Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem held a press briefing in Ft. Lauderdale about a seizure of illicit drugs made by the Coast Guard.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Yeah.
00:01Yeah.
00:02Yeah.
00:03Yeah.
00:04Good morning.
00:05Good morning.
00:06Good morning and welcome ladies and gentlemen to this morning's press briefing.
00:33Today's leaders will present information on the Maritime Narcotics Interdiction Deployment
00:37and Contraband Offload by the crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stone and the interagency
00:41partnerships and collaboration that make these results possible.
00:46With us today is Secretary Kristi Noem, I spell K-R-I-S-T-I-N-O-E-M, Department of Homeland
00:56Security.
00:58Admiral Kevin Lunde, I spell K-E-V-I-N-L-U-N-D-A-Y, Acting Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard.
01:08Rear Admiral Joshua Lasky, I spell J-O-S-H-U-A-L-A-S-K-Y, Deputy Director of Joint Interagency Task Force
01:19South, and Captain Jonathan Carter, I spell J-O-N-A-T-H-A-N-C-A-R-T-E-R, Commanding Officer
01:30of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stone.
01:32We will begin with brief statements from each of these leaders and then we will open the
01:36floor to your questions.
01:38Following the speaker's remarks, we will have an opportunity for about 10 minutes during
01:42which you and the media may ask one question and one follow-up to allow for an opportunity
01:47for each of the outlets to have a chance to ask a question.
01:50At the conclusion of the press briefing, our public affairs staff will also be available
01:53to assist with any follow-on inquiries or further needs that you may have.
01:56For those unable to join us today, we will publish a press release with imagery and information
02:00about the Stone's interdiction operations later today.
02:03I request that any of the questions that are asked are focused on the Coast Guard's operations
02:07and this interdiction.
02:08I know that we have several senior leaders up here and there may be other questions that
02:11you have and we are happy to refer those to the appropriate authority at a different time,
02:14but we are focused on Stone's offload today.
02:18It is now my pleasure to introduce Secretary Nome.
02:20Well, good morning and thank you all for being here.
02:26In the first 100 days of President Trump's administration, he has already delivered on
02:30his campaign promises of making America safe again and helping the American people to be
02:35more secure as well.
02:37And today, we are here to recognize and to witness another milestone in his mission to
02:41protect our borders, to protect our communities, and to stop the flow of illicit drugs and
02:47trafficking into the United States of America.
02:50Today is a historic day.
02:52Here at Port Everglades, over 22.5 tons or 45,000 pounds of cocaine and 50 pounds of
03:00marijuana are valued at over a half a billion dollars are going to be offloaded and taken
03:07out of circulation.
03:08This is an unprecedented seizure of illicit drugs that is the result of 14 different interdictions
03:14of drug smuggling vessels off the coasts of Mexico, Central and South America by the crews
03:20of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stone and Coast Guard Cutter Mohawk.
03:24They've done incredible work here with their crews to remove these drugs out of the system
03:28so they can be destroyed.
03:30These efforts were coordinated with the helicopter tactical squadron air crews that you see with
03:35us today as well, tactical team Pacific law enforcement detachments that were involved
03:41and partner agencies that are operating in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
03:45The brave men and women of the Coast Guard do work every single day, 24-7, and they do
03:50it with excellence.
03:52Their dedication, their resilience, and their patriotism is something that we all can admire
03:57and does not go unnoticed.
03:59Their core mission is simple, but it's incredibly crucial.
04:02It's to secure our territorial waters and to safeguard our nation from those who seek
04:06to do us harm.
04:07Their mission directly aligns with President Trump's vision to make America safe and strong
04:12again.
04:13And thanks to the Coast Guard's relentless maritime security and their interdiction efforts,
04:19$517 million worth of illegal drugs will never reach American communities here by what you
04:25see today as a result of these weeks of work.
04:29That means that fewer families are going to be torn apart by addiction, that fewer
04:33lives are going to be lost to overdoses, that communities will be safer, and fewer resources
04:39will be at the hands of dangerous, violent cartels that seek to do all of us harm.
04:43This action is a testimony to President Trump's commitment to delivering for the American
04:48people, and he has unwavering dedication to our military strength, to our border security,
04:55Our law enforcement are producing incredible results, and his leadership is making America
05:00safe again.
05:01I want to thank all of the leadership teams I have behind me, but also those that are
05:05here today that have taken part in these interdiction efforts.
05:08They've done incredible work, and the Coast Guard has partnered with many other agencies
05:12that you see represented here today to do this work.
