Proceedings magazine is a communication tool for the Coast Guard's Marine Safety & Security Council. Each quarterly magazine focuses on a specific theme of interest to the marine industry.
Issue link: https://uscgproceedings.epubxp.com/i/284910
53 Spring 2014 Proceedings www.uscg.mil/proceedings on waterways and in ports. Also, echoing the commitment to seamless operations, our icebreakers work in Canadian waters and vice versa. Furthermore, more than 1,500 aids to navigation are retrieved in fall prior to the ice season. Then in spring, they are returned to their assigned positions. At several locations U.S. buoy tenders work aids in Canadian waters, and the Canadian Coast Guard services U.S. aids in Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence Seaway. These operations optimize costly vessel missions and maximize the time the aids are in the water to facilitate commerce. Although seamless for many missions, the shared mari- time border does create a complex jurisdictional boundary for law enforcement. To resolve this problem, in June 2013, the Coast Guard and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police conducted combined vessel patrols known as "shiprider" operations and integrated cross-border maritime law enforcement operations to prevent crime. (See related article in this edition.) Synchronized Priorities Integrated border enforcement teams (IBETs), comprised of Canadian and American law enforcement agents from the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and Canadian Border Services Agency, play a critical role in synchronizing combined operations. Similar to shiprider operations, the IBET part- ners continue to share information and coordinate opera- tions. Leveraging our existing partnerships and information sharing creates a more secure maritime environment and strengthens our shared border. We look forward to the day when we can walk into one of our command centers and see a common operating picture of all U.S. and Canadian maritime assets operating on the Great Lakes, with U.S. and Canadian personnel standing a watch side by side. About the authors: LCDR Matt White serves in the USCG 9th District Enforcement Branch. He is a 1994 graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and a 2003 gradu- ate of Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. CDR Dave Beck is the Enforcement Branch chief of USCG 9 th District. His responsibilities include law enforcement, station management, ordnance, and homeland security around the Great Lakes. His previous units include Sector Detroit, MSU Morgan City, Environmental Standards Division, MSO Pittsburgh, and the CGC Bramble. Mr. Lorne Thomas is the chief of External Affairs, USCG 9 th District. Prior to this position, his 27-year career with USCG included feld and staff tours in marine safety and prevention. He is a 1981 graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. Endnotes: 1. Available at www.uscg.mil/d9/docs/D9_GLMS.pdf. 2. Available at www.epa.gov/greatlakes/basicinfo.html. 3. Available at www.hsdl.org/?view&did;=710991. The Great Lakes Coordinating Council There is no shortage of federal, state, local, and academic endeavors with interest in U.S./Canada border issues. From economic to environmental, from safety to security, there are commissions, councils, forums, institutes, and other bodies that focus on nearly every aspect of our shared border. From that cacophony of shared interests, it can be difcult to fnd harmony. Safety, security, and resilience along our shared border are not mutually exclusive goals. They are as inextricably linked as our two countries; but individual sovereignty and bureaucratic disparities can often confound harmonized solutions. Maritime threats and risks rarely ft neatly within an individual lane of agency or geographic responsibility. In the Great Lakes system, what happens in one part of the system invariably impacts other parts. In June 2010, the leaders of the Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection, and Immigration and Customs Enforce- ments' Homeland Security Investigations developed stan- dard operating procedures for coordinated air and maritime operations on the Great Lakes. That efort has matured into the Great Lakes Coordinating Council. While still an evolving efort, it's producing great work. We have established recreational and commercial vessel boarding and inspection and intelligence working groups that helped resolve redundancies, gaps, and conficts across the Great Lakes DHS enterprise. This brings harmony, synchronization, and a common-sense governance structure that enables us to work together toward shared goals. Boat crews from the U.S. Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Mounted Police train along the shared U.S./Canada border. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Offcer Jerry Minchew. Spring2014_FINAL.indd 53 3/21/14 11:14 AM