Bridging Military Excellence and Strategic Security for the Americas
A professional institute where retired military specialists advise on military doctrine, operational security, and strategic thinking, serving academic institutions, government agencies, and the private sector across the United States.
Military Doctrine & Strategy
Expert advisory grounded in decades of active operational command experience across Latin America.
Academic & Institutional Advisory
Practitioner-level expertise bridging academic theory and real-world hemispheric security operations.
U.S.–Latin America Security Cooperation
Advancing interoperability between allied armed forces and U.S. security institutions.
A Practitioner-Founded Security Institute in the Heart of the Americas
The Allied Americas Defense Institute (AADI) is a professional international security institute based in Florida, strategically located in proximity to U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) in Doral, FL. AADI was founded by retired military professionals with specialized expertise in Latin American operational environments, counter insurgency doctrine, cavalry operations, and hemispheric security cooperation.
AADI's advisors bring irreplaceable operational experience from environments where U.S. national security interests are directly engaged knowledge no purely domestic source can replicate. Our work translates decades of real world service into actionable intelligence for government agencies, academic institutions, and private sector organizations.
Operating at the intersection of military experience, policy research, and academic collaboration, AADI serves as a professional bridge between allied armed forces of the Americas and U.S. security institutions advancing hemispheric defense cooperation that has defined U.S. strategic interests in the Western Hemisphere since the mid-twentieth century.
Guided by Purpose. Grounded in Experience.
AADI's institutional direction reflects the conviction that the most durable contributions to national security come not from abstraction, but from the hard won lessons of operational reality.
Mission Statement
To strengthen U.S. national security interests by providing specialized advisory services in military doctrine, strategic thinking, and operational security informed by decades of real-world experience in allied armed forces operating under U.S. co-developed doctrine.
Vision Statement
To become the premier professional institute bridging U.S. security institutions with the operational knowledge of allied military professionals from the Americas, advancing hemispheric defense cooperation and interoperability.
Strategic Alignment with U.S. Southern Command
AADI's location in South Florida reflects a deliberate strategic alignment with U.S. Southern Command, the combatant command responsible for all U.S. military activities in Latin America and the Caribbean. This geographic positioning places AADI in proximity to SOUTHCOM's institutional ecosystem, including academic programs, government contractors, and policy institutions engaged in hemispheric security.
Why AADI Advances U.S. National Security Interests
AADI's advisory work is grounded in four documented areas where U.S. national interests intersect directly with hemispheric security expertise.
Hemispheric Defense Cooperation
The U.S. has maintained documented defense partnerships with Colombia since 1961. Plan Colombia represented the largest U.S. security assistance program in the Western Hemisphere. AADI's advisory work extends and institutionalizes this cooperation.
Counter-Narcotics & Counter-Insurgency Knowledge Transfer
AADI advisors possess irreplaceable operational experience in environments where U.S. national security interests are directly engaged, experience no domestic labor market candidate can replicate.
Private Security Industry Capacity
The U.S. private security sector protecting American personnel and assets internationally requires specialized knowledge of Latin American operational environments. AADI is positioned to provide that critical expertise.
Academic & Policy Research
U.S. universities, think tanks, and policy institutions studying Latin American civil military relations stand to benefit from AADI's practitioner level expertise, bridging the gap between academic theory and operational reality.
Core Service Areas
AADI delivers specialized professional advisory services across six domains, each grounded in documented operational experience and informed by U.S.-co-developed military doctrine.
Military Doctrine Advisory
Consulting for academic institutions, think tanks, and government agencies seeking expert analysis of Latin American military doctrine, counter-insurgency frameworks, and U.S.–Colombia bilateral defense cooperation history.
Operational Security (OPSEC) Consulting
Advisory services for private sector entities operating in high-risk international environments. Includes threat assessment, personnel protection protocols, and risk mitigation strategies informed by real world operational and tactical experience.
Strategic Thinking & Leadership Training
Professional development programs for security professionals, corporate security teams, and academic institutions. Curriculum draws from military leadership doctrine co-developed between the Colombian National Army and U.S. Army advisors.
Counter-Insurgency & Anti-Narco Knowledge Transfer
Specialized advisory for defense policy researchers and authorized institutional clients, lessons learned from Plan Colombia, and operational intelligence frameworks applicable to current hemispheric security threats.
