MIAMI – "Proceed max safe speed en route CCGDSEVEN, shift TACON to CCGDSEVEN upon entering D7 AOR." These were the words that went out from Atlantic Area Commander Vice Adm. James Hull in Portsmouth, Va., turning cutters and crew as far north as the Atlantic waters off New England, in the Gulf of Mexico and deep in the Caribbean, to head directly to Haiti to arrive as soon as possible.

This movement of steel and flesh was the tactical culmination of a first-of-its-kind strategic planning process started in June 2003, which led to an operational plan, Operation Able Sentry, activated to address the monumental challenge of preventing a mass migration from Haiti.

The Department of Homeland Security was established Mar. 1, 2003, to help integrate the effort of those agencies tasked with providing for the security of the nation in a whole new way. The department’s homeland security strategy is to secure our borders by pushing them out so threats can be detected, evaluated and responded to before they ever reach the U.S. The successful execution of this strategy in the maritime realm requires a daily coordinated effort by the homeland security team of Coast Guard, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection including the U.S. Border Patrol, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, as well as other federal, state and local partners.

Recognizing the threat and national impacts of a mass migration from the Caribbean to the U.S., DHS Secretary Tom Ridge established Homeland Security Task Force Southeast to bring the resources, skills and capabilities of all of the involved agencies under one umbrella organization to develop the contingency response plan Operation Vigilant Sentry. Once completed, this single plan would replace about a half-dozen independent plans in existence.

This unification measure launched an intense and unprecedented planning process that involved people from throughout DHS and other impacted federal agencies, including the departments of State, Defense and Justice. While aggressively developing this groundbreaking plan, delivering the first draft in just three weeks, no one realized how soon it would prove its value.

Back in Miami, 700 miles from Haiti, the fledgling HSTF-SE, lead by Task Force Director Rear Adm. Harvey E. Johnson, began to make preparations for implementation of its contingency migration plans and within seventy-two hours turned a three-inch thick document into a 15-page concept of operations, that would become Operation Able Sentry.

Secretary Ridge officially activated HSTF-SE Feb. 20 and approved the execution of Able Sentry with clear direction to "conduct fully integrated mass migration operations to deter illegal or unsafe migrant departures, and interdict, repatriate and detain populations as necessary and appropriate to protect the security of the United States."

The criticality of this tasking became even more significant Feb. 25 when President Bush ordered the Coast Guard, during an often-played nationally-televised press conference, to intercept and turn back every migrant attempting to reach U.S. soil.

Soon, more than a dozen Coast Guard cutters were in the Windward Pass and Gulf of Gonave, located off the coast of Haiti. While the overall operation was run by the task force, the tactical execution of those orders in the Windward Passage soon fell on the shoulders of the crew of the Charleston, S.C.-based Coast Guard Cutter Dallas – by now familiar with large-scale operations following its deployment to the Mediterranean Sea in 2003 for Operation Iraqi Freedom – who became Command Task Unit for Able Sentry. As such, the commanding officer of Dallas, Capt. Christopher Colvin, oversaw the tasking of all cutters in the waters surrounding Haiti.

Feb. 23, Dallas had just arrived in Mayport, Fla., for a training availability with the Navy when Colvin received a mid-afternoon phone call from the Coast Guard’s Atlantic Area Command. "We were underway three hours later," said Colvin, referring to the speed with which their orders were changed and the crews’ response. Two days later, Dallas was on scene off Haiti, coordinating patrol efforts for a steadily-growing squadron of cutters, which were already generating results with more than 500 Haitian migrants on deck from thirteen different boats.

With the prevention of migration being the primary objective of the task force, arguably the most critical event of Operation Able Sentry took place Feb. 27 with the first repatriation of interdicted migrants. A highly visible repatriation was imperative to send the clear message to potential migrants that leaving by sea was not a viable option. 

"It is our intention, upon rescuing Haitian migrants from peril at sea aboard grossly overloaded and unseaworthy vessels, to immediately repatriate them in a safe and secure manner," said Johnson just as the first repatriations began.

