On August 22, 2026, Haiti’s Ministry of Defense advanced work on its high-stakes National Forum focused on shaping a new strategic vision and long-term future for the country’s Armed Forces, known locally as FAd’H. The second day of the gathering centered on targeted, in-depth debates across core priority areas: evolving national security threats, the military’s current operational capacity, shifting regional and global geopolitical dynamics, and pressing gaps in intelligence gathering, weapons infrastructure, and cyber defense capabilities.
Opening the day’s panel discussions, Lieutenant General Derby Guerrier, Commander-in-Chief of the FAd’H, led a conversation centered on the theme “Internal Threats to State Stability: Typology and Nature.” During his address, Guerrier outlined the most pressing structural constraints limiting the armed forces’ effectiveness today, including widespread shortages of essential equipment, underdeveloped military infrastructure, insufficient human capital, and gaps in ongoing specialized training. Despite these significant hurdles, he highlighted that the FAd’H has delivered measurable key achievements even with severely limited resource allocations, while stressing that systemic strengthening and comprehensive rebuilding of operational capacity remain non-negotiable priorities for the institution.
Subsequent presentations dug into broader security contexts and emerging threat vectors. Colonel Antoine Atouriste, whose talk focused on “The Army in the Regional and International Context,” offered a detailed analysis of dominant regional security threats and their direct implications for Haiti’s national defense and domestic stability. For his contribution, independent expert Pierre Antoine Louis turned attention to external threats to Haiti’s state sovereignty, centered specifically on the urgent need to protect and expand the country’s underdefended maritime natural and territorial heritage.
Lieutenant Colonel Edwin Florexil centered his remarks on the interconnected domains of military intelligence and weapons systems, emphasizing that a robust, functional intelligence service is an irreplaceable foundational pillar of effective national defense. Closing out the day’s scheduled addresses, cybersecurity specialist Guy P. Etienne explored the growing risks of cyberattacks and the integration of new defense technologies, stressing that Haiti’s defense institutions must rapidly upgrade their digital resilience to counter rapidly evolving threats in the global cyber domain.
By the end of the day’s proceedings, the series of targeted presentations had fostered a far deeper collective understanding of the multi-layered challenges facing the FAd’H, as well as consensus around the critical reforms and investments needed to build a modern, professional military that is well-resourced and aligned with Haiti’s unique on-the-ground security realities. The National Forum is set to continue its deliberations on Sunday, August 23, 2026, with further discussions expected to outline concrete roadmaps for institutional reform.