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After 9-11, the United States underwent the most significant restructuring of its national security architecture since the end of World War II. The Homeland Security Act of 2002 and the National Security Act of 1947 both led to the creation of new Cabinet-level Departments and the merging of many federal agencies into new organizational structures to deal with the new threats and security challenges to the United States. The Department of Defense also underwent significant changes with the creation of a completely new Unified Command, U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM), chartered with providing the military response to Homeland Defense. Within NORTHCOM, there is a new challenge of expanding regional security cooperation beyond the traditional bilateral relations with Canada under the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD), to now include Mexico under the concept of ?perimeter defense? of the Northern Hemisphere against the threat of terrorism. Yet, such an expansion of mission and security cooperation between the United States, Mexico, and Canada involves many complex issues concerning ?regional governance? and the formation of new security relationships between all three nations. This paper will address Mexican challenges to cooperate with the US and Canada and the dilemmas in the construction of a new regional security perimeter. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]