U.S. Coast Guard to offload 12,471 pounds of illicit drugs valued over $141 million in Miami Beach
Members of the USCG cutter ship Valiant are scheduled to offload "12,471 pounds of illicit narcotics with a street value of more than $141 million" at the Coast Guard Base Miami Beach at 9 a.m., the naval force said.
The USCG said the offload is a culmination of six interdictions conducted by U.S. and international naval agencies and their vessels, including:
USCG Valiant
USCG Joseph Doyle
Royal Netherlands Navy HNLMS Groningen
Royal Canadian Navy HMCS Harry DeWolf
USCG Tactical Law Enforcement Team Pacific
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Los Angeles Times
a day ago
- Los Angeles Times
U.S. Coast Guard stops boat off Newport Beach; 7 turned over to feds
A U.S. Coast Guard boat on patrol off Newport Beach stopped a 20-foot boat taking on water with seven apparent Mexican nationals on board, authorities said Sunday. The boat was spotted about 9 p.m. Saturday while the Coast Guard vessel was on routine patrol, according to a Coast Guard statement. The crew stopped the boat to board it. 'During the boarding, the crew identified seven suspected aliens aboard and discovered water intrusion in the bilge,' according to the statement. 'They secured the flooding source and initiated a tow.' There were no reported injuries or medical concerns among the five men and two women on the boat, the Coast Guard said. Three were confirmed Mexican nationals and four were suspected to have been Mexican nationals. The boat and its occupants were turned over to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Coast Guard reported.
USA Today
a day ago
- USA Today
Force Design 2028 will expand Coast Guard's national security capabilities
Early on May 23, U.S. Coast Guard watchstanders at the Joint Harbor Operations Center in San Diego tracked a vessel crossing into U.S. waters off Southern California. A Maritime Safety and Security Team in the area intercepted the vessel. Assisted by USCGC Halibut, the Seattle-based small boat team detained 10 foreign nationals without authorization to enter the U.S. and transferred them to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Halfway across the country, USCGC Joseph Doyle had intercepted a boat with four Mexican men illegally fishing off Texas inside the U.S. exclusive economic zone. The catch included about 200 red snappers. The crew transferred the men to CBP on return to Coast Guard Station South Padre Island. The two operations marked the start of a busy summer season for the Coast Guard, which is tasked with safeguarding the nation's borders, facilitating commerce and supporting maritime safety. Since Jan. 21, its national security role has taken on greater focus as the Trump administration beefed up military forces along the U.S. land and maritime borders to thwart illicit and illegal activities and stop inflows of dangerous drugs and unauthorized people. In the first three-plus months of the new administration, Coast Guard personnel detained more than 860 aliens and stopped as much illicit cocaine as was interdicted at sea during fiscal 2024, Adm. Kevin E. Lunday told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security on May 14. 'We surged forces, tripling the number of forward-deployed air and surface assets in that area.' Off Southern California, for example, migrant interdiction increased 54 percent between late January and early May, and 'this year, we are on track to exceed our bulk cocaine interdiction goal,' says Lt. Cmdr. Steve Roth, chief of media relations for the Coast Guard. 'This operational surge is a great example of what the Coast Guard is capable of doing, meeting the need — but it's a surge. It''s not sustainable,' Roth says. 'The Coast Guard has been an incredible bang for the buck for the taxpayer. Look at what you''re getting out of them. We''ve got to give them the attention that they need and get them whole after decades of under-funding.' The 55,000-member force has long grappled with the need to modernizing its fleet, force and infrastructure. Top officials hope that changes under Force Design 2028, the plan developed by the Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to bolster national security and commit resources to both capabilities and facilities. Four lines of effort Force Design 2028 was developed to strengthen, expand, reshape and modernize the Coast Guard, with focus on four key areas: people, organization, acquisition and contracting and technology. The Coast Guard 'is more in demand than ever before. We are on the edge of transformational change, and we will become a stronger, more capable and agile force to meet the challenges ahead,' Lunday said at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy graduation May 21 in New London, Connecticut. The Force Design executive report outlines numerous changes across its headquarters and the force. The Coast Guard plans to improve training systems, expand medical care access and modernize reserve and civilian management systems. It revamps organizational structures and decision-making processes. It aims to eliminate or minimize bureaucratic acquisition and contracting delays to get forces what they need faster. It wants to accelerate getting state-of-the-market technology that enhances data sharing, situational awareness and operational effectiveness. The campaign underscores the need for action, Roth says. 