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Three San Antonio area congressmen want to make sure the U.S. Army's new Western Hemisphere Command headquarters is located at Joint Base San Antonio.
Under a directive from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Army plans to consolidate three units to make up the new command.
It will include San Antonio-based Army North (ARNORTH) and Army South (ARSOUTH), as well as Forces Command based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Army North explained on its website that its mission is to conduct "Unified Land Operations in support of U.S. Northern Command in order to detect, deter and defeat threats to the Homeland, conduct support of civil authorities, and security cooperation initiatives to defend the United States and its interests."
Northern Command oversees U.S. military operations in North America, Mexico and the Caribbean region.
Army South fulfills a similar mission for U.S. Southern Command, which oversees U.S. military operations through most of Latin America.
The Defense Department hasn't said where the new headquarters will be located but Congressmen Joaquin Castro, Greg Casar and Henry Cuellar said in a letter to Hegseth that moving operations out of San Antonio would be devastating to the Alamo City and to military readiness.
In a statement, they said, “For over two decades, San Antonio has served as the nerve center for ARSOUTH’s operations. ARSOUTH's mission across 31 countries and 15 areas of special sovereignty benefits immensely from Texas's proximity to Latin America and the Caribbean. Its geographic location enables rapid engagement with partner nations and is supported by co-located intelligence, communications, and logistics infrastructure at Joint Base San Antonio-Ft. Sam Houston.”
They added: “San Antonio is also a growing cybersecurity hub. The city is home to one of the largest concentrations of cybersecurity professionals outside of Washington, D.C. and hosts the Texas Cyber Command Center and multiple DOD cyber operations. This capacity strengthens both homeland defense and transnational threat responses, capabilities directly relevant to the missions of ARNORTH and ARSOUTH.”
The Pentagon did not respond to TPR's request for comment.