05:15And it's that kind of cooperation which helps our country be successful in going after these
05:20dangerous criminals.
05:21In just the last month, decisive action was taken to secure the extradition of 29 different
05:27Mexican drug cartel bosses to face justice in the United States.
05:32Today's massive drug seizure is further proof of that work.
05:36We are cleaning up our communities from drugs like fentanyl, and cocaine, and marijuana,
05:42the dangerous substances that fuel addiction, crime, and destroy lives.
05:46We're protecting American people, and we're also making sure that their cartels are not
05:50profiting from the trafficking of these drugs and preventing violence in our communities.
05:56Under President Trump's leadership, we are dedicated to also making sure we're addressing
06:00the needs of the Coast Guard, making sure that they have the resources that they need,
06:04the equipment, the support, and the training, and the infrastructure to come into the next
06:09century protecting and defending our country.
06:12They are the premier law enforcement maritime agency in the world, and our support and what
06:18we provide for them to do that with is incredibly important.
06:22That means that we are going to maintain our vast maritime domain, and that we're going
06:27to ensure that we continue to lead the way.
06:29Thank you to all of those in the Coast Guard, the other agencies partnering with us today
06:34for your work in preventing drug smuggling, and all that you've done to bring these drugs
06:39offline so that they can be taken out of our communities, and to stop hostile activities
06:43before they get to our shores.
06:45May God bless each and every one of you, and may God continue to bless the great United
06:49States of America.
06:58Good morning.
07:00Around us right now is over half a billion dollars' worth of cocaine that, had we not
07:05stopped it, would have been headed for our communities.
07:09In the last two months, since the 20th of January, the U.S. Coast Guard, working with
07:14others, has seized over 80,000 pounds of drugs.
07:18Now while this cutter and crew are headed home after a long patrol to their families,
07:22the rest of the Coast Guard remains deployed, conducting operations and on mission.
07:27America's Coast Guard controls, secures, and defends our U.S. border and maritime approaches.
07:33We're part of the Department of Homeland Security team that protects our nation, and at the
07:37same time, at all times, we are a military service and part of the joint force that defends
07:41it.
07:42We start at the southern border of the United States, where the President has declared a
07:46national emergency, and extend our operations to the entire U.S. border and approaches,
07:51including far at sea, to interdict those threats before they reach our shores.
07:56On the water and in the air, the Coast Guard serves alongside our teammates from the Department
08:01of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, Department of Defense, and our international
08:05partners to fight the foreign terrorist organizations, including these cartels, that try to bring
08:11fentanyl and cocaine into the U.S.
08:15Under the President's orders and our Secretary's direction, we are ensuring 100 percent operational
08:20control of the border.
08:23Our message to these cartels is this.
08:26We own the sea, not you.
08:28We will find you out there, and we will take you down before you reach our border.
08:33That's what the Cutter Stone has done and their crew, and we are proud of their accomplishments
08:38and proud to serve with them.
08:41And Semper Paratus.
08:42Good morning.
08:43Good morning, Madam Secretary Kavanaugh.
08:51I just want to thank everybody for the opportunity to come here and say thanks today.
08:55When you work at JATF South, you have a tremendous opportunity to see how our government comes
09:00together to deal with this challenging problem.
09:03Each of our military services, all of the law enforcement agencies under the Department
09:07of Homeland Security, law enforcement and the attorneys under the Department of Justice,
09:13and 22 Central, South American, and European partners come together every day to find and
09:20stop these movements of illicit drugs trying to reach the shores of the United States.
09:26It's work that is about dismantling the cartels who are polydrug, who do not just traffic
09:32in cocaine, but traffic in fentanyl and other harmful substances and activities as well.
09:37And it is about saving American lives.
09:40Cocaine killed 25,000 American citizens last year.
09:45That's roughly equivalent to the small town of Donia, Florida, just down the road here.
09:51And it is incredibly, incredibly important work.
09:55On this day in particular, we owe a great debt of gratitude to our Coast Guard and to
09:59the Coast Guard Cutter Stone for taking another 20 metric tons of this harmful substance off
10:05the seas.
10:06And let me just put that in context for you a little bit.
10:0920 metric tons is roughly equivalent to 17 million lethal doses of cocaine.
10:16So thank you, Madam Secretary.
10:19Thank you, Commandant.
10:21And thank you, Skipper.
10:23And with that, let me hand it over to the man of the hour, Captain Carter.
10:29I'm clearly not the man of the hour, Admiral.
