MARITIME LAW ENFORCEMENT IS A TEAM SPORT The Coast Guard works with partners to protect the nation BY EDWARD LUNDQUIST
The U.S. Coast Guard is a unique branch of the nation’s five armed services that serves as the nation’s premier maritime law enforcement agency, with authorities, capabilities, competencies, and partnerships to successfully execute the mission. The Coast Guard is the lead and only federal maritime law enforcement agency with both the authority and capability to enforce national and international law, including drug interdiction, on the high seas. Speaking before Congress in March 2019, Commandant of the Coast Guard Adm. Karl Schultz said that the “Coast Guard plays a critical role in a comprehensive approach to securing our borders – from disrupting drug trafficking and illegal immigration in the southern transit zones, to projecting sovereignty across the globe. Our nation’s maritime borders are vast, and include one of the largest systems of ports, waterways, and critical maritime infrastructure in the world, including 95,000 miles of coastline.” As part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) layered security strategy, Schultz said the Coast Guard pushes out our nation’s border, and serves as the “offense” in a comprehensive approach to a layered border security strategy. “Through the interdiction of illicit drugs and the detention of suspected drug smugglers, the Coast Guard disrupts TCO [Transnational Criminal Organizations] networks at sea, over a thousand miles from our shore, where they are most vulnerable. Coast Guard maritime interdictions weaken the TCOs who destabilize our immediate neighbor Mexico, the Central American land corridor, and South American countries. Our interdiction efforts minimize corruption and create space for effective governance to exist. Coast Guard interdiction efforts reduce the “push factors” that are responsible for driving migration to our Southwest land border.” Partnerships at all levels are essential in maritime law enforcement, especially when combating TCOs and international smuggling operations. According to Coast Guard Rear Adm. Pat DeQuattro, director of Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-South), his organization has a longstanding partnership with the Coast Guard and Navy. “We work together, and with our international partners, as we share a common cause in combating criminal drug traffickers that threaten global security and prosperity.” JIATF-South detects and monitors illicit trafficking that occurs through international air and waters in the Western Hemisphere. “This targeting
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Coast Guard OUTLOOK
Cyclone-class patrol coastal USS Zephyr (PC 8) crew conducts ship-to-ship firefighting to extinguish a fire aboard a low-profile go-fast drug vessel suspected of smuggling in international waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Zephyr and an embarked U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment intercepted the low-profile go-fast vessel during a routine patrol in U.S. 4th Fleet area of operations. They detained four smugglers and seized approximately 1,080 kilograms of cocaine during the seizure.
