Navies, coast guards, and counter-smuggling work

Should counter-smuggling be solely a coast-guard mission, or should navies assist when they have ships available?

Navies should assist where their surveillance and ship capacity add value, especially at sea, while ports and police handle most documentary cargo fraud.

Naval assistance is useful when ships are available, particularly against small craft and semi-submersibles carrying narcotics. These patrols exercise surveillance, command-and-control, and interception skills in a real operational setting. Naval ships can also extend the reach of smaller Caribbean coast guards. Cargo-manifest fraud is a different problem and belongs mainly to ports and law-enforcement authorities.