Saturday September 17, 2016
On September 17, the Academy welcomed Joseph W. Curtain to speak about maritime mass migration and his role as chief of staff for Homeland Security Task Force Southeast (HSTF-SE). HSTF-SE is responsible for the oversight of the Department of Homeland Security's comprehensive maritime mass migration plan, a.k.a., OPLAN VIGILANT SENTRY. HSTF-SE was established as a standing task force to facilitate a proper and effective response to a triggering event that causes mass maritime migration in the Caribbean region. Mr. Curtain spent the morning discussing the federal government's plan, including its basic organization and structure by which HSFT-SE will deploy resources and direct multi-agency operations to address a potential or full-scale mass maritime migration event. He also discussed the federal agencies responsible for at-sea rescue and interdiction operations, land-based law enforcement operations, migrant processing, protection and detention procedures, national policy, and how the local and state government support the plan in the event of a mass maritime migration.