The Caribbean Basin Security Initiative: A Shared Regional Security Partnership (St. Kitts and Nevis)

Working together through the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI), the United States and the nations of the Caribbean are combating the drug trade and other transnational crimes that threaten regional security. This partnership fulfills the commitment to deepen regional security cooperation that President Barack Obama made at the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago in April 2009. CBSI is one piece in an integrated effort that includes the other citizen security initiatives in the Hemisphere. The United States, CARICOM member nations, and the Dominican Republic are improving citizen safety throughout the Caribbean by working together to:

• Substantially reduce illicit trafficking
• Increase public safety and security, and
• Promote social justice.

Regional Cooperation

CBSI partner nations have collectively identified several priority areas for cooperation. These include building a regional information sharing network, improving maritime interdiction coordination, and developing regional training capacity. Effective solutions to these challenges will require a sustained commitment from all CBSI partners, as well as the assistance of other international donors.

United States Support Under CBSI

The United States is making a significant contribution to CBSI, committing $203 million in funding for the first three years of the initiative. This contribution includes assistance in the following areas, all developed through the CBSI cooperative dialogue process:

• Maritime and Aerial Security Cooperation. Support regional maritime and aerial coordination by improving radar coverage in strategic locations and sharing radar information. Provide equipment and training that will enable Caribbean governments to carry out maritime and aerial operations.
• Law Enforcement Capacity Building. Enhance law enforcement effectiveness through police professionalization, anti-corruption training, community-based policing, and sharing regional ballistics and fingerprint information. Equipment and training augment the region’s polygraph capacity and support vetted units in conducting complex investigations, implementing anti-gang initiatives, and combating money laundering and other financial crimes.
• Border/Port Security and Firearms Interdiction. Provide technical support, technology upgrades, and training on techniques for intercepting smuggled narcotics, weapons, bulk cash, and other contraband at commercial airports and seaports. Funding will also support the interdiction of firearms and secure management of weapons and ammunition stockpiles.
• Justice Sector Reform. Reform and strengthen juvenile justice systems through alternative sentencing and rehabilitation services. Regional justice advisors are providing technical assistance to judges and prosecutors, advising on legal reform, and developing a task force to address critical crime issues. Funding will assist host governments in improving prison conditions.
• Crime Prevention and At-risk Youth. Increase educational opportunities and provide workforce development and entrepreneurship training for at-risk youth as an alternative to crime and other harmful behavior. Funding also will support drug demand reduction through the training of treatment and rehabilitation professionals.

St. Kitts and Nevis

St. Kitts and Nevis will benefit directly from several of the programs described above, to include:

• Interceptor boats, equipment, and training to increase counternarcotics efforts and maritime interdiction capability;
• Assistance of a U.S. Department of Justice Regional Legal Advisor to develop a taskforce that will address critical crime issues such as homicides and to advise on legal reform;
• Mentoring and technical assistance to implement a modern criminal code, national prosecution service, code of conduct for prosecutors, and witness charter;
• Providing professional development, equipment, and technical training to St. Kitts and Nevis’ security forces;
• Workforce development and educational training for at-risk youth.

More information regarding U.S. assistance to the Caribbean and the CBSI partnership is available at: www.state.gov/p/wha/rt/cbsi.