By the end of that day, with the invaluable assistance of the Haitian Coast Guard, 531 migrants were returned to Haiti by the cutters Vigilant, from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and Valiant, out of Miami. The entire evolution took more than eight hours with the migrants being ferried by Haitian Coast Guard boats in groups of 30 to 40. Assisting in the safe completion of the repatriation process were members of the Department of State and a detachment of U.S. Marines.

As the repatriations were occurring, interdictions continued, with another two boats carrying 336 migrants safely stopped that day. "Had we not arrived off Haiti in late February, the nearly 1,000 Haitian migrants that our cutters rescued attempting to reach the United States, would almost certainly have perished in the severe weather that followed during the first week of March. It could have been a disaster of near-epic proportions," said Colvin.

To further emphasize the deterrence message to potential migrants, these 336 migrants were immediately returned to Haiti Feb. 28 by the cutters Spencer, from Boston, and the Wilmington, N.C.-based Diligence.

These actions had their intended effect. There have been no Haitian migrant interdictions at sea or landings in the U.S. since Feb. 26. More importantly, there have been no reported migrant deaths at sea.

While much of the operational and public attention focused on the waters surrounding Haiti, HSTF-SE understood that it could not ignore the ‘back-door’ and that additional resources and effort had to be dedicated to the waters of coastal Florida. This concern was validated the same day President Bush gave the Coast Guard its orders on national television, Feb. 25, 21 Haitians attempted to hijack a cargo ship off the coast of Miami in hopes of making it to the U.S. They too were stopped by what Colvin referred to as the "goal line defense," in this case, a team of Coast Guard Group Miami cutters and boats, an ICE Special Response Team and helicopter, and the Special Operations Group from the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission.

At the height of activity, HSTF-SE was directing the operation of approximately 2,000 people from throughout the Eastern U.S. and across the spectrum of the homeland security team.

Working off the coast of Haiti were cutters with homeports from Boston to Mobile, Ala., as well as P-3 maritime patrol aircraft from ICE’s Air Marine Branch in Jacksonville, Fla. Also in the region were up to 17 Asylum Pre-Screening Officers from CIS, as well as contracted translators.

Though fortunately it turned out not to be necessary, a team from ICE, CIS and CBP, working with personnel from Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was able to expand the ability to provide humane and secure facilities for the detention of migrants beyond the small steady-state capacity currently maintained.

Securing our borders closer to home were boats and aircraft from the U.S. Border Patrol and ICE, as well as detachments from Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Team 91106 out of New York, all working with and coordinated by Coast Guard Group Miami. Also participating in these patrols were officers from seven local police agencies as well as Florida’s Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, there has been a shift in the mindset of what is considered a successful operation. Success is now sometimes measured in what didn’t happen. In the case of Operation Able Sentry, success was the aversion of a long-term exodus of large numbers of people on poorly built, overloaded vessels. Undoubtedly, if that had happened, many lives would have been lost. What also was prevented was the need to house and care for hundreds, if not thousands of migrants for an extended period; an operation that would carry a heavy price tag.

However, the job is not done. The Coast Guard continues to contribute to the stabilization and improved security of Haiti by maintaining an enhanced presence in the surrounding waters and serving as the Maritime Component Commander to Combined Joint Task Force – Haiti for Operation Secure Tomorrow. These efforts are currently being conducted by MSST 91104 from Galveston, Texas, as well as a collection of cutters ranging in size from 110-foot patrol boats to 378-foot high-endurance cutters.

As part of Secure Tomorrow, crews from the cutters Thetis and Nantucket, out of Key West, Fla., and members of MSST 91104 joined forces Mar. 21 to assist 65 Haitian orphans and the Haitian Coast Guard. One participant, Lt. Timothy Newton, observed, ""When you look into the eyes of the children and see the look of hope, it is clear why we are here.  Having the opportunity to help those in need is why many of us joined the Coast Guard."

Working together, Homeland Security Task Force Southeast has helped to save lives and restore stability to a country in need and the Coast Guard continues to serve in Haiti to lend a hand to the people of Haiti.