US, Canada to Conduct Full-scale Port Security Exercise

U.S. and Canadian military personnel and government civilian agencies are scheduled to participate in Exercise Frontier Sentinel 14 from Friday through Oct. 24. The full-scale exercise is the final phase of a three-part scenario that focuses on maritime homeland security.

FS 14 is a combined U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area, Canadian Joint Task Force Atlantic, and U.S. Navy Fleet Forces Command exercise designed to test the coordinated response against a maritime threat to North American ports. 

“This exercise tests the ability of U.S. Coast Guard, Navy, Canadian forces and civilian agencies to successfully respond to a complex maritime threat to the homeland," said Vice Adm. William Lee, Coast Guard Atlantic Area commander.  "Exercises such as Frontier Sentinel allow us to strengthen partnerships with our Canadian and Navy counterparts in a realistic setting, which will enable us to improve our interoperability, so we are prepared to respond to any and all maritime threats to the homeland.”

Phases one and two of FS 14 occurred in August and September and focused on maritime threats in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, including Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Phase three of the exercise will focus on the coordinated detection, assessment and response to a mine threat in the Delaware Bay.  The exercise is limited to specific areas in Delaware Bay and should not significantly impact vessel traffic or bay operations.

Frontier Sentinel is an annual exercise series, initiated in 2006, established to improve the collaborative information exchange, planning and coordinated response between operational-level commands of the Tri-Party, which consists of U.S. Coast Guard, U. S. Fleet Forces Command and Canadian Joint Task Force Atlantic, in response to security and defense threats in the maritime domain.