years to build but can break instantly, requiring continuous vetting, capacity building, and political support. They noted that while bilateral intelligence relationships can sometimes transcend political tensions, a political umbrella ultimately governs all intelligence cooperation. The discussion emphasized that criminal infrastructure converges across different threat domains—money launderers supporting narcotics trafficking often support terrorism as well, as revealed in the Mossack Fonseca papers. This convergence means that targeting shared supporting infrastructure provides the greatest leverage against multiple threats simultaneously.

 

Keynote Address: A New Era for Hemispheric Defense

The Miami Security Forum featured timely remarks from Joseph Humire, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Western Hemisphere Affairs, who declared that the current administration is prioritizing the Western Hemisphere in unprecedented ways, emphasizing that shared geography makes hemispheric defense integral to U.S. homeland defense.

Humire announced historic achievements in border security, with illegal crossings reduced by 93 percent from record highs to the lowest levels ever recorded. The deployment of over 12,000 service members across six national defense areas covering 42 percent of the Southwest border demonstrated deterrence rather than interdiction, sending a clear message to cartels about the costs of confronting U.S. forces.

The keynote revealed details about Operation Absolute Resolve, conducted on January 3, 2026, against Venezuela—a multi-domain operation across space, cyberspace, air, sea, and land that achieved zero casualties. The operation shattered assumptions about adversarial alignment between China, Russia, and Iran, as none came to save Nicolás Maduro. Immediate impacts included the United States raising its flag at the Caracas embassy after six years, Cuba opening high-level talks, Nicaragua imposing visa restrictions, and Ecuador beginning joint kinetic strikes with the United States against cartels.

Humire announced the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition now includes 18 countries and revealed that cartels have been designated as terrorist organizations, applying the same legal authorities used against foreign terrorist groups. He invoked the Monroe Doctrine and described a three-phase approach to Venezuela aimed at restoring the country to its former prosperity, while noting that Cuba's energy crisis from losing Venezuelan subsidized oil has created new openings for dialogue. The forum concluded with his declaration that the Department of Defense is ready to revive the Monroe Doctrine and ensure hemispheric security for generations to come.

 

Political Realignment of the Americas

The Miami Security Forum concluded with a panel on political realignment across Latin America featuring leading elected officials from Chile, Colombia, Honduras and Brazil who offered key insights into the conservative wave sweeping the region and its security implications. These shifts in leadership included the rise of Javier Milei in Argentina, Bukele in El Salvador, Daniel Noboa in Ecuador, President Asfura in Honduras, and Jose Antonio Kast in Chile.

The panel brought together Brazilian Congressman Luis Felipe de Oliveira de Bragança, a representative of Honduran Congress President Tomás Zambrano, Chilean Senator Rojo Edwards, and Colombian Senator Paola Holguín.

Brazil's Constitutional Crisis: Congressman Luis Felipe identified Brazil's constitution as the fundamental obstacle to lasting change. Brazil has never had a genuine conservative movement since the 19th century, with conservatives historically only mitigating left-wing agendas. The result is a welfare state consuming 100 percent of the budget on social programs with zero funding for defense or infrastructure. Throughout the 20th century, the left won incremental constitutional victories that conservative presidents never reversed. Without constitutional reform, Brazil will remain untrustworthy as a long-term partner, always reverting to left-wing multilateralism. He emphasized that the next several presidents must pursue aggressive constitutional reform for Brazil to become a credible regional partner for U.S. north-south strategy.

Colombia's Reversal: Senator Paola Holguín described Colombia's transformation from Pablo Escobar-era violence to regional safety through Plan Colombia, which de-politicized military forces and strengthened intelligence and police capabilities. The Havana Peace Accords under Juan Manuel Santos reversed this progress by weakening security forces. President Gustavo Petro, allegedly funded by criminal organizations and now under U.S. Justice Department investigation for drug trafficking connections, implemented a "more hugs, less bullets" policy. Cocaine production reached 3,000 tons annually with criminal organizations exponentially increasing territorial control. She expressed frustration that Colombia wasn't invited to the Shield of the Americas despite being a primary focus of transnational crime. Her key concerns: creating long-term security policies when criminal structures have no time limitations, protecting military from political contamination, and inoculating citizens with good ideas since institutions cannot stop authoritarian leftists once elected.

