MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Reforms in Chile's Defense Sector Advance

Chile's Minister of Defense, Mr. Jaime Ravinet participated yesterday in Washington in a “Face to Face Encounter” at the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies to discuss Chile's reforms aimed at restructuring and modernizing the defense sector.

The audience appreciated Ravinet's frank and open discussion of specific efforts to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of Chile's armed forces. Chile is considering a reform bill that will impact the mission and structure of its Defense Ministry. It seeks to increase resource management transparency and maximize the efficiency of the resources. It also seeks to expand its vision of its Joint Command of Chile's Armed Forces.

Some of the changes proposed include to rearrange the Defense Ministry's sub-divisions to fuse institutional sub-divisions into an advisory body, and to conduct a political and strategic reorganization of the defense sector. It also wants to strengthen joint operations and to define the norms of strategic leadership in peacetime and in time of crisis.

Of particular interest were Ravinet's comments on the efforts to improve Chile's ability to conduct joint and combined operations to increase transnational international security. The Minister stressed the importance of Peace-keeping Operations, and also commented on Chile's good relations with Argentina and the U.S. Southern Command.

While in the U.S., Ravinet is also scheduled to meet with the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, as well as with Senator John McCain and Ambassador Thomas Shannon, special assistant to the President and Director of Western Hemisphere Affairs of the National Security Council.

Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies (CHDS) is one of the Department of Defense's regional security education centers that provides strategic level education on international security and defense policy-making to civilian and military leaders of the Western Hemisphere to foster mutual understanding, trust and international security cooperation. CHDS' Face to Face Encounter is an outreach event to promote open dialogue on defense and security issues among academic, diplomatic and defense and security policy-makers.