10:31In fact, of everybody up here, I'm the least important person, but I think I have the most
10:34important message, which is to share with you stories about this incredible cutter and
10:39more importantly, her incredible crew.
10:42Stone's crew, some of whom you will meet later this morning and are standing in the audience,
10:47is comprised of Stone's organic sailors, members from the Pacific Area Law Enforcement team,
10:53pilots, air crew and aviation maintainers from the Coast Guard's Helicopter Tactical
10:57Interdiction Squadron, and intelligence professionals and skilled operators of our unmanned aerial
11:03system.
11:05These detachments effectively bonded to form a highly skilled and motivated unit tasked
11:10to secure our nation's borders and curb the flow of illicit narcotics.
11:15This remarkable group of individuals was responsible for 12 at-sea interdiction, seizing approximately
11:2245,000 pounds of cocaine valued at $510 million.
11:29That's the most amount of cocaine seized by any cutter during a single deployment.
11:35They combined with other cutters and international partners to set a new record for narcotics
11:39seized in a single month, removing approximately 121,000 pounds of contraband in the month
11:46of January.
11:49This offload also represents the efforts from Coast Guard cutter Mohawk, who seized approximately
11:532,200 pounds of cocaine and 330 pounds of marijuana.
11:59But it's what you won't see today that makes me incredibly proud to be the commanding officer
12:05of this ship and this crew.
12:07What we can't show you today are crews saying goodbye to their families on Thanksgiving.
12:13I know some crew members had Thanksgiving on Thursday and Santa Claus came on Friday
12:18and they reported to the cutter on Saturday.
12:22That's how long we've been away from our families.
12:25We can't show you what it's like to mentally and physically have to manage separation,
12:31and they've been separated from their loved ones for four months.
12:34We can't show you the dangers of flying a nighttime sortie with zero illumination on
12:40drug traffickers that are trying to flee prosecution.
12:44We can't show you what it's like to conduct high-speed boat operations at night or have
12:51to sit on a disabled drug trafficking vessel in uncomfortable sea states for six and eight
12:57hour periods.
13:00In one exceptional case, the crew interdicted four narco-trafficking vessels in a span of
13:0515 minutes, seizing nearly 11,000 pounds of cocaine.
13:13That cocaine will never be mixed with deadly fentanyl or threaten American lives here at
13:18home.
13:19These are the men and women of our United States Coast Guard, and I'm proud to say they're
13:23sailors on board Coast Guard Cutter Stone.
13:25They understand that service entails sacrifice, and in the U.S. Coast Guard, that means serving
13:30in, on, or over the water to save those in peril and to safeguard our homeland.
13:37So I want to get to your questions, but I will leave you with this.
13:39There are sailors walking about, and I do want to get to your questions, but if you
13:43see them, if you get to talk to them, please thank them for their service, because the
13:47sacrifices that they make day in and day out are truly incredible.
13:52Thank you for being here, Madam Secretary, Commandant, thank you for being here, Admirals,
13:56thank you very much, and welcome aboard Coast Guard Cutter Stone.
13:59We'll now take your questions.
14:03Thank you all.
14:04As promised, we have about 10 minutes for questions.
14:06Please, if you have a specific recipient of the question, let me know.
14:10Please.
14:20We're going to keep this press conference on topic, focusing on the Coast Guard and
14:23all of their works to what they've done to bring drugs offline and to focus on their
14:29interdiction efforts today.
14:37You know, I do know that there are some lawmakers that are concerned about that, and so we're
14:49certainly working with them to address their concerns.
14:51We've seen some evidence to it, but we also know that other areas of our border have been
14:56threatened as well.
14:57We've seen the cartels get much more desperate lately.
15:00As the border has become more secure and they're not able to follow their traditional routes
15:04of trafficking drugs and humans and conducting their violent activities into the country,
15:10they've become more desperate and we've seen more interactions, and obviously you've heard
15:15on the news and in reports and in factual information too that even violent activities
15:20against our law enforcement officers and those in the military have been escalated, sometimes
15:25up to 200 percent to 300 percent in some areas, because of what these and those who perpetuate
15:33crimes, how they're feeling today with their focus on securing our nation.
15:39Thank you very much.
15:40As a reminder, the focus is on the Stone's interdiction, so please keep your questions
15:43to that and also please announce your outlet as you ask your question.
15:47Please.
15:48Great, thank you for the question.
16:06So the Stone is one of the Coast Guard cutters and aircraft that are continually deployed
16:11not only along the U.S. border, but in the maritime approaches on the high seas approaching
16:15it, to interdict threats.
