PANAMA CITY — The Institute for Security Governance (ISG) recently attended the inauguration of the Panamanian Ministry of Public Security’s (MINSEG) first Joint Operating Concept (JOC). The JOC provides a vision for how MINSEG will plan and conduct future large-scale, complex Ministry-led operations of a joint nature (i.e., across MINSEG air/naval, border, police, and migration security services) in support of Panama’s security. The new Ministry strategic guidance articulates Panama’s priority national-level security challenges and tasks, including addressing mass irregular migration; widespread civil unrest; threats to critical national infrastructure, including the Panama Canal and cyberspace; and complex multi-domain activities such as the interdiction of transnational criminal organizations and disaster response and humanitarian relief activities. To support its vision, the JOC outlines capability development and force design implications for Panama’s public security sector in the coming decades.

ISG began this Institutional Capacity Building program with MINSEG in March 2023 to help develop its strategic planning capability and conducted nine engagements in the ensuing 15 months. At the initiation of the JOC development project, the Minister of Public Security determined that he wanted to establish a vision of “national security before and after his tenure” to serve as the institution’s premier strategic planning guidance. At the recent MINSEG ceremony on May 17, during which the Minister, Vice-Minister, and Directors General of all four security services inaugurated the completed document, Minister Juan Pino declared he would ensure ISG’s strategic planning program remains a top priority for the new administration. He stressed that strategic planning is a critical component for the MINSEG institution and should be further strengthened and reinforced to meet the demands of Panama’s current and future security challenges. 

In her remarks during the signing ceremony, U.S. Ambassador to Panama Mari Carmen Aponte strongly endorsed the MINSEG JOC. “The Comprehensive Security Strategy inaugurated today by MINSEG with the support of the U.S. Embassy is a framework that allows the security establishments to strengthen their strategic planning capacity,” she said. “The United States,” she noted, “will continue to support Panama to continue this important work that will ensure security for its citizens.” 

The Regional Program Lead for the Western Hemisphere said during his remarks at the JOC inauguration ceremony that “The key to the success of programs of this nature is political will and that the Panamanian Ministry of Public Security had demonstrated remarkable commitment and dedication, backed by outstanding officials and strategic planners.” He also highlighted for Minister Pino that ISG had recognized this joint effort with the Ministry as one of the most successful programs globally. 

Similar JOC development projects are underway in other partner nations within the Western Hemisphere to institutionalize a capabilities-based planning methodology as part of the respective Ministries’ long-term requirements-centric capability and force design efforts. Each of these efforts will produce, as the current effort in Panama has done, a foundational strategy document that provides capability development and force design guidance for the next 10-15-20 years.