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Since September 26, 1997, the command headquarters has been located at Miami, Florida. It is one of nine unified commands (five of which are regional or geographic unified commands) under the U.S. Department of Defense.
USSOUTHCOM's area of responsibility encompasses 32 countries (19 in Central and South America and 13 in the Caribbean) and covers about 15.6 million square miles. The region represents about one-sixth of the landmass of the world assigned to regional unified commands.
SOUTHCOM's mission areas include drug suppression, counterinsurgency, nation assistance, military professionalism, and treaty implementation programs.
The command carries out its missions and objectives through several means: security assistance programs (for training and equipment, including mobile training teams), combined training exercises with host nation forces, deployments for training, planning and intelligence exchanges, humanitarian assistance and civic action, personnel exchange programs, military dialogue and other politico-military methods. The command works closely with the U.S. ambassadors in the region and their staffs. SOUTHCOM makes extensive use of Army, Air Force and Navy reserve components deployed on temporary duty throughout the region primarily for civic actions and training exercises and deployments.
SOUTHCOM was founded in Quarry Heights in the Panama Canal Zone in 1947, but has been the senior U.S. military command in Latin America since 1917. Its history traces to 1903, when US Marines landed in Panama to protect the railroad across the isthmus and stayed to guard the strategic canal built there. The Southern Command carries out its missions and objectives through its joint-service headquarters staff (390 military and 120 civilian employees) and its component commands. Formerly headquartered at Quarry Heights, Panama, U.S. Southern Command moved its headquarters to Miami FL in September 1997.
