Some $45 million was initially earmarked for the initiative in 2010. The Caribbean Basin countries involved are the Dominican Republic and the 14 independent members of the Caribbean Community (Caricom).
Caribbean criticism
The Obama announcement followed criticism from some Caricom leaders that Washington was ignoring the security needs of the region, which is battling ever-increasing drug-fuelled crime and murders.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates will wrap up a Latin American and Caribbean trip in Bridgetown, where'll he'll express support for the programme in a meeting with counterparts from the region.
Robert Gates
Gates: We remain very much engaged in this region
Mr Gates "wants to be clear sending a message that we remain very much engaged in this region," an unnamed Defence Department official told the AFP news agency.
The US already has other security efforts in Latin America, such as the 2007 Merida Initiative designed to augment counter-drug assistance in Mexico and bolster anti-drug activity in Central America and Hispaniola through a three-year, $1.4 billion programme.
A State Department official, Julissa Reynoso, told a House subcommittee hearing on the Caribbean initiative last December that stemming the flow of narcotics through the Caribbean was in the US national interest.
The majority of drugs crossing the Caribbean flow to the United States through Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic )and Jamaica, testified Ms Reynoso, a deputy assistant secretary of state.
While most of the drugs coming into the United States pass through Central America and Mexico, law enforcement officials anticipate that traffickers will seek more reliable smuggling routes in the Caribbean, she said.
"President Obama recognized the need for deeper security cooperation with the Caribbean from the beginning of his administration," she said.
Specifics of the programme are still to be publicly outlined although both sides have held a series of preparatory meetings.
Still not enough
The $45 million first instalment - later cut to $37m in Congress - was described as " a paltry sum" by New York-based Caribbean security expert, Ivelaw Griiffith.
In an appearance before the House, he called for measures to ensure that most of the investment goes directly to the region.
Dr Griffith said: "As part of this effort new bureaucratic entities should not be created, and use should be made, as much as possible, of existing legal instruments to facilitate implementation rather than holding additional conferences or meeting to sign new agreements."
Trinidadian Professor Anthony Maingot, national security scholar-in-residence at a Florida university, called the budget "a drop in the bucket."
While some speakers highlighted the import of drugs to the US, Mr Maingot cited export of guns from the United States as a major problem.
"The coup d'etat which took place in Trinidad in 1990 was carried out with guns bought at a gun fair in Fort Lauderdale (Florida) ...," he said. "This flow of guns continue."
The chair of the committee gave a sympathetic ear.
"Now is the time for us to increase security assistance to the small and vulnerable countries of the Caribbean," said Democrat Eliot Engel. "What we need is an approach to security in the Caribbean that is cooperative, sustained and resourced ..."
