New York Naval Militia Assists Border Patrol on Lake Champlain

Rouses Point, N.Y.— Once again this summer, members of the New York Naval Militia will assist the U.S. Border Patrol in inspecting pleasure craft entering the United States from Canada on Lake Champlain during peak boating weekends in July and August.

Over five consecutive weekends from July 20 through Aug. 19, a Naval Militia boat and two-man crew will join Border Patrol agents in inspecting boats entering the United States at Rouses Point, Clinton County; and directing them to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspection station.

The Border Patrol routinely mounts operations during the summer to remind boaters of the need to check-in as they enter the United States. More than 2,000 boats make entry into U.S. waters from the Richelieu River into Lake Champlain each summer. During the peak boating season and high traffic periods of summer weekends, an estimated 100 to 150 boats will pass through the border daily.

The Naval Militia crews on Patrol Boat 230, a 25-foot boat capable of holding 10 people, in partnership with law enforcement agents on personal watercraft – will team with Border Patrol agents to meet with visiting boaters that do not report, explain the inspection process and direct them to the CBP inspection station.

The support on the waters of Lake Champlain allows the Border Patrol agents to better manage the flow of boaters passing through the CBP inspection station and respond to other safety and security needs on the lake.

"Our Naval Militia boat crews look forward to working with the Border Patrol each year on Lake Champlain," said Major General Patrick Murphy, the Adjutant General of New York. "Assisting federal, state and local authorities on New York's waterways is a mission these citizen sailors and marines train for regularly and enjoy."

“The Border Patrol continues to strengthen its law enforcement partnerships along the border by integrating our assets and personnel with our local, state, federal and tribal partners. We enjoy our partnership with the New York State Naval Militia as this unity of effort not only assists us with securing our nation’s border, but is also critical in engaging and educating our international boating community,” said Chief Patrol Agent John Pfeifer of the Swanton Sector.

The New York Naval Militia is a component of the New York Military Forces-- including the Army and Air National Guard -- commanded by the Adjutant General, Major General Patrick Murphy.

Most of the 2,000 members of the Naval Militia are members of the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard Reserves who agree to perform state missions when needed at the order of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. Five percent of the force are volunteers who are retired military members.

Naval Militia members man the nine boats of the New York Military Emergency Boat Service, but they also employ their military skills in other missions useful to the state. During the state response to Tropical Storms Irene and Lee in 2011, members of the Naval Militia served in command posts and in support roles while others helped sandbag the Schenectady City water works to prevent flooding.

The Naval Militia maintains a fleet of nine patrol boats in its Military Emergency Boat Service (MEBS) which support law enforcement agencies, the United States Coast Guard and other federal agencies. The Naval Militia works regularly with the United States Coast Guard in New York Harbor, carrying inspection teams out to ships waiting offshore to enter the harbor aboard Patrol Board 440, a state-of-the-art patrol boat.

CBP would also like to remind boaters of the availability of the Small Vessel Reporting System (SVRS) to the northern border. The online reporting tool is a voluntary program and will expedite the entry process for participating boaters entering or coming back into the U.S.

The system is open to all U.S. citizens and permanent residents, as well as Canadian citizens, Canadian landed commonwealth residents and Canadian landed immigrants who are nationals of a Visa Waiver Program country who have a valid passport and an Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA); or hold a U.S. visa for admittance, a valid passport, and a CBP Form I-94. Boat owners and passengers can fill out an online application and schedule a visit to an enrollment center near them to apply to the program. There is no fee to apply to the program. Boat owners or passengers who are currently members of a CBP Trusted Traveler Program (e.g. NEXUS or Global Entry), or who hold a current form I-68, can enroll without visiting an enrollment center.

For more information or to begin the registration process, please visit the CBP Small Vessel Reporting System (SVRS) web site. ( CBP Small Vessel Reporting System (SVRS) )

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.

USS Nicholas Brings Home 4 Tons of Drugs from Operation Martillo

From U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command and U.S. 4th Fleet Public Affairs

MAYPORT, Fla. (NNS) -- Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided missile frigate USS Nicholas (FFG 47) delivered more than four tons of cocaine and marijuana to Naval Station Mayport, Fla., seized from drug interdictions conducted in support of Operation Martillo, July 17.

Crew members offloaded approximately 3,408 kilograms (7,500 pounds) of cocaine, and 109 kilograms (239 pounds) of marijuana, with an estimated wholesale value of more than $93 million. The amount of cocaine seized was enough for 7.2 million doses, each dose approximately the same size as a sugar packet.

USS Nicholas is returning to port after a 175-day deployment supporting counter illicit trafficking operations aimed at disrupting transnational organized crime and keeping drugs off the streets.

"With the help of some partners in the region we accomplished what we set out to do; disrupt the drug trade," said Cmdr. Stephen Fuller, USS Nicholas commanding officer. "Interdictions are challenging, but with the help of other naval units, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the partner nation navies, we executed a successful deployment."

During the deployment, Nicholas with embarked U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) conducted a combination of six disruptions and interdictions while in the Caribbean Sea, and the Atlantic and Pacific coastal waters of South and Central America.

Also during the deployment, Nicholas transited the Panama Canal twice, conducted passing exercises and an officer exchange with the Colombian Navy, certified 22 pilots through Helicopter Anti Submarine Squadron Light (HSL) 42 Detachment 9, four underway replenishments with a Chilean oiler, celebrated the anniversary of the War of 1812, and a "Crossing the Line" ceremony when the ship crossed the equator.

U.S. Navy and Coast Guard vessels, U.S. military and patrol aircraft from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, along with the support of allied and partner nation (PN) forces assisted with patrolling coastal regions from Colombia to Mexico to detect and monitor illicit traffic in order to cue and support PNs and U.S. interagency interdiction efforts.

