• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Inter-American Defense Board (IADB)

The Inter-American Defense Board (IADB) is part of the Inter-American System, created in 1942 in response to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The mission of the Board has been limited to planning for defense against aggression from outside the continent. In the past, attempts were made by the Board to achieve a more significant ooerational role and to institutionalize itself within the OAS, but they were consistently res:sted by the OAS due to the historic opposition to the militarization of the OAS and fear of US intervention.

The Inter-American System can formally trace its origins to 1889 when then Secretary of State, James G. Blaine, invited the Latin American States to a Washington conference. The conference inaugurated a series of International Conferences of American States and established the first permanent international agency representing the American States. The International Union of American Republics was formed primarily to promote commerce and was the forerunner of the OAS. In 1910, its name was changed to the Pan American Union. During thls time, the US kept the peace in Latin America through intervention on a unilateral basis, straining inter-American cooperation.

By the beginning of World War II, the Inter-American System was comprised of the International Conferences of American States, commonly called the Pan American Conferences. The outbreak of war in 1939 threatened Latin America with economic disaster as normal trade relations with Europe became increasingly impossible to maintain. The First Meeting of Consultation was held in Panama in October 1939 and considered problems relating to neutrality, the preservation of peace in the hemisphere and economic problems arising from the war in Europe. Among the important resolutions adopted was the General Declaration on the Neutrality of the American Republics which affirmed the position of neutrality with respect to the war in Europe. The Second Meeiing of Consultation occurred in Havana in July 1940. This meeting addressed the colonial possessions in the Western Hemisphere should the Fascists win the war. The participants resolved that an attack on the part of a non-American state against any American state would be considered an attack on all the signatory states. The Third Meeting of Consultation was held in response to the attack on Pearl Harbor and took place in Rio de Janeiro in January 1942.

The Inter-American Defense Board was created and was tasked to study and make recommendations for the defense of the Continent during World War II. The Board had its first meeting on 30 March 1942 in Washington, DC. The Inter-American Trety of Reciprocal Assistance (IATRA), commonly called the Rio Treaty, was signed in September 1947 at Rio de Janeiro. The Rio treaty was drafted to conform to the provisions of Article 51 of the United Nations Charter and declared, interalia, that an armed attack by any state against any American state would be considered as an attack against all the American states. During the Ninth Conference in Bogota, Colombia in March-May 1948, the Charter of the Organization of American States was created. The OAS was provided with an Advisory Defense Committee. The functions of this Defense Committee, and a new status for the Inter-American Defense Board were delineated in the OAS Charter.

While the IATRA established the polatical framework for collective secuiity, there was no military means of implementation. The Treaty, however, does contain the philosophical basis for an alliance. Article 3, paragraph 4 of the Treaty indicates that the American nations may take measures for self-defense as long as the United Nations Security Council does not take the measures necessary to maintain international peace and security. Article 8 of the Treaty also provides for the use of armed force as a possible enforcement measure. However, there is no provision for the establishment, control or exercise of this force. The IADB was created outside the OAS Charter and is considered an independent inter-American agency.

The IADB is an international organization in which all of the members of the OAS can be represented. It is the oldest permanent organ for military cooperation in continuous operation in the world. The Board's mission in accordance with Resolution XXXIV of the Bogota Conference, is to act as the organ of preparation and recommendation for the collective self-defense of the American Continent against aggression. and to carry out, in addition to the advisory functions within its competence, any similar functions ascribed to it by the Advisory Defense Committee of the OAS.

The U.S. military departments were reluctant to use the IADB since they did not want to loose U.S. control and preferred to handle crises unilaterally. Latin American political authorities were opposed to a permanent military agency because such an organization could become so powerful that one day it could be used for intervention within the hemishere. A successful and effective Board also could raise the prestige and influence of the military within Latin American countries and strong leadership within the Board by the U.S. could provide the U.S. another avenue for intervention in Latin American affairs.

In March 2006, the OAS, the premiere political organization for the Western hemisphere, decided to officially recognize the IADB as part of its organization, making it subject to OAS statutes. One statute says that all senior leadership positions must be elected from the member nations, so the U.S. gave up its claim on the IADB chairman position and opened the position up to election. The elections were energetic, with many of the IADB member nations participating.