Chile's Recovery: Senator Rojo Edwards recounted 2019 revolutionary violence that destroyed 30 percent of metro stations, burned supermarkets in 25 percent of communes, and eliminated 14,000 small businesses, leading to a political realignment representing 50-60 percent of the population. Maduro sent Venezuelan gangs including Tren de Aragua into Chile and used them to assassinate opposition Lieutenant Ronald Ojeda on Chilean soil. Chile's 800-kilometer border with Bolivia remains difficult to control. Economic decline followed Michelle Bachelet's 2014 tax reforms, transforming Chile from growing twice the world rate to half the world rate with 8-9 percent unemployment. Under President Kast, Chile will pursue all partnerships with the United States for security and border cooperation, offering a crucial opportunity for the U.S.-Chile relationship.

Honduras’ Transformation: Honduras is establishing drug trafficking as terrorism, recognizing that traffickers terrorize communities for territorial control. The approach combines prevention—ensuring families can meet basic needs—with exemplary punishment to provide regional stability. Government must provide basic services so no one has justification for joining criminal groups.

The Threat of the Political-Criminal Nexus: All panelists expressed concern over the financial connections between far left-wing parties and criminal organizations. Congressman Luis Felipe noted that world cartels possess massive financial resources, enabling them to buy politicians and subvert institutions. Brazil's president is actively lobbying to protect two major cartels from foreign terrorist organization designation while limiting police actions despite high homicide rates. Senator Holguín explained that left-criminal cooperation creates narco-states like Venezuela, a model which the Maduro regime actively exported. China, Russia, and Iran operate in political networks with criminal structures, with Hamas and Hezbollah presence easier under left governments. Left policies—deinstitutionalization, freedom limitations, economic decline, border breakdown—create fertile ground for criminal expansion.

Strategic recommendations from the session emphasized long-term security policies transcending government terms, protecting military and police from corruption, constitutional reforms especially in Brazil, inoculating citizens with good ideas, coordinated hemispheric approaches since criminals move between countries, combating money flows, sharing intelligence and border technology, and targeting money laundering as the network's center of gravity.

 

Maritime Security

The Miami Security Forum featured a panel discussion examining illicit maritime trade in the Western Hemisphere with leading experts. Moderated by Brent Sadler of the Heritage Foundation, the panel brought together Admirals Peter Brown (America First Policy Institute), Arrington Sherland (Regional Security System, Barbados), and Mark Fedor (former Commander, Joint Interagency Task Force South).

Cartels earn nearly $700 billion annually just from cocaine according to 2019 UN data, ranking them in the G20 if they were a collective nation-state. JIATF South tracks approximately 3,000 tons of known drug flow annually but facilitates interdiction of only 10 percent—300 tons—with just five US ships covering an area the size of the continental United States. At peak effectiveness, partner nations made up to 80 percent of interdictions based on JIATF South intelligence. Drug flow routes 60 percent through the Pacific, 30 percent Caribbean, and 10 percent Atlantic. Fentanyl deaths dropped 30 percent from 2024 to 2025, from over 100,000 total drug deaths to approximately 30,000.

The National Security Strategy renewed emphasis on the Western Hemisphere after decades allowing Russia and China to encroach, recognizing commercial and economic security as equally important as diplomatic and military security with an "America First but not America alone" approach. President Trump designated drug trafficking organizations as foreign terrorist organizations in February 2025, and the Attorney General reconsidered priorities to include "non-criminal responses". In September 2025, the United States delivered its first offensive non-criminal responses to drug traffickers.

The strategy expands illicit traffic definitions beyond the 1988 UN Convention's drugs-only focus to include illegal fishing, human trafficking, weapons, cash, illegal mining, contraband oil, and counterfeit goods. Success metrics evolved from 1980s bales seized through 1990s traffickers prosecuted to now measuring deaths reduced.

