Mission and Structure of the Armed Forces
Jose S. Azcona Bocock
Honduran society has never had the opportunity to express its position regarding national security. Until a few years ago, this was a forbidden topic. The United States, the Armed Forces, and the political leadership set an agenda in secret. It was planned and executed not only without the participation but also without the knowledge of these matters on the part of the Honduran population. Unfortunately, this caused mistrust among the population and the political class, and also a deep ignorance and a marked prejudice against the topics of National Defense.
After the readjustment of the constitutional and legal situation of the Armed Forces in accordance with the evolution of our democratic system, this secrecy and lack of public decision has been overturned. However, the speculative and superficial way of looking at military issues and mistrust of the institution persist. And it is now when the Honduran people must define the role that the Armed Forces must play within the country, its mission, and its organization.
First, it is necessary to reaffirm the principle of the internal operational autonomy of the military institution. The Honduran people can decide what the mission is, and with how many resources and personnel the Armed Forces have to fulfill it. However, the fact of eliminating the political autonomy they previously had should not serve as a basis for politicizing them or subordinating their interests to politics in general. The internal administration must be supervised, but not intervened without legal reasons.
By accepting this concept, a thoughtful and objective debate can be held about the mission, size, and resources necessary for our national defense. This is urgent, as we have a structure inherited from a different security situation, which we cannot operate efficiently with current resources — and which may not be adequate for the new mission.
First and foremost, it is necessary to define what is the primary mission of the Armed Forces. This is not, and cannot be, fighting forest fires, serving as auxiliary police, cleaning the streets of garbage, or training people for the labor market; although some of these functions can be considered auxiliary. The primary mission is to be the armed wing of the Government of Honduras in the protection of national sovereignty and in the achievement of its foreign policy objectives.
Starting from this primary mission, it must be determined what are the needed and available resources to fulfill it. The Army, which is the largest force within the Armed Forces, is organized as a stationary territorial regional force, with little mobility or logistical capacity. This system is more suitable for counterinsurgency and maintenance of internal order than for the current mission.
The new mission would be better accomplished by a smaller organization, with greater transportation and logistics resources (air and land) and a less dispersed geographic distribution. What we need is the ability to present a compact, well-armed, sustainable force for a reasonable period of time wherever needed with a good level of timeliness.
The restructuring and re-equipment of the Armed Forces must be done with long-term planning, oriented towards the expected results, and with sufficient resources to achieve them. We hope, for the good of Honduras, our Armed Forces, and our security, that the process of modernizing them will be carried out with a high level of patriotism, professionalism and efficiency.
(2000, LT)