'The report makes an alarming assessment of the service's current state, describing it as facing a readiness crisis that is fragile … and on a path to failure, stemming from decades of under-investment, neglect and strategic drift,' he says. 'The report highlights a significant workforce shortage and aging assets on the verge of collapse, warning that, without change, the Coast Guard will fail. It proposes a bold and urgent transformation blueprint aimed at fundamentally changing the service from a reactive posture to a proactive strategy relying on innovation.' DHS Secretary Kristi Noem affirmed those commitments in remarks to the Academy's Class of 2025, adding: 'We're going to build a more agile, capable and responsive fighting force. A new chapter for America's Coast Guard, one like we have never seen before, starts right now,' Noem said. The secretary in recent months met with Coast Guard leaders and crews in visits to several Coast Guard stations, cutters and maritime security units. 'The Coast Guard's vital role in our safety and security is paramount,' she said, highlighting investments that include more icebreakers to address needs in the Arctic and adding 15,000 new personnel by 2028. Many of this year's 200 academy graduates, now commissioned as Coast Guard officers, will serve and lead missions around the globe as the service expands and modernizes. Service and Hill advocacy At Congressional hearings, Coast Guard leaders have detailed the service's needs that will be supported by Force Design 2028. 'We maintain a persistent presence in the maritime domain — from coastal ports and inland waters to the high seas —– to control, secure and defend the U.S. border and maritime approaches from maritime threats; facilitate the flow of safe and secure commerce; respond to maritime disasters; and save lives,' Lunday testified in May. The campaign has several goals, Roth says. These include delivering an execution plan; commencing a Force Posture and Operational Concepts Campaign focused on reinventing ways the Coast Guard employs forces and delivers results; and delivering the first semiannual update to the DHS secretary on FD2028's implementation. Unclear yet are the costs to modernize, change and expand the Coast Guard, as much of its funding is part of broader DHS budgets. But flat budgets have long plagued the service, leading to underfunded requirements, aging infrastructure, maintenance backlogs and lags in modernization, despite bipartisan efforts last year. Complicating the service's budget and authorization is that Coast Guard jurisdiction falls to multiple congressional committees and subcommittees. Force Design also proposes a Senate-confirmed service secretary for the Coast Guard. Establishing a new secretary would provide a senior political appointee who 'can advocate for us in a way that a member of the uniformed armed services could not politically,' Roth says.
Yahoo
12-08-2025
- Yahoo
Man who died in boating accident off Nantasket Beach is identified. What we know
The man who died following a boating accident off Nantasket Beach in Hull on Saturday, Aug. 9, has been identified by authorities as Michael LaRhette, a Hingham resident and leader in the Boston-area biotech and startup community. The 56-year-old was found unresponsive in the water around noon on Saturday after the boat he was in capsized, the Plymouth County district attorney's office said in a news release. LaRhette was pulled aboard a U.S. Coast Guard vessel and taken to Coast Guard Station Point Allerton, where he was pronounced dead, the DA's statement said. No other people or vessels were missing. The state medical examiner will determine the official cause of death. At the time of his death, LaRhette was chief business officer at LabCentral, a Cambridge nonprofit that provides shared lab space, equipment and support to biotech startups. He had been in the position for five years, according to his LinkedIn profile. In an Aug. 11 tribute on the company's blog, LabCentral CEO Johannes Fruehauf called him 'an extraordinary leader whose kindness, compassion, and dedication to innovation in biotech and life sciences shaped LabCentral in immeasurable ways.' 'Beyond his professional contributions, Mike will be remembered for his humanity ‒ the way he listened and cared,' Fruehauf said in the blog. 'To say that he will be missed is the most extraordinary understatement.' LabCentral said it would share more in the coming weeks about ways to honor and celebrate his life and legacy. This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Michael LaRhette, of Hingham, dies after boat capsizes off Nantasket Solve the daily Crossword
