RADM Steve Branham, Deputy Chief of Mission Timothy Brown, Minister of National Security Tommy Turnquest, ADM Thad Allen
Originally uploaded by uscgpress
This is the second post on our recent trip to the Dominican Republic, Haiti, the Bahamas and Guantanamo, Cuba and is focused on our visit to Nassau.
The US Deputy Chief of Mission, Timothy Zuniga-Brown, met us on our arrival. That evening we had a working reception where we discussed OPBAT with Minister of National Security, Orville A. ‘Tommy’ Turnquest and Commodore Roderick Bowe of the Royal Bahamian Defence Force. Our Seventh District Commander, RADM Steve Branham joined us as well. Representatives from the DEA Regional Office in Miami and the DEA team in Nassau joined us, as did our Coast Guard team that staffs and operates the OPBAT command center at the Embassy. The following morning we met with the US Country Team to discuss how to create better connectivity and information sharing between JIATF-South, the El Paso Intelligence Center, CBP Air and Marine Operations Center, Joint Task Force-North, and OPBAT to combat illicit trafficking arriving in the US. We also discussed our excellent relationship with Bahamas and our cooperation in illegal migrant interdiction and search and rescue, in addition to our counter drug operations. Our thanks to our Coast Guard senior leaders in Nassau, LCDR Louie Parks (OPBAT Supervisor) and LCDR John Berry (Coast Guard Liaison Officer), and to all the personnel that staff and support the OPBAT command center.
ADM A
