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An Overview of
Federal Drug Control Programs
on the Southwest Border

United States Coast Guard

PROGRAM SUMMARY

The Coast Guard enforces Federal drug control law in maritime transit and arrival zones. In this capacity, it remains the Nation's principal maritime law enforcement agency, with jurisdiction on and over the high seas as well as in the territorial waters of the United States. The Coast Guard is the designated lead agency for maritime interdiction and shares co-responsibilities for air interdiction with the U.S. Customs Service.

Two ongoing Coast Guard operations complement existing law enforcement efforts along the land border with Mexico. Operation BORDER SHIELD on the Pacific side and GULF SHIELD on the Atlantic/Gulf of Mexico side logically extend land border efforts into the surrounding maritime region.

Operation BORDER SHIELD

Operation BORDER SHIELD is a bold initiative to shield the coastal borders of Southern California from maritime drug smuggling. The two areas of primary concern are the northern Baja Peninsula (offshore component), where Coast Guard air and surface patrol assets will operate, and the U.S.-MX border area (inshore component) in which coordinated, real time end-game interdiction will be conducted with multiagency forces.

Mission: BORDER SHIELD is a multiphase operation to deny maritime smuggling routes around the border between Northern Baja Mexico and Southern California. The phases include:

  • In April 1997, the Coast Guard initiated a short-term surge of air and surface interdiction resources in both component areas to detect, monitor, classify, and intercept suspected drug traffickers.

  • A long term maintenance operation will follow, consistent with lessons learned and intelligence, to deter additional drug traffic and permit resource surges elsewhere.

Maritime Challenges: Criminal drug smuggling organizations are currently trafficking small loads of contraband along the coast to delivery points in the United States with minor disruption from law enforcement. Small "go-fast" boats and watercraft, including Jet-Ski's, Sea-Doo's, and Zodiacs, operating primarily at night, conduct approximately 4-6 deliveries a week. The speed, short travel distance, and low radar signature of these vessels is a daunting challenge for interdiction forces. Additionally, the frequency of deliveries limits the utility of available intelligence. Like Operation GULF SHIELD, traditional enforcement methods of occasional air flights and random surface patrols have not been effective against this threat.

Concept of Operations: The overall strategy is a combination of surging surface and air surveillance offshore, and real time inshore response using alert aircraft, boats and task forces.

  • Resources dedicated to the ongoing first phase of BORDER SHIELD include: a dedicated 210 foot medium endurance cutter, two patrol boats, fixed wing aircraft surveillance, helicopter response assets, numerous utility boat and rigid hull inflatable small boats, one Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) and roughly 25 operations personnel.

  • Phase I pulse operations feature a Transportable Command Center (TCC), one mobile inshore undersea warfare unit (MIUW) and one listening post/observation post (LP/OP).

  • Additional complementary resources to ensure adequate ground, surface and air monitoring, detection, intelligence reporting, and interdiction will be provided by interagency participants including: U.S. Customs Service, Joint Interagency Task Force (JIATF)-West, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Border Patrol, Joint Task Force Six (JTF-6), National Guard, IAC, and California law enforcement agencies.

The Eleventh District Commander Coast Guard will discuss operational issues with Mexican officials and is investigating opportunities for partnering by exchanging intelligence and developing coincidental operations.

Operation GULF SHIELD

Operation GULF SHIELD is a dynamic initiative to shield the coastal borders of the Gulf of Mexico from maritime drug smuggling. The area of primary concern is the coast of Texas, from the border with Mexico northward 100 miles, and seaward as much as 15 miles.

Mission: GULF SHIELD began as a two phase operation to deny maritime smuggling routes along the south Texas border. The phases include:

  • Phase one was a sixty day surge of resources (March-May 1997).

  • Phase two is a long term maintenance operation to deter any resurgence of drug traffic and permit resource surges elsewhere.

Maritime Challenges: Extensive violation of U.S. sovereignty and drug smuggling across the U.S./Mexico maritime border by Mexican lanchas is evidenced by observations, beach seizures, and testimony of confidential informants.

  • Lanchas are 25 foot open hulled fast boats which can operate at speeds in excess of 30 knots. They routinely operate at night along the surfline in groups of 2 or more. Their small size and speed makes them very difficult to detect and apprehend.

  • The known fleet size in the Gulf is between 1,000 and 3,000 hulls. As many as 500 lanchas may be observed at sea on any given surveillance patrol. Some of these vessels are linked to at least 3 smuggling organizations.

  • Lanchas accounted for 21% (53 of 247) of known maritime smuggling events that were documented by Coast Guard Atlantic Area in FY 1996. The average load of illicit cargo is 500 to 1,000 pounds of cocaine or marijuana. An estimated 12 metric tons of cocaine and 125 metric tons of marijuana are transported to the U.S. in lanchas. Intelligence suggests these figures understate the real world situation.

Traditional enforcement methods of occasional air flights and random surface patrols have not been effective against this threat. GULF SHIELD is a flexible, responsive, hard hitting effort to combat drug traffic and restore security to the Gulf shorelines.

Concept of Operations: The overall strategy is a combination of enhanced surface and air radar and infrared surveillance, covert tracking, overt beach patrols, and OPBAT-like apprehension efforts using rapid response aircraft, boats and task forces.

  • Resources dedicated to the maintenance phase of GULF SHIELD include: a dedicated medium endurance cutter, 110 foot patrol boat, a H-60 helicopter, rigid hull inflatable small boats, and operations personnel.

  • Additional complementary resources, such as mobile radar units and listening and observation posts, will be provided by interagency participants including: U.S. Customs, DEA, Border Patrol, JTF-6, and Texas law enforcement agencies.

GULF SHIELD has been coordinated among all participants and complements existing land border efforts such as HARDLINE, being conducted along the land border with Mexico.

The Coast Guard has discussed operational issues with Mexican officials and is investigating opportunities for partnering by exchanging intelligence and developing coincidental operations.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Since March 1997, Coast Guard interdiction efforts along the maritime Southwest border have led to six seizures totaling 6,660 lbs. of marijuana and three arrests. Coast Guard patrols have also contributed to six documented aborted deliveries.

In addition to interdiction success, the Coast Guard's work in the Southwest Theater has led to a number of historic "firsts" with the Mexican Navy (MX NAV), including:

  • Establishing a formal USCG/MX NAV communication plan.

  • Implemented regular high level talks between MX NAV Secretary and USCG flag officers.

  • Obtained MX NAV assistance when USCG assets have chased suspect lanchas to the MX/U.S. border.

The Coast Guard maritime initiatives along the Southwest border have blended an effective coalition of law enforcement agencies; for example:

  • BORDER SHIELD interagency participants include: U.S. Customs, JIATF-West, DEA, Border Patrol, JTF-6, National Guard, IAC and California law enforcement agencies.

  • GULF SHIELD interagency participants include: U.S. Customs, DEA, Border Patrol, JTF-6 and Texas law enforcement agencies.

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