Six Cuban migrants were transferred to Bahamian authorities in June 2025 after the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted their unseaworthy craft in the Caribbean Sea. U.S. COAST GUARD Seventy migrants were apprehended in the Caribbean Sea as The Bahamas and the United States collaborated on surveilling, tracking and interdicting illegal migrant-transporting vessels. One operation, near Hole in the Wall Lighthouse in South Abaco, showcased the cooperation between the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) and U.S. authorities, according to an RBDF news release. An RBDF drone team assisted in a multiday surveillance effort to track the ship. Another U.S. Coast Guard apprehension…
The Watch
The HMCS Frédérick Rolette sails into the Hudson River in New York City in May 2025. It is the fifth of six Artic Offshore Patrol Vessels in the Royal Canadian Navy. WIKIPEDIA Canada commissioned its fifth Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessel (AOPV) in June 2025, completing another milestone toward overhauling its naval fleet. His Majesty’s Canadian Ship Frèdèrick Rolette joins four other AOPVs in strengthening Canada’s Arctic armed presence as well as bolstering its capacity to conduct surveillance, reconnaissance, search and rescue, and disaster-relief operations. The HMCS Frèdèrick Rolette was officially commissioned in a ceremony in which her commanding officer, Commander…
The United States Coast Guard welcomed its third polar icebreaker into its fleet as the Storis left Pascagoula, Mississippi, in June 2025 on its initial voyage. The cutter will be homeported in Juneau, Alaska, and used for Arctic patrol duty and other tasks. U.S. COAST GUARD A former civilian icebreaker is being repurposed to bolster the United States Coast Guard’s Arctic icebreaking capabilities, strengthening U.S. presence, force projection and patrol abilities in often frozen seas. The Coast Guard cutter Storis, renamed after a famous icebreaker based in Alaska, will be berthed in Juneau and manned by a mixed crew of…
The Mexican Secretary of National Defense Ricardo Trevilla Trejo, left, and Mexican Secretary of the Navy Raymundo Pedro Morales Àngeles, right, were hosted by Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, center, commander of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, at command headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in June 2025. U.S. NORTHERN COMMAND Senior military leaders from Mexico and the United States met in May and June to coordinate strategy and deepen ties. The Mexican secretaries of national defense and the Navy visited Colorado Springs, Colorado, in June 2025 for the first time since they were appointed. The June 23-25…
The USS Cole, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, left Naval Station Mayport in Florida on June 5, 2025, deploying to the Gulf of America and the Caribbean to help secure the U.S. southern border. U.S. NORTHERN COMMAND The United States Navy is rotating two Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers as it continues to secure the Mexico-U.S. border and its maritime approaches in the Gulf of America and the Caribbean Sea. The USS Cole, which is replacing the USS Gravely, departed June 5 from Naval Air Station Mayport in Florida. The Cole’s deployment is being coordinated by U.S. Northern Command, which…
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, left, and U.S. President Donald Trump meet at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 25, 2025. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS At the urging of the United States, NATO leaders on June 25, 2025, agreed to increase defense spending and reaffirmed an “ironclad commitment” to come to each other’s aid if attacked, confirming NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s billing of the alliance’s annual summit as “transformational.” In a final statement, NATO’s 32 leaders said: “Allies commit to invest 5% of GDP annually on core defense requirements as well as defense- and security-related spending by 2035…
Mexico’s security chief, Omar Garcìa Harfuch, said in June 2025 that Mexican cartels are recruiting Colombian ex-soldiers. Garcìa Harfuch’s June 10 comments followed the arrest of 12 Colombians by Mexican authorities connected to an attack on Mexican Soldiers that left eight dead. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Mexico’s most powerful drug cartels are recruiting former Colombian soldiers, prompting Mexican authorities to turn away dozens of Colombians trying to enter the country in recent weeks, Mexico’s security chief said in June 2025. Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch’s June 10 comments followed the arrest of 12 Colombians in the western state…
Troops in the Royal Bermuda Regiment patrol during Exercise Rum Runner 2025 in Jamaica. The regiment trained with Soldiers from the Cayman Islands, the Falkland Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands. ROYAL BERMUDA REGIMENT The Royal Bermuda Regiment (RBR) traveled to Jamaica in May 2025 for two weeks of training with troops from other British Overseas Territories (BOT) and the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) in Exercise Rum Runner 2025. The annual exercise promotes interoperability and training opportunities unavailable in Bermuda. More than 100 RBR Soldiers took part in long-range rifle practice, battlefield medical training and jungle patrols. This was…
Finland summoned a Russian diplomat twice in June 2025 after Russian warplanes violated Finnish airspace in two separate incidents within three weeks. AFP/GETTY IMAGES REUTERS Finland’s foreign ministry summoned a Russian diplomat on June 11, 2025, over a suspected violation of Finnish airspace a day earlier, the second such event in less than three weeks. One of the newest NATO members, Finland reported June 10 that a Russian military aircraft entered its airspace off the coast of Porvoo in the southern part of the country and that the Finnish Border Guard was investigating. “The foreign ministry has invited Russia’s acting…
A crew member aboard the United States Coast Guard cutter Valiant loads bales of illicit drugs at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on June 6, 2025. PETTY OFFICER 1ST CLASS DIANA SHERBS THE WATCH STAFF Crews from two United States Coast Guard cutters off-loaded nearly 8,300 kilograms of cocaine and 1,200 kilograms of marijuana worth more than $138 million in early June in Florida. The contraband was from six interdictions in the Caribbean Sea by Coast Guard and interagency partners. The Coast Guard cutter Valiant’s crew delivered 7,915 kilograms of cocaine and 1,173 kilograms of marijuana to authorities on…