Law Enforcement Detachments
99-570 specifically authorized the establishment of billets for active duty Coast Guard personnel to carry out drug interdiction operations from naval surface vessels provided by the Department of Defense (DoD).
Since the Posse Comitatus Act and department policy strictly prohibit Department of Defense personnel from directly engaging in law enforcement activities, LEDETs were tasked with operating aboard United States Navy (USN) ships to investigate contacts and conduct boardings in accordance with Coast Guard policy and directives.
100-456 made it a requirement that Coast Guard law enforcement personnel be assigned to each appropriate Navy surface vessel that transits a drug interdiction area.
[3] The 1989 National Defense Authorization Act designated the DoD as the lead agency of the Federal Government for the detection and monitoring of aerial and maritime trafficking of illegal drugs into the United States or any of its commonwealths, territories, or possessions.
In order to meet these statutory responsibilities, the DoD began deploying surface assets to drug interdiction areas, making ships available for direct support of Coast Guard law enforcement operations.
[11][12] On 13 September 2008 LEDET 404 deployed aboard USS McInerney seized a 59-foot (18 m) self-propelled, semi-submersible (SPSS) vessel 350 miles (560 km) west of Guatemala during a nighttime boarding.
[13] In April 2010, a LEDET deployed aboard McInerney utilized an unmanned aerial vehicle, namely a MQ-8 Fire Scout, to interdict a go-fast vessel carrying approximately 570 lb (260 kg) of cocaine.
[14] In July 2019, a LEDET from the Pacific Tactical Law Enforcement Team deployed aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Munro interdicted a Self-Propelled Semi-Submersible.
[16] In November 1993 four LEDETs were deployed aboard NATO vessels in Southern Europe to support the operations enforcing the United Nations embargo against the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Yugoslav Wars.
[18] On 24 April 2004 Petty Officer 3rd Class Nathan Bruckenthal, assigned to LEDET 403 deployed aboard USS Firebolt, was killed in action at the Khawr Al Amay Oil Terminal off the coast of Iraq in a terrorist-suicide bombing.
[19] Petty Officer Bruckenthal was the first Coast Guardsman killed in action since the Vietnam War and was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.
[20] LEDETs deployed aboard U.S. Navy ships as part of Combined Task Force 151 (CTF-151) to conduct counter-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia.
The LEDET and the cutter's boarding team had to combat riots, hunger strikes, and suicide attempts before all 172 migrants were turned over to Immigration and Naturalization Service officials in San Diego.
Graduates of BOC possess the skills and knowledge necessary to lead a Coast Guard boarding team in the enforcement of U.S. laws and regulations in a safe and professional manner.
Training in the unit takes 18 months, graduation from TOC and certification as a Boarding Officer before a candidate is awarded the Tactical Law Enforcement Badge.
