The United States is a Pacific country. More than 1.9 million U.S. citizens and nationals live in Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and approximately 53 million Americans live along the western seaboard from California to Alaska. Our commitment to Pacific Island security is strong and enduring, a key pillar of our “America First” foreign policy. When the Pacific Islands are safe, the continental United States is safer.
On September 1, at the Pacific Islands Forum in Palau, the U.S. State Department promised that the United States would convene a Pacific Police Ministers’ Conference to address common challenges. From October 21st to 22nd, the United States hosted the first United States-Pacific Islands Police Ministers Conference (COPMIN) in Los Angeles. Adm. Kevin Lundy, Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, and Jennifer O’Legrill, Attorney General of Palau, co-chaired the meeting, and Cartwright Weiland, Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, led the State Department delegation. Ministers and senior police officials from the Pacific Islands, Australia, New Zealand and France participated in the meeting, along with representatives from regional organizations, senior U.S. officials, law enforcement leaders from the Western Hemisphere, Southeast Asia and U.S. industry.
One criminal group, multiple locations
The network threatening Pacific communities operates as a single criminal enterprise. Precursor chemicals were supplied to clandestine laboratories in Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador and Southeast Asia, which produced the finished products, which the cartels then transported across the Pacific via couriers, international mail, private jets and semi-submersible vessels. All of this was supported by extensive money laundering operations. Since 2024, Western Hemisphere drug cartels have shipped more drugs through the Pacific than from Asia.
Each link in the chain depends on the others. Breaking this enterprise requires action at every step, starting with where drugs and precursors first enter legal trade. Between President Trump and
Under Secretary Rubio’s leadership, the United States is protecting its investments in the Pacific by stopping drugs before they reach our shores, dismantling criminal enterprises that defraud our citizens, and supporting Pacific institutions. At COPMIN, the United States announced more than $44 million in new programs to combat transnational criminal organizations operating in the Pacific and threatening the American people.
Initiate a cross-region response
Regional Interdiction Partnership for Human Trafficking Intelligence, Disruption and Enforcement (RIPTIDE): The department will provide $4 million to launch RIPTIDE, the first coordinated effort to target criminal enterprises across the Pacific and Western Hemisphere. The work will complement existing regional information-sharing efforts in partnership with INTERPOL, which connects police services across its network of 196 member countries, linking seizures to investigations and the funding behind them. The World Customs Organization (WCO) will use the customs administrations of its 187 member countries to train Pacific officials on the pipelines most commonly used by traffickers, including general aviation, international mail and detection dog operations, and will provide intelligence from border controls to investigators. Interpol and the World Customs Organization will work together to establish an information-sharing mechanism applicable to each participating country and complement existing Pacific-led efforts to enhance law enforcement information-sharing. Through “Riptide,” countries sharing the world’s largest ocean will for the first time establish a common mechanism to fight a common criminal enemy.
Ensure safety in the maritime domain
Palau Omoana Regional Center: The United States will invest $7 million to establish a regional maritime law enforcement training and coordination center in Palau, which will serve as the headquarters for the Omoana Regional Law Enforcement Initiative. The center will train Pacific personnel in ship boarding, evidence handling and maritime awareness. It will also house U.S. and regional liaison officers to provide intelligence support to the Pacific Islands and U.S. territories, making Palau a regional maritime law enforcement hub.
Shared Waters, Shared Observations: Regional Maritime Awareness Network: The United States will provide nearly $5.5 million to give Pacific partners a clearer picture of the waters exploited by traffickers and illegal fishing fleets. U.S. Pacific Command’s Joint Interagency Task Force-West (JIATF-W) is providing more than $1.4 million worth of maritime surveillance tools to the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Service and Fiji Maritime Services, as well as secure communications systems to the Pacific Transnational Crime Coordination Center in Samoa. JIATF-W will build a boat ramp in Fiji to support efforts to improve the interdiction of illicit drugs and cargo. The U.S. State Department will equip four new Papua New Guinea National Fisheries Service patrol boats with advanced electro-optical and infrared cameras, upgraded radar displays and instant data transmission. The investments will link patrol boats, fisheries monitors and police intelligence centers across the region.
