PETERSON SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo. – In accordance with President Trump’s Executive Order “Clarifying the Military’s Role in Protecting the Territorial Integrity of the United States,” Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, Commander, U.S. Northern Command, submitted his Commander’s Estimate to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Feb. 19, 2025, meeting the 30-day requirement laid out in the executive order.
“U.S. Northern Command has supported border security in various forms since the command was established in October 2002,” said Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, Commander, USNORTHCOM. “Our first and primary focus has always been homeland defense, and establishing and maintaining territorial integrity is clearly a matter of homeland defense.
“My commander’s estimate outlines the current laydown of Title 10 forces along the southern border and the joint service, all-domain approach that could be used to achieve and sustain a secure border.”
The strategic approach to achieve full operational control and restore territorial integrity of the United States includes border management, border security, and utilization of unique military capabilities.
A commander’s estimate provides a recommended and/or chosen course of action and the commander’s rationale behind the recommendation and/or decision. The estimate submitted provides Secretary Hegseth: a situational overview of the southern border; a description of what needs to be solved or improved; the assigned southern border mission to USNORTHCOM as it relates to supporting the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection; how the mission is being carried out; administrative and logistics considerations; a planning timeline; and the commander’s recommendations to the secretary.
For operations security reasons, the commander’s estimate is not publicly releasable.
USNORTHCOM, the DoD’s lead for southern border efforts, was also ordered to develop a campaign plan “to provide steady-state southern border security, seal the border, and maintain the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security of the United States by repelling forms of invasion, including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activities.”
Additional information will be released as forces are identified to support the southern border mission.
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