OPERATION STURGEON

Lessons Learned from the deployment of Florida RDSTF Waterborne Response Teams in support of

the US Coast Guard in the protection of

US Navy assets

Prepared and presented by:

Mark R. DuPont, FWC Chief Intelligence and Domestic Security Officer

Overview

The Request The Opportunity

The Plan

The Execution The Takeaways

The Request

What: Protect a High Value Asset Escort In and Out of Mayport When: Due it for 11 weeks, July thru September Daily, Monday thru Friday, 2+ Missions per day Why: Coast Guard only has the resources to due 40%

“Can you (FWC) do it?”

The Opportunity

Not just a mission, this is an opportunity Not an FWC mission… an RDSTF Mission

An opportunity to display the Florida’s Spirit of Cooperation

An opportunity to exercise RDSTF Waterborne Response Teams (WRTs), because its never been done

An opportunity to perform this escort mission with multi-agency federal, state, and local cooperation, because its never been done

An opportunity to set a national standard. Carpe Diem!

The Plan: Test, Train, Exercise

Integrate our test and exercise operation (Sturgeon) into the CG escort mission (Operation Cuddlefish)

Open the opportunity to our partners with the “Plug and Play” model

Test our ability to deploy forces from great distance

Test our ability to interact with other agencies

Test and exercise our interoperability communications tools

Test and exercise our administration, planning, logistics and our incident command management abilities

The Response

WRTs from throughout the state answered the call within 48 hours from as far away as Lee County and Miami

FDOT, CST, DNDO, DOH, all agreed to use this opportunity to exercise our protocols and capabilities in our Rad/Nuc Prevention and Detection enterprise

The Execution

Teams from Bay, Okaloosa, Duval, Nassau, Lee, Miami-Dade, conducted one week of planning, familiarization and training, for all WRT team leaders, 2 weeks prior to the event

Deployed our Command Trailer, an operational coordinator, our communications technicians, and logistics and administrative support… Each and Every Week of the Op.

Dedicated one of the operational weeks to our Rad/Nuc Detection and Prevention Enterprise

The Rad/Nuc Execution

Trained/Prepared for what is most likely 2 Different Scenarios:

Officer on patrol, conducting boarding of large private yacht. When in alarm hits, what actions do you take

(Subject Interview, Notification, Dispatch Notification)

When Secondary Screening is required, what actions do you take (Who gets notified, what resources are requested, and from where)

Working from intel during an event, find the target. Combine landside and maritime units. Develop an operational strategy Establish Teams Establish Incident Command Establish Comms with multiple units/agencies

What we learned and accomplished

Florida knows how to work together

Our maritime Rad/Nuc Detection and Prevention plan is ready to move forward with equipment acquisition

Our WRTs are a force multiplier for the Coast Guard, and an AT-FP resource for the Navy

We have established a model for the nation

Communication Takeaways

Tested and proved our ability to talk to each other: Air to surface, State to Local, DOD to State

Improved our CST’s communication capabilities FIN had never been exercised in this manner, and we

discovered secure comms issues, and made recommendations to fix them

Need to improve DOD air to surface communications

Operational Takeaways

Although 2 boat escorts are the minimum, more is better Helicopters are even “more” better Tactical Interoperability is critical Communications are critical Intelligence has a purpose

US Water Patrol Subject under a bridge People operating around Blount Island

“I have never felt safer in any port, before this. Job well done.” Commanding Officer, USS Scranton

The Rad/Nuc Takeaways

We have finalized our Rad/Nuc Detection equipment list

We perfected our maritime protocol

We maximized and leveraged our partner expertise

The Future