‘What Is Our Plan?’: Michael McCaul Grills Witnesses On Combatting Challenges In Western Hemisphere

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During a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing last week, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) questioned witnesses about challenges in the Western Hemisphere and the US’s strategy in the region.  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript   Stay Connected Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com

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00:00for five minutes of questioning. I have a map that I want to hopefully put up

00:08before technology works here, but this is it. It's not not good news. I mean

00:17since this administration took power, we've lost our adversaries. Brazil,

00:24October 2022. Colombia, May 2022. Chile, December 2021. Honduras, November 2021. If

00:39you look at the map, there aren't many friends down there. Got Ecuador, Paraguay,

00:46Uruguay, and now with the recent election in Argentina. We need moral clarity and

00:53authority in our hemisphere. When you lose that, you lose to your foreign

00:58adversaries, like China particularly. Illegal immigration gets worse, not

01:06better. Fentanyls are coming into this country. It's worse, not better.

01:13China's malign influence gets worse, not better. Cartels and their operations

01:20have gotten worse, not better. And it's all tied together. Our adversaries are

01:27all working against us. We don't choose them, they choose us. We have this debate

01:33on Ukraine, but now we have it in our own backyard, in our hemisphere. More countries

01:42recognize China than Taiwan in our hemisphere, and the Belt and Road

01:47projects keep coming and expanding. I think we need a new doctrine for our

01:54hemisphere, one that protects our interests, combats our enemies, and

01:58promotes shared prosperity between us and our allies. And I'm not saying this

02:04to score political points. I just want to know what is the plan? That's reality.

02:12What is our plan to address these threats in our own backyard? Mr.

02:20Secretary Nichols. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We work with countries across the

02:27political spectrum as long as they respect democracy, the right of voters to

02:34choose their own governments. The characterization that you make on some

02:39of the governments I would disagree with respectfully. In Chile, President

02:44Boric has repeatedly condemned human rights violations and the lack of

02:49democracy in Venezuela, and continues to speak out boldly against the repression

02:55in Nicaragua. Peru, President Bulawarte and her government have been very

03:02supportive of our efforts to bring greater democracy to Venezuela to

03:08address the challenges in Nicaragua. They have raised deep concerns about the

03:15presence of Chinese investments in infrastructure, and I think we'll

03:19probably talk about that. The Panama Canal is a good example. I mean, you know,

03:26Roosevelt created it, and then Jimmy Carter gave it back, and now you have two

03:31Chinese ports on both sides of the Panama Canal. Panama is a strong US ally.

03:38And they are. That's good, right? We look forward to an excellent relationship with

03:42incoming President Jose Raul Molino, and we think he will be an excellent

03:46partner, and he's already stressed in his conversations with our embassy his

03:52commitment to working with us. Mr. Meeks, now having a delegation to Latin

03:58America, and I look forward to working with you before we do that. Ambassador

04:03Robinson, two points. I was in Mexico with Secretary of the Navy. We passed

04:12this year there is new screening that can detect fentanyls and precursors

04:19technology, and I talked to the Secretary of the Navy down in Mexico. They're very

04:23interested in getting this technology deployed, especially to the two ports on

04:29the Pacific side, where all the precursors are coming in from China. Can

04:37you give me an update on that? Thank you for that question. We are working

04:43regularly with our Mexican counterparts, particularly the Navy, at the port of

04:49Manzanillo, and I can't remember the name of the other port. We regularly have

04:54contact with them. We regularly review the type of equipment and training they

05:01need, including K-9s, which have been... And that's great. I brought up K-9s with

05:07them. They said they would need like a, you know, thousands of K-9s to do this.

05:12The technology is now available, and I think we need to get it to them, right?

05:16Well, absolutely. What I would say, though, is, you know, unlike some of our

05:21competitors, we can't direct American companies to go to point X or point Y.

05:29They're going to go where they can make money. We can certainly

05:35expose them to our partners in Mexico and allow them to have conversations

05:42with the government. Well, I talked to the Secretary of the Navy in Mexico, and they're

05:44very interested. I think if this is a matter of cost, they certainly would, I

05:52think, would want to buy it, but I think we can also assist them in that

05:57effort, and I would appreciate your... If you could update me on this, because our

06:02appropriations process is going forward, I think that would be a really wise

06:07investment if we're going to protect our children from the scourge of

06:13fentanyls. Lastly, Ambassador Robinson, you know, I talked to the OMLO, President of

06:19Mexico, and, you know, there's a choke point, and it's between, you know,

06:26Guatemala and Mexico. There's also the deering gap. It would make a lot of sense

06:32to me, and I've been doing this for a long time, this border stuff. I think

06:38Romania and Mexico is working, but your administration did away with that, but,

06:42you know, I think there's interest on Mexico's part. I think Panama has an

06:50interest in the deering gap to close this choke point off, where you're not

06:55talking about 2,000 miles of border. You're talking about a very finite number

07:02of miles that we could secure to stop this illegal immigration that's

07:09happening, and then that sends a message of deterrence that the cartels

07:14understand. I mean, do you have any thoughts on those two ideas? Absolutely,

07:19and I completely agree with you. In fact, we are working very closely on both

07:24sides of the Darien, with Colombia and Panama, both getting them to work

07:28together and allowing us to assist them in monitoring the area, getting

07:36their forces to the area. Our INL airframes are assisting in getting their

07:45officers to the area. We would welcome Mexican support in this effort. I think

07:53you're absolutely right that making sure that we're working with all of our

07:59partners in the region closely, and we are, can go a long way towards

08:04addressing this issue. I look forward to working with you, and I'm going to talk

08:07to, you know, our appropriators, because we talk a lot about border security

08:13around here, but, you know, when you get two obvious checkpoints or choke

08:18points from a geographical standpoint, to me it's just common sense. I would add

08:23Guatemala as well, in that group. Guatemala and Mexico and the Darien

08:28gap. I think those two combined would make a whole lot of sense, and I think

08:33that would be bipartisan, you know, but I'm not going to speak for Mr. Meeks.

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