CANA Insights from the 2025 Wargaming in the Southern Hemisphere Workshop

CANA recently had the valuable opportunity to participate in the Wargaming in the Southern Region Workshop, held in Miami, Florida, in February 2025. Our team members, including Margaret and myself, attended this important meeting, which was designed to explore the complex challenges and strategic considerations within SOUTHCOM's area of responsibility, encompassing Central and South America and many Caribbean islands.

The workshop kicked off with classified briefs at USSOUTHCOM Headquarters. These sessions provided essential background information on the current Southern Region threats and global impacts, as well as the future joint operating environment and emerging threats. This classified portion helped set the stage for the subsequent unclassified days held at the Hilton Garden Inn Miami Airport West.

A key takeaway from the workshop was the unique nature of wargaming for SOUTHCOM. Unlike traditional military wargames focused on kinetic operations, discussions centered on transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) and the complexities of addressing them. We learned that these organizations can have significant, even positive, impacts on local economies, making their simple elimination a potentially destabilizing factor.

The diverse political landscape of the region, featuring countries at various levels of stability, along with critical elements like the Panama Canal and major economies such as Brazil, were also highlighted. The growing interest of external actors like China in the region's natural resources and strategic ports added another layer of complexity to the discussions.

The prevalence of drug trafficking and other illegal activities, where local militaries and law enforcement often face resource disparities compared to TCOs, underscored the need for non-traditional approaches to influence. The workshop extensively explored modeling diplomatic, informational, economic, financial intelligence, and law enforcement collaboration (FIL) as key instruments for projecting future effects in the region. The importance of cooperation across various federal departments and international agencies was consistently emphasized.

We noted the successful influence of Joint Interagency Task Force (JIATF), headquartered in Key West, on drug trafficking through multi-agency and multinational collaboration as a concrete example of such an approach. The significant roles of the Coast Guard and DEA in enforcement, operating under different regulations than Department of Defense units, made the wargaming exercises crucial for understanding the interplay of different agencies.

On the final day, we actively participated in a war game. I played the role of China, and Margaret played Russia, with our objective being to assist Venezuela following a hypothetical UN Security Council act calling for its leader's removal. This exercise, despite its brevity, offered fun way to gain valuable insights into the political complexities of the region and explored potential collaboration between Venezuela, China, and Russia against UN forces led by the United States, without escalating to a global conflict. Margaret's creative approach even led to a scenario where Russia temporarily controlled Venezuela, achieving its objectives while posing significant challenges to the UN and US.

Overall, our attendance at the 2025 Wargaming in the Southern Hemisphere Workshop provided critical understanding of SOUTHCOM's unique challenges and the indispensable role of wargaming in effectively addressing them. The diverse range of topics and the active engagement with professionals from various agencies and nations offered a comprehensive perspective on the strategic landscape of this vital region. We look forward to applying these insights in our future work.

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Walt DeGrange

Walt DeGrange is the Senior Director of Analytics here at CANA. You can contact Walt via email at wdegrange@canallc.com or on Linkedin.