Post-Cold War Southcom invented disaster and drug missions to justify itself

Evidence

In fact, the persistence of the base was due not just to bureaucratic inertia. There were also concerted efforts to create new missions and justifications for the supposedly temporary base and for the military’s entire Southern Command. After the Cold War, the combatant command responsible for Latin America found itself marginalized and with little to do. Southcom discovered its salvation in disaster and drugs. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 297

Categorization

• XREF: Pattern parallels how institutions needing budgets manufacture ‘threats’ rather than the reverse.
• SEED: The phrase ‘Southcom discovered its salvation in disaster and drugs’ is a strong title/opening for an essay on mission-invention as institutional survival strategy.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 297