The Mexican military will have new leaders now that incoming President Claudia Sheinbaum has started her term. Gen. Ricardo Trevilla Trejo will head the Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA) and Adm. Raymundo Morales Angeles will be Secretariat of the Navy (SEMAR). SEDENA THE WATCH STAFF Mexico’s incoming President, Claudia Sheinbaum, named her picks to lead the Mexican Armed Forces in early September 2024, weeks before she assumes power. Sheinbaum announced her selection of Gen. Ricardo Trevilla Trejo to head the Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA) and Adm. Raymundo Morales Angeles as Secretariat of the Navy (SEMAR) on September 6, 2024.…
The Watch
Officers of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force (Marine Unit), with assistance from the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, intercept a vessel carrying undocumented migrants near West Caicos in August 2024. ROYAL TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS POLICE FORCE THE WATCH STAFF The heightened political, economic and social unrest in Haiti has increased security challenges in the southeastern approaches to the United States. The instability has contributed to increased collaboration and interoperability between key partners in the Caribbean including the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) and the United States. In August 2024, a flurry of interceptions of undocumented migrants…
A contingent of Rhode Island National Guardsmen trained with the Royal Bahamas Defence Force in August 2024, focusing on mission planning, intelligence gathering and information security. ROYAL BAHAMAS DEFENCE FORCE THE WATCH STAFF The Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) trained for a week in August 2024 with a Rhode Island National Guard contingent in a collaborative partnership to enhance operational readiness in intelligence gathering, information security and mission planning. The two forces have nearly 20 years of formal cooperation, and the latest training exercise allowed RBDF members and National Guardsmen to share expertise and foster new relationships. RBDF Capt. Tellis…
The Mexican long-range ocean patrol ship, ARM Benito Juarez, participated in the RIMPAC 24 exercise in Hawaii this year. The Benito Juarez sailed to Chile in August 2024 to take part in the UNITAS exercise. PETTY OFFICER 2ND CLASS COURTNEY STRAHAN/U.S. NAVY THE WATCH STAFF A Mexican naval task force set sail in August 2024 on a long-range ocean patrol vessel from Manzanillo en route to the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM)-led UNITAS exercise in Chile. The Mexican Navy Task Force “UNITAS-SOLIDAREX 2024” traveled aboard the ARM Benito Juarez, accompanied by a Panther multipurpose helicopter. The September 2-12 exercise has been…
Norwegian police said in August 2024 that a critical cable was cut at the Evenes Air Station in Norway’s Far North, pictured. The incident is the latest in a string of sabotage incidents that appear to bear the imprint of Russian-backed actors. NORWEGIAN AIR FORCE THE WATCH STAFF An unknown saboteur cut a critical communications cable to a Norwegian air base in the Arctic, the latest incident of sabotage in the Nordic region. Norwegian police said the April 2024 incident has been turned over to state prosecutors and amounts to “an intentional and calculated action” at the Evenes Air Station,…
Soldiers of 1-52 General Support Aviation Battalion and 1-25 Attack Reconnaissance Battalion stand in formation in June 2024 before being patched as members of the 11th Airborne Division’s new Arctic Aviation Command during a ceremony at Fort Wainwright, Alaska. SPC. KOURTNEY NUNNERY/U.S. ARMY THE WATCH STAFF U.S. Army helicopter pilots assigned to operate in Arctic conditions will be incorporated into a newly unified Arctic force, the Arctic Aviation Command — which falls under the umbrella of the 11th Airborne Division — as the military continues to reprioritize the Far North in the face of changing climate and rising tensions with…
A Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18 lands in Inuvik during 2022’s Noble Defender exercise. Defence Minister Bill Blair visited the Arctic community in August 2024 to highlight the increased defense spending in the strategic western Arctic region. CANADIAN NORAD REGION THE WATCH STAFF Canadian Minister of National Defence Bill Blair met with Indigenous, municipal and territorial officials in August 2024 at a key western Arctic transportation hub to discuss the country’s emphasis on Arctic security. Blair spent three days in Inuvik in the Northwest Territories explaining Canada’s recently released defense plan, Our North, Strong and Free. “The security challenges facing…
DIÁLOGO ILLUSTRATION DIÁLOGO AMERICAS A new government report highlights the infiltration of three Mexican drug cartels — the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Los Zetas and the Sinaloa Cartel — into Colombia. The report by Colombia’s Ombudsman Office, “The Contrasts of Humanitarian Reality,” says the organizations have become embedded in the country’s Atlantic territories. “In Colombia … there is infiltration by many international cartels,” Daniel Adler, an Argentine specialist in security and urban counterterrorism, told Diálogo Americas, a publication of U.S. Southern Command. “Colombia is the main cocaine producer on the planet. Logistically, it also has a window: It borders Ecuador…
The Royal Bahamas Defence Force patrol boats worked with the U.S. Coast Guard to disrupt a drug-smuggling vessel near Long Island in the Bahamas in August 2024. ROYAL BAHAMAS DEFENCE FORCE THE WATCH STAFF The United States Coast Guard had a busy summer conducting narcotics interdictions in the Caribbean with its partners from the Bahamas, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) and the U.S. Coast Guard cooperated to disrupt a drug-smuggling operation in the Bahamas in August 2024. The seizure of a vessel near Long Island represented another example of how the close collaboration…
Chinese-style lions guard the entrance to the People’s Republic of China’s scientific station in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago. The PRC’s increased activity in dual-use research, which can also have military applications, concerns many Arctic experts. AFP/GETTY IMAGES THE WATCH STAFF An investigation by Newsweek, a United States news magazine, found that the People’s Republic of China is pursuing “dual-use” scientific research in the Svalbard archipelago in Norway’s High North — as well as the Chukchi Sea near the Bering Strait — that could also be used to advance its military interests and Arctic ambitions. The PRC is also increasing its presence…