Patrol airplanes from Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 77 (VAW-77), Patrol Squadron Eight (VP-8) operating from El Salvador and U.S. Customs and Border Protection long range patrol aircraft operating from Jacksonville, Fla. And Corpus Christi, Tex., use sophisticated sensors to detect suspicious vessels and coordinate interdictions by the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard and partner nations patrolling the region.

More than 80 percent of the narcotics entering Central America and largely transiting through Mexico on their way to U.S. markets enter via maritime littoral routes, with the main conveyance being "go-fast" boats. By teaming up with regional partner nations and allied forces to scrutinize the littorals, transnational organized crime networks will be denied those routes.

LEDETs belong to Tactical Law Enforcement Team South or Pacific Tactical Law Enforcement Team and are an armed deployable specialized force under the USCG's Deployable Operations Group. They were created to support narcotics interdiction operations aboard U.S. Navy and allied ships and are capable of supporting DOD national defense operations. LEDETs provide specialized law enforcement capability and maritime security capabilities to enforce U.S. laws across a full spectrum of maritime response situations, maritime security augmentation and maritime interdiction anti-piracy operations.

Operation Martillo (Spanish for 'hammer') is a U.S., European, and Western Hemisphere partner nation effort targeting illicit trafficking routes in coastal waters along the Central American isthmus. This joint service, interagency, and multinational operation is being led by Joint Interagency Task Force South, the agency charged with detection, monitoring, and supporting the interdiction of illicit trafficking in a 42 million square mile area under the direction of U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM).

Operation Martillo is a component of the U.S. government's coordinated interagency regional security strategy in support of the White House strategy to combat transnational organized crime and the U.S. Central America Regional Security Initiative.

U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command and U.S. 4th Fleet (COMUSNAVSO/C4F) supports USSOUTHCOM joint and combined full-spectrum military operations by providing principally sea-based, forward presence to ensure freedom of maneuver in the maritime domain, to foster and sustain cooperative relationships with international partners and to fully exploit the sea as maneuver space in order to enhance regional security and promote peace, stability, and prosperity in the Caribbean, Central and South American regions.

CBP Donates Seized World War I Artillery to Military Museum

Charleston, S.C. - A rather unusual seizure by U.S. Customs and Border Protection enabled 13 pieces of World War I German military items to find a new home. These items, with an appraised value of $2,000, consisted of inert artillery casings, projectiles and fuses as well as an inert artillery collar (77mm and 105mm). They were seized in January on behalf of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from a shipment originating in the United Kingdom. Although the importer indicated that these items were intended to be used as curios and relics, they were found to be in violation of ATF regulations. 

Once a determination was made that the articles were inert, or safe to seize and store, CBP took possession. Shortly after, the Director/Curator of the U.S. Army Artillery Museum contacted CBP requesting transferal of the seized items to the museum located in Fort Sill, Okla.

The U.S. Army Artillery Museum tells the story of artillery from 1775 to the present with more than 70 guns and artillery pieces and numerous other artifacts from headgear and ammo to small arms and uniforms. Since the museum already housed several models of German World War I artillery pieces that used the same calibers of ammunition, they felt that these additional items would be an asset to the collection.

CBP agreed that the items would be of greater value in the museum, therefore, the transfer was approved. As a result, the artillery pieces will be formally catalogued in the museum collection of the U.S. Army and placed on public exhibition.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.

DOD Takes Southern Border Support to Air

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON  – Defense Department and National Guard support to southwest U.S. border security will change in the next few months from a ground effort to primarily air, Defense and Homeland Security officials said today.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the lead federal agency charged with defending the southwest U.S border with Mexico, but the Defense Department, specifically the National Guard, works closely in support of the effort, and has since 2010.

But the mission has changed, said Paul Stockton, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and Americas’ security affairs. Customs, he said, has beefed up its manpower and technical abilities and no longer needs the numbers of National Guard personnel on the ground.

“CBP has changed the kind of support that it is asking the Department of Defense to provide,” he said, “and DOD is transitioning to much more effective support … that not only matches up to what CBP needs, but provides more flexibility against an adaptive adversary.”

The border is better protected because of the cooperative relationship between defense and homeland security, said David Aguilar, the Customs and Border Protection agency’s deputy commissioner.

“Over the last year, we had over 1,200 National Guard representatives on the line with us,” Aguilar said. Under the new system, he said, fewer than 300 Guardsmen are needed.

The Guardsmen worked with border police to man entry identification teams. These are fixed positions and were what was required at the time. But times change, and now the Border Patrol requires aerial platforms to provide intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and mobility ability.

This mission will begin around the first of the year and completely transition by March, Aguilar said.

“There will be a ramp down of the static [entry identification teams] and the boots on the ground related to those [teams], but a ramp-up on the aerial support and platforms,” he said.

Border Patrol Chief Michael Fisher said the patrol has grown to 21,450 officers. The aviation assets will focus at first on detection and monitoring capabilities, he said. Guardsmen will fly specially equipped OH-58 and UH-72 helicopters with a detection radius of 6 and 12 nautical miles, respectively. In addition, Guardsmen will fly RC-26 fixed-wing aircraft with detection and monitoring capability of 12 nautical miles.

Such capability will enable the Border Patrol to work in more challenging terrain and give the patrol a faster reaction time to prevent illegal activities. These airborne assets will be able to look way over the horizon of a person on the ground and be able to flow personnel into an area.

Defense officials will continue to work with Customs and Border Protection officials to figure the mix of aircraft and capabilities and where the aircraft and ground stations will be.

The new National Guard mission will end Dec. 31, 2012, officials said.