Academic & Research Collaboration
Partnerships with universities and research centers studying U.S.–Latin America security cooperation, civil-military relations, and defense policy. Available to serve as subject matter experts, guest lecturers, and research consultants.
Private Security Industry Training
Tactical and operational training design for U.S. private security contractors operating in Latin American or high-threat environments. Curriculum development based on Colombian Army cavalry and counter-guerrilla specialization.
Expertise Grounded in Operational Reality
AADI's advisory depth spans the full spectrum of Western Hemisphere security, from platoon level tactics to hemispheric defense policy.
José Edilso
Monroy Cañón
Founder & Principal Advisor, Allied Americas Defense Institute
José Edilso Monroy Cañón brings more than twenty years of active service in the Colombian National Army (1997–2017), where he developed deep specialization in cavalry operations, counter guerrilla doctrine, and U.S. co developed military leadership frameworks. His career encompassed front-line operational command in environments directly engaged with the most complex security challenges of the Western Hemisphere including narcotics trafficking networks and insurgent organizations at the center of U.S. strategic interest.
Trained at the Escuela de Sargentos Inocencio Chica. Operating under U.S. co developed doctrine since 1999 as part of the Plan Colombia bilateral security framework Monroy Cañón's professional formation was shaped directly by the leadership frameworks codified in FUTCO Vol. XI (Editorial Planeta Colombiana, 2016), a manual co developed between the Colombian National Army and U.S. Army doctrine specialists. This institutional grounding gives him a uniquely documented practitioner perspective on hemispheric security research and professional advisory services.
- Presidential Citation of Military Victory — Decree No. 1470 (2016), signed by General Alberto José Mejía Ferrero, Commander General of the Colombian Armed Forces
- 42+ formal military commendations and Five Good Conduct Stripes awarded across career
- Cavalry Intermediate Training Certificate — Awarded with Excellent Results
- Trained under U.S.-co-developed doctrine — 51.6% of Colombian Army leadership manuals co-authored with U.S. Army generals (FUTCO Vol. XI)
AADI Research Blog
The Trump Corollary and What It Means for Hemispheric Security
The 2025 NSS declared a "Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine." For those who operated in Latin American security environments, the implications are significant and not fully understood in Washington.
Venezuela After Maduro: What Comes Next for Regional Stability
Operation Absolute Resolve ousted Maduro in January 2026. The military operation succeeded but the security vacuum it created is a more complex challenge than the regime itself.
Colombia Under Petro: A Security Landscape in Transition
Colombia's post-accord security environment has shifted under Gustavo Petro with consequences for U.S. bilateral cooperation, cartel activity, and the gains made under Plan Colombia.
Cartel Evolution: Why the FTO Designation Changes and Doesn't Change the Game
The Trump administration's FTO designations created new legal tools. Whether those tools match the operational reality of how cartels function is a different question.
SOUTHCOM Reorganized: The Western Hemisphere Command and What It Signals
The activation of the Western Hemisphere Command in December 2025 is a structural shift with real operational implications and a signal about how Washington now views its own backyard.
Migration as a Security Issue: The Latin American Dimension Washington Keeps Getting Wrong
The 2025 NSS frames migration as a national security threat. The operational reality of what drives migration flows suggests a more complex picture one military tools alone cannot address.
Policy Workshops, Lectures & Professional Seminars
AADI convenes practitioners, scholars, and policymakers for structured dialogue on hemispheric security challenges.
Hemispheric Security Roundtable: The Future of U.S.–Latin America Defense Cooperation
A closed-session policy roundtable convening defense analysts, retired military officers, and government representatives to discuss the evolving security landscape in the Western Hemisphere under shifting geopolitical conditions.
Guest Lecture: Operational Realities of Counter-Narcotics Operations — A Colombian Army Perspective
Public lecture delivered to graduate students in security studies programs, drawing on firsthand operational experience in Plan Colombia-era counter-narcotics missions and their lasting implications for U.S. drug policy.
Professional Development Workshop: Strategic Thinking & Leadership Under Asymmetric Conditions
A structured one-day workshop for corporate security professionals and law enforcement leadership, applying military doctrine frameworks to private sector threat environments.
Panel Discussion: Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law in Combat Operations
An academic panel examining the practical application of IHL in asymmetric warfare environments, featuring AADI advisors alongside legal scholars and former military commanders.
Get in Touch
All inquiries are reviewed directly by AADI's founder and principal advisor. We respond to qualified institutional and professional inquiries within 48 hours.