Admiral Sherland detailed Caribbean Sea complexity: 1.1 million square nautical miles containing 16 independent states plus US, UK, Dutch, and French territories with different legal jurisdictions. The Regional Security System comprises eight treaty-based members: Antigua/Barbuda, St. Kitts/Nevis, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent/Grenadines, Barbados, Grenada, and Guyana. The shift to kinetic force wasn't fully coordinated operationally with partners.

Drug trafficking evolved from go-fast boats to semi-submersibles, remotely operated submarines, and containerized cargo. Cocaine demand increased in Australia (prices 1.75 times US levels) and Europe. Admiral Fedor traced origins to the 1979 Dadeland Mall shooting in Miami, leading President Reagan to create what became JIATF South—the gold standard for interagency and international cooperation with over 20 foreign nation liaisons.

Cartels monitor counterdrug forces with drones and fishing fleets, altering tactics, routes, and timing. They shifted from flying Colombia to Bahamas, then Mexico-Honduras border, now to Brazil-Guyana explaining the Atlantic explosion with approximately 1,000 kilograms daily. Recommendations included capacity building through basic seaworthy craft for partners, space-based maritime domain awareness, autonomous vessels, fixed-wing aircraft, breaking down US interagency barriers, and reaching 22-30 percent interdiction rates to impact cartel business models. Sherland emphasized targeting money through asset recovery and financial investigations since criminals willingly serve jail time if resources await them.

 

Malign Foreign Influence: Lessons from Europe

The Miami Security Forum also featured innovative discussions geared at sharing best practices and lessons learned from extra-hemispheric partners, including on the challenges of countries confronting malign foreign influence and the advent of drone warfare. Dr. Victoria Coates moderated the panel with Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur and Lithuanian State Security Director Remigijus Žemaitaitis on the subject.

Director Žemaitaitis assessed Russia as a direct military and geopolitical threat conducting a continent-wide hybrid campaign to sabotage infrastructure, undermine democratic resilience, and fracture Western unity. Ukraine aggression is part of broader destabilizing campaign against the West due to extensive Ukraine support. Russia forms alliances with China and Western Hemisphere countries providing military technology, attempts to control global supply chains, and obtains diplomatic leverage in Middle East, Africa, Indo-Pacific, and Latin America.

Russian intelligence services are the primary cyber threat source, and Russia deploys combat vessels to protect shadow fleets. China enables Russia to continue Ukraine war while seeking Indo-Pacific influence—coordinated challengers representing strategic pincer to West. Minister Pevkur emphasized Russian special services' toolbox is limitless, citing Moldova election interference using church manipulation, social media, hired personnel, and operations at embassies worldwide.

Estonia suffered the first full-scale state-orchestrated cyberattack in 2007, now seeing hundreds of daily attacks with nearly 800 DDoS attacks in one year against 1.3 million people. Estonia responded by cutting all connections then reopening piece by piece, building cyber resilience with joint centers, and creating a Cyber Defense League bringing pre-checked banking and private sector experts to multiply capabilities. Lithuania developed a centralized National Cyber Security Center coordinating efforts while educating society and imposing rules on private sector. Both emphasized cyber hygiene starting from educational systems.

The speakers argued that the Ukraine war serves as laboratory for future warfare which Latin American governments should take note of. Drones range from $250 Ukrainian attack drones to MQ-9 Reapers, creating cost-per-kill advantages (10-times difference versus $2,500 artillery shells). Ukrainians achieve 20-40 kilometer dead zones with heavy drone overwatch. Future sophistication includes nano drones with facial recognition and 2-3 grams explosives targeting specific persons in crowds, putting assassination on new level and totally changing law enforcement understanding.

Minister Pevkur concluded: every global conflict has global impacts; every dictator watches Ukraine—if Russia prevails it signals rule of force over law; support Ukraine to support freedoms and right values. Director Žemaitaitis warned that Chinese investment requires security perspective—they ask you to sacrifice independence, so don't allow China into strategic sectors. Ensuring strategic national security infrastructure is achievable only with the United States. Coates closed noting the Trump administration demonstrates conservatives have no intention of neglecting the Western Hemisphere any longer.