Canaroa Plan: The United States will provide $4.5 million through the U.S. Coast Guard to strengthen maritime law enforcement in the Pacific Islands. The Kanaloa program will train officers in small boat operations, boardings, fisheries enforcement and maritime prosecutions. It will also provide equipment and embedded consultants to Pacific Coast Guard, customs and fisheries agencies, helping partners patrol the vast EEZ and build their own training capabilities.
Expanding Shiprider business: The U.S. Coast Guard will expand bilateral ship-to-ship operations with Pacific partners. Under these arrangements, Pacific law enforcement officers serving aboard U.S. Coast Guard cutters are authorized to enforce their country’s laws within their exclusive economic zones. This expands law enforcement into waters that no single country can patrol alone.
Disrupting criminal networks and their funding
Enhanced Police Investigative Capacity (EPIC): The United States will provide $5 million through the FBI to strengthen Pacific police investigations into drug trafficking, bribery, money laundering and cybercrime. EPIC will provide practical training, advice on ongoing cases, police liaison support and exchanges with FBI National Academies to build a professional network that can produce cross-border results.
Promoting Operational Readiness for Territorial Resilience, Law Enforcement, and Security (FORTRES): The United States will provide $2.5 million through Homeland Security Investigations to strengthen border and port security. FORTRES will deploy liaison officers to advise on active cases, combat trade-based money laundering and cartel-related drug trafficking, upgrade screening equipment at key ports, and conduct exercises to enhance real-time information sharing between Pacific border agencies and U.S. law enforcement.
Frontline Investigator Initiative: Joint Inter-Agency Task Force West is providing more than $1.3 million to train investigators in Fiji, Tonga, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau in narcotics investigations, financial investigation techniques and maritime operations planning. In Palau, two U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers will join Customs and Border Protection for a 60-day pilot of advice and assistance.
Pacific Islands Narcotics Supply Reduction (PINSR): The United States, through the Drug Enforcement Administration, is providing $450,000 for three years of training and mentoring in narcotics investigations, financial crimes, forensics and leadership. PINSR will also support anti-drug courses at regional police academies.
Strengthening Tonga’s gateway: The United States is providing approximately $3.5 million in funding to strengthen the Kingdom of Tonga’s border reconnaissance capabilities. The U.S. Department of State will install modern and technologically advanced U.S. cargo inspection equipment at the Queen Salote International Terminal in Nuku’alofa. This will enable all incoming and outgoing goods to be inspected and identify those requiring inspection of illegal goods, including narcotics. The Joint Inter-Agency Task Force-West (JIATF-West) will also work with Tonga authorities to design, build and fund administrative support facilities for a new dog testing kennel facility at the Neyaf Police Station on the island of Vava’u.
Pacific Coalition to Combat Illicit Finance and Cybercrime (PACIFIC): The United States will provide $5 million to strengthen financial intelligence units and cybercrime units in the Pacific Islands. U.S. federal agencies will train officials in cryptocurrency tracking, beneficial ownership investigations and digital forensics. They will also assist in updating anti-money laundering and cybercrime laws that are in line with Financial Action Task Force and Budapest Convention standards. PACIFIC protects the trusted digital economy that U.S. cloud computing and telecommunications initiatives are helping to build in the region.
Build lasting partner effectiveness
United States-Palau Agreement: The United States and Palau signed a letter of agreement at COPMIN to advance Palau’s law enforcement training and capabilities. The agreement includes regional planning that could also benefit the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia.
Integrated Support for Policing Guidance and Regional Engagement (INSPIRE): The United States is providing $5 million through the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center to strengthen the Pacific Police Academy. INSPIRE supports police commissions with curriculum development, teacher standards, recruitment and technical assistance to build a team of professional officers ready to fight transnational crime within their own borders.
Bangkok International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA): The United States provides specialized law enforcement training to Pacific Island countries through the ILEA Bangkok Center to strengthen investigations, combat transnational crime, and improve cooperation with U.S. law enforcement agencies. The training focuses on common security