HOMESTEAD AIR RESERVE BASE, Fla. – Special Operations Command South maintained Military Information Support Teams in six key Central and South American partner nations last year to provide the U.S. with a means to undermine support for terrorist ideology and violent networks.
SOCSOUTH MISTs supported a broad range of U.S. Southern Command and other interagency efforts against transnational criminal and violent extremist organizations in Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and Peru.
These activities included supporting Colombia’s Demobilization and Counter-Recruitment Programs; Guatemalan Interagency Task Forces; Panamanian security services’ outreach programs in the Darien border region; the Defense Department’s Rewards Program; U.S. Anti-Trafficking in Persons efforts; and expanded active tip lines to under-governed spaces.
U.S. Army MISTs are SOF elements deployed to provide cost-effective, low threat Military Information Support Operations coordinated with interagency, and partner nations.
MISO activities are implemented in accordance with U.S. Code, DoD policy, and USSOUTHCOM instruction in a persistent manner with the approval of the U.S. Ambassador.
This year, SOCSOUTH plans to work alongside key partners in USSOUTHCOM’s area of responsibility as well as emerging missions such as in El Salvador.
In conjunction with interagency, U.S. Embassy Country teams, and partner nation counterparts, SOCSOUTH plans to counter Islamic extremism, recruitment, and radicalization in countries with terror threats as listed by the State Department.
Activities include efforts to counter illicit trafficking, the DoD Rewards Program, support to moderate voices, and partner nation counterdrug operations while building partner capacity to message and integrate MISO into their own operations.