U.S. Bases: The Past		The Future
Overview  Southern Command Headquarters Fort Clayton Fort Sherman and the Jungle Operations Training Center Fort Kobbe	Rodman Naval Station Galeta Island Firing Ranges Howard Air Force Base The proposed "Multilateral Counternarcotics Center"	Forward Operating Locations Soto Cano, Honduras Guantánamo Bay, Cuba Counter-Drug Radar Sites

Until very recently Fort Clayton, a U.S. Army installation located at the Pacific opening of the Panama Canal, hosted the largest number of U.S. military and civilian personnel in Latin America. In 1994, prior to troop drawdowns, Fort Clayton accommodated 20,000 military and civilian personnel including family members.¹ The facility’s closure and handover to Panama are to take place in December 1999.

Fort Clayton's 2,180 acres hosted the U.S. Army South (USARSO, the army component of the U.S. Southern Command, or Southcom), the Military Police Command, and the 106th Signal Brigade. The base also encompassed 1,392 homes, dormitories for 1,754, schools for dependents and several recreational facilities.²

U.S. Army South moved its headquarters to Fort Buchanan, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, between October 1998 and July 1999.³ The Southcom component, which includes an infantry battalion and aviation, engineer, intelligence, logistics and military police units, is now headquartered in the former “Building 390” barracks on the grounds of Fort Buchanan. The Defense Department is building new facilities for USARSO at Fort Buchanan as well, such as a 75-room guest house and a middle school.⁴

Between July 30 and December 31, 1999, the only USARSO presence in Panama is to be a “rear detachment” of 100 soldiers.⁵ Upon its move to Puerto Rico, USARSO will shrink from 3,868 to 1,382 active and reserve soldiers and civilians (the military component will shrink from 2,283 to about 900).⁶ “To compensate for reduced manning,” reports Southcom Commander-in-Chief Gen. Charles Wilhelm, “USARSO will rely heavily on the more than 16,000 Army and Air Force Guardsmen and Reservists stationed in Puerto Rico.”⁷

Corozal, a sub-installation at Fort Clayton, hosted the U.S. Army Tropic Test Center, the 470th Military Intelligence Brigade and several residences.⁸ U.S. Special Operations Command South (SOCSOUTH), the Special Forces component of Southcom, was headquartered at East Corozal until June 1999, when its 309 military and civilian personnel completed their move to U.S. Naval Station Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico.⁹

Other sites

• U.S. Army South
• "U.S. Army shuts down regional headquarters in Panama," CNN, July 30, 1999

Sources:

¹ United States Southern Command Headquarters, Fact Sheet: U.S. Military in Panama Now, (Panama: January 31, 1997).

² Description of the Military Bases in the Interoceanic Region, Panama, Inter-Oceanic Region Authority (ARI), April 1998 <http://www.ari-panama.com/ari-ing9.htm>.

³ Gen. Charles E. Wilhelm, Commander in Chief, United States Southern Command, “Statement Before the Senate Appropriations Committee Defense Suecommitee and the Military Construction Subcommittee on Forward Operating Locations,” Washington, July 14, 1999.

⁴ “U.S. Army South moving out of Panama,” Army News Service, May 26, 1999 <http://www.dtic.mil/armylink/news/May1999/a19990527panama-new.html>.

⁵ Army News Service, May 26, 1999.

⁶ Army News Service, May 26, 1999.

Gen. Charles E. Wilhelm, commander in chief, U.S. Southern Command, Statement before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps, Narcotics and Terrorism, June 22, 1999.

United States, U.S. Southern Command, “Posture Statement Of General Charles E. Wilhelm, United States Marine Corps Commander In Chief, United States Southern Command Before The Senate Armed Services Committee,” March 4, 1999.

⁷ Gen. Charles E. Wilhelm, commander in chief, U.S. Southern Command, Statement before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps, Narcotics and Terrorism, June 22, 1999.

United States, U.S. Southern Command, “Posture Statement Of General Charles E. Wilhelm, United States Marine Corps Commander In Chief, United States Southern Command Before The Senate Armed Services Committee,” March 4, 1999.

⁸ Profile of the U.S. Southern Command, October 1997, United States Southern Command Headquarters, April 1998 <http://www.ussouthcom.com/southcom/graphics/profile.htm>.

⁹ United States Navy, “U.S. Special Operations Command-South to relocate,” Navy News Service February 4, 1999 <http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/news/navnews/nns99/nns99006.txt>.