https://crsreports.congress.gov
Updated December 28, 2022
Caribbean Basin Security Initiative
The United States developed the Caribbean Basin Security
Initiative (CBSI), a regional U.S. foreign assistance
program, in 2009 through a process of dialogue with
Caribbean countries. The initiative seeks to reduce illicit
trafficking in the region, advance public safety and security,
and promote social justice. Because of their geographic
location, many Caribbean nations are vulnerable to being
used as transit countries for illicit drugs from South
America destined for the U.S. and European markets.
Strengthened U.S. counternarcotics cooperation with
Mexico and Central America led U.S. policymakers to
anticipate a potential increase in narcotics trafficking
through the Caribbean. Many Caribbean countries have also
suffered high rates of violent crime, including murder, often
associated with drug trafficking activities.
President Obama announced the initiative at the fifth
Summit of the Americas in 2009, and, in 2010, U.S. and
Caribbean representatives held an inaugural Caribbean-U.S.
Security Cooperation Dialogue, which approved a
declaration of principles, a framework for engagement, and
a broad action plan. In May 2022, Caribbean and U.S.
officials held the 10
th
security cooperation dialogue, with
discussions focused on combatting firearms trafficking,
countering illicit maritime trafficking and transnational
organized crime, preventing youth crime and violence,
cybersecurity and cybercrime, and human trafficking.
In 2017, the State Department released a U.S. strategy for
engagement in the Caribbean (required by P.L. 114-291, the
United States-Caribbean Strategic Engagement Act of
2016). Among the priorities for engagement is security,
with the objectives of strengthening mutual national
security and advancing citizens’ safety through programs to
dismantle criminal and terrorist organizations, curb the
trafficking of illicit goods and people, strengthen the rule of
law, and counter vulnerability to terrorist threats—all
efforts central to the CBSI.
Congress has supported funding for the CBSI. From
FY2010 through FY2023, Congress appropriated
$913 million for the CBSI, benefiting 13 Caribbean
countries—Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados,
Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana,
Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the
Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago (see Table
1 and Figure 1). For FY2021, Congress appropriated not
less than $74.8 million for the CBSI in the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2021 (P.L. 116-260, Explanatory
Statement, Division K).
For FY2022, the Biden Administration requested $66
million for the CBSI, but in March 2022, Congress
ultimately appropriated “not less than $80 million” in the
Consolidated Appropriations Act 2022 (P.L. 117-103; H.R.
2471), and required a spend plan for CBSI funds not later
than 90 days after the bill’s enactment.
For FY2023, the Administration requested $63.5 million for
the CBSI, almost 21% less than appropriated by Congress
for FY2022 and 15% less than provided for FY2021. In the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (H.R. 2617,
Division K), Congress appropriated “not less than $82
million” for the CBSI, and the explanatory statement to the
measure required a spend plan prior to the obligation of
funds.
The Caribbean Basin Security Initiative Authorization Act
(H.R. 4133), passed by the House in April 2022, would
have authorized $74.8 million for the CBSI for each fiscal
year from FY2022 through FY2026 and would have
established monitoring and reporting requirements for the
program. In addition, the bill would have required the State
Department, in coordination with the U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID) and the Inter-
American Foundation, to submit a strategy to prioritize
efforts to increase disaster response and resilience.
Coordinated by the State Department’s Bureau of Western
Hemisphere affairs and implemented largely by the State
Department, USAID, and the Department of Defense, the
CBSI has targeted U.S. assistance in five areas:
Maritime and Aerial Security Cooperation, including
assistance to strengthen Caribbean maritime and aerial
operations capability, improve radar coverage, and
sustain those capabilities;
Law Enforcement Capacity Building, including
assistance to improve law enforcement though police
professionalization, anti-corruption training, and
community-based policing;
Border/Port Security and Firearms Interdiction,
including support to improve capacity to intercept
smuggled narcotics, weapons, bulk cash, and other
contraband at airports and seaports;
Justice Sector Reform, including support to increase
the efficacy of prosecutors and criminal courts and
reform and strengthen juvenile justice systems; and
Crime Prevention and At-Risk Youth, including
assistance to populations vulnerable to being victims of
crime or at risk of recruitment into criminal
organizations.
Although the State Department has not published CBSI
funding statistics by country, a February 2019 U.S.
Government Accountability Office (GAO) report showed
that from FY2010 through FY2018, the Dominican
Republic received almost 23% of CBSI funding, Jamaica
just over 19%, 24% went to seven Eastern Caribbean
countries, and 21% was for region-wide activities.
