Caribbean Basin Security Initiative

Launched in 2010, the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) is a U.S. security cooperation program with thirteen Caribbean countries: Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. Through CBSI, the United States works to develop Caribbean countries' capabilities to disrupt illicit trafficking and transnational crime, advancing Caribbean and U.S. national security.

Disrupting Transnational Organized Crime and Illicit Trafficking

• The United States works with Caribbean law enforcement agencies to dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs), including TCOs involved in trafficking narcotics and firearms, and TCOs with linkages to South American and Mexican trafficking groups.
• CBSI works with U.S. law enforcement to provide training and technical assistance, including through the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Customs and Border Security (CBP), and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
• Across the Caribbean, CBSI supports specialized, vetted law enforcement units that work directly with U.S. law enforcement to conduct complex narcotics trafficking and transnational organized crime investigations.
• CBSI supports the CARICOM Crime Gun Intelligence Unit (CGIU) based in Trinidad and Tobago. The CGIU works with U.S. law enforcement and uses intelligence to investigate firearms trafficking and gun crime in the region.
• CBSI also provides specialized training and case mentoring for Caribbean countries to investigate and prosecute money laundering and financial crimes and seize and reinvest criminal assets - targeting the sources of funding that enable TCO operations.

Maritime Security

• The United States collaborates with the Regional Security System (RSS) to detect and disrupt illicit maritime trafficking in the Eastern Caribbean, including through the use of two U.S.-donated C-26 maritime patrol aircraft. The RSS serves eight member states (Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines) and plays a leading role in addressing operational security threats including drug trafficking, arms trafficking, and internal security challenges.
• The CBSI Technical Assistance Field Team (TAFT) is a small team comprised of U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Army engineers and logisticians who help select Caribbean coast guards and maritime-patrol units improve maintenance and operational readiness through technical assistance visits. The TAFT operations support U.S. efforts to strengthen regional security by bolstering the maritime security and counter-trafficking capabilities of Caribbean nations.
• In May 2025, Trinidad and Tobago hosted the 40^th iteration of Exercise Tradewinds - a USSOUTHCOM-convened training exercise. The exercise brought together more than 1,000 participants from 31 countries for multinational staff training, maritime interdiction, ground security, and humanitarian assistance/disaster relief operations, with the exercise scenario specifically focusing on countering a Regional Malign Actor (RMA) and Violent Extremist Organization (VEO) threat.

Enhancing Public Safety

• The United States supported the development and deployment of the Dominican Republic's 911 emergency response system, expanding access to emergency services to nearly 90 percent of the country.
• U.S. support has transformed the Saint Lucia Forensics Lab into a Regional Center of Excellence, which serves as a regional training hub on cutting-edge forensic analysis and synthetic drug detection to support more effective prosecutions of transnational organized crime.
• U.S. specialized training and equipment support for the RSS Digital Forensics Lab (DFL) in Barbados has transformed the DFL into the region's premier hub for court-admissible digital evidence.

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