The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Valiant partcipated in one of six interdictions in the Caribbean Sea that netted more than $141 million of cocaine in February 2025. U.S. COAST GUARD THE WATCH STAFF The United States Coast Guard collaborated with two allies in February and March 2025 to seize more than $141 million in illicit drugs in the Caribbean Sea. Six interdictions of drug smuggling operations involving U.S. Coast Guard law enforcement teams on Netherlands Forces in the Caribbean and Canadian Royal Navy ships, as well as Coast Guard cutters operating alone, resulted in 17 arrests. The alleged drug smugglers…
The Watch
U.S. Soldiers assigned to Task Force Sentinel survey the southern border wall in a UH-72A Lakota at Dona Ana, New Mexico, on February 22, 2025. U.S. Northern Command is working with the Department of Homeland Security to augment U.S. Customs and Border Protection along the border with additional military forces. PFC. DOMINIC ATLAS/U.S. ARMY THE WATCH STAFF The total number of troops deployed or scheduled to deploy to the U.S.-Mexico border has surged to more than 10,000, U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) said in a news release March 17. In the latest announcement, USNORTHCOM said about 400 service members, including about…
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Gravely is moored at Naval Weapons Station Yorktown in Virginia on March 15 before getting underway for a deployment to the U.S. Northern Command area of responsibility. U.S. Northern Command is working with the Department of Homeland Security to augment U.S. Customs and Border Protection along the southern border with additional military forces. RYAN WILLIAMS/U.S. NAVY THE WATCH STAFF The Department of Defense (DOD) has deployed a Navy destroyer to bolster the U.S.-Mexico border mission, defense officials said, sending a warship to waters typically patrolled by the Coast Guard. The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer…
U.S. Navy Lt. Maria Jarrett has the temperature of her hands assessed using a frost-bite sensor after below zero medical procedures on mannequins. LANCE CPL. MADISYN PASCHAL/U.S. MARINE CORPS SETH CAIN Arctic Edge 2024, a biennial exercise led by United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), is a joint and combined multi-domain Field Training Exercise (FTX) designed to prepare U.S. forces for Arctic warfare. The exercise provided a foundation for innovative medical solutions tailored to the Arctic’s unique challenges. One of the most critical components of Arctic Edge 2024 was Below Zero Medicine, a specialized initiative focusing on medical readiness in extreme…
Members of the Canadian Armed Forces conducted an annual winter training exercise, Arctic Bison, in the Yukon Territories in February 2025. CANADIAN ARMED FORCES THE WATCH STAFF Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Soldiers conducted annual Arctic readiness training in the Far North in February 2025, training with Japanese Self-Defense Force Soldiers and strengthening bonds with Indigenous communities in the Yukon Territory. The Arctic Bison exercise involved elements of the 38 Canadian Brigade Group, the Winnipeg Rifles and cultural exchanges with the Carcross Tagish First Nation, according to the Yukon News, a Canadian newspaper. The operation focused on demonstrating task competencies in…
People watch as the Ground-based Midcourse Defense element of the United States ballistic missile defense system launches during a flight test from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on May 30, 2017. U.S. President Donald Trump has said he wants to develop a new anti-missile system for the country. REUTERS THE WATCH STAFF Canada and the United States are discussing Canada’s possible participation in U.S. government’s planned “Golden Dome” missile defense system for North America, with an eye on research involving the detection of incoming threats, the U.S. commander for North American Aerospace Defense (NORAD) told a defense conference on March…
A United States federal judge sentenced Rubén Oseguera, known as El Menchito, to life in prison in March 2025. He is the son of fugitive Jalisco New Generation cartel boss Nemesio Oseguera. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The son of a Mexican drug cartel boss was sentenced to life in prison March 7 for helping his father run one of the country’s largest and most violent narcotics trafficking organizations. Rubén Oseguera, known as El Menchito, is the son of fugitive Jalisco New Generation cartel boss Nemesio Oseguera. The son served as the CJNG cartel’s second-in-command for seven years before…
Canada is likely to play a role in the construction and deployment of the U.S. Golden Dome missile defense system, three academics argued in a February 2025 Wilson Center analysis. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE TROY BOUFFARD, WHITNEY LACKENBAUER AND ANDREA CHARRON U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order (EO) on January 27, 2025, directing the U.S. Department of Defense to build an “Iron Dome for America,” which is shorthand for a next-generation missile defense shield for the United States (and since rebranded as the Golden Dome). “Over the past 40 years, rather than lessening, the threat from next-generation strategic weapons has…
Police from the Bahamas stand on the tarmac after arriving to Haiti to be part of a U.N.-backed multinational force at Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, in October 2024. In February 2025, a Royal Bahamas Defence Force corvette, HMBS Nassau, was in the final steps before deployment to support the multinational security mission. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS THE WATCH STAFF A Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) corvette entered the final stages of readiness for deployment to Haiti in February 2025 as part of a security mission aimed at restoring order to its Caribbean neighbor, which is ensnared in prolonged violence…
United States President Donald J. Trump issued a January 2025 executive order mandating the construction of a Golden Dome missile defense system to combat next-generation weapons. This image shows a missile defense test executed at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. U.S. ARMY THE WATCH STAFF Creating a Golden Dome of missile defense to protect the United States ranks as a high homeland defense priority for the U.S. government. The threat is real: The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Russia and North Korea are all developing advanced missiles, including hypersonic missiles and Hypersonic Glide Vehicles (HGV). A multidomain missile…