16:16I can't be specific about how many cutters are on patrol where, because that's certainly
16:20something the cartels would want to know, but we are part of a broad U.S. government
16:24effort that joins with the rest of Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice
16:29and others to present those forces necessary to present 100 percent operational control
16:34of the border.
16:35And that happens certainly on the southern border, not just the southwest land border,
16:40but the maritime border there and this southeast border that approaches Florida.
16:44We are just as on guard here as anywhere else along that southern border.
16:49Well, and again, we're going to focus today on Coast Guard cutter Stone and their work
17:05with Mohawk and the rest of the teams on what they've been able to accomplish today at bringing
17:10security to our country.
17:13Thank you, ma'am.
17:14Again, if you do have those follow-ups, please connect with our public affairs specialists
17:17after we will connect you with the appropriate office to answer your inquiries that are unrelated
17:21to Stone's interdictions.
17:23Next question.
17:24Yes, ma'am.
17:25Hi.
17:26Good to see you.
17:27I'm very interested in this.
17:28You know, I'm wondering if there's any concerns that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security
17:29or the U.S. Department of Foreign Affairs is talking about this specifically to the
17:30U.S. government?
17:31You know, why was there a problem with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and
17:32the U.S. Department of Homeland Security?
17:33Respectfully, again, I ask that the questions be answered.
17:41Respectfully, again, I ask that the questions are kept to the Coast Guard Cutter Stone and
17:45the Coast Guard Cutter Mohawks interdictions.
17:48There is definitely an opportunity at a later time, not the focus of this press conference,
17:52to have other questions.
17:54We're happy to take those and refer them to the appropriate authority.
17:57Any other questions about the interdiction or our nearly half a billion dollar drug offload
18:02today?
18:10Uh, I don't have immediate stats for you, sir.
18:21We can, we can connect with NBC six afterwards and we're happy to give some background on
18:25that.
18:26Certainly we would like to highlight these interdiction cases and uh, and the success
18:29of our operations downrange.
18:32Thank you for the question.
18:49The U.S. southern border is a system and it's interconnected, which is why a team approach
18:53across that system is so critical.
18:56So as we see greater control on illegal crossings and attempted smuggling across the U.S. land,
19:01southwest land border, we can expect that those cartels will try and get their drugs
19:06or move people a different way.
19:08And that's why continued presence, operational presence and enforcement to ensure we have
19:13control, a hundred percent control of the entire border at all times is so critical.
19:30I would just say that the cartels that we are focused on combating and addressing, which
19:35many of which have been designated by the president as foreign terrorist organizations,
19:39they are dynamic and they adjust to our tactics.
19:43And so it's a continual effort as they shift to counter them at every turn.
19:53Any other questions?
20:09Sure.
20:10Yeah.
20:11Thank you for that question.
20:12The, uh, the, uh, it takes a lot to stop people trying to flee prosecution.
20:17And some of the tactics that we use are, we do employ warning shots and disabling fire
20:22from our helicopters when they fail to yield to just being, you know, in the proximity
20:28of the coast guard.
20:29Um, and so, uh, many of the cases do require disabling fire.
20:34Uh, we, we execute the safe employment of, uh, force, uh, and then we dispose of those
20:39go fast vessels at sea as hazards to navigation.
20:42Uh, and so yes, sometimes it is a souvenir to take those back, uh, and display those
20:47just as we're proudly display the displaying the actual contraband, uh, themselves.
20:52So, you know, if the coast guard has a flaw, we make this mission look easy.
20:56It's not easy.
20:57And the common out was talking about tactics changing.
21:00We have to keep up with those changing tactics.
21:03And the case where I spoke about four, uh, go fast interdicted, uh, simultaneously, uh,
21:09they were transiting in a diamond formation, uh, all four having contraband out and on
21:15deck.
21:16So that is us changing the behavior of these drug trafficking organizations.
21:22It's due to persistent presence and it's due to our successful tactics.
21:30We do have time for at least one or two more.
21:31If, if, uh, someone has a question pertaining to the offload, if not, then I thank you all
21:38for your time.
21:39Uh, there are still coast guard public affairs specialists available.
21:42If you have pull asides or one on ones with members of the coast guard cutter stone crew
21:46who may be available, please link up with one of the uniformed coast guard public affairs
21:49specialists for those opportunities.
21:51Thank you all.
21:52And, uh, you may, uh, continue to, to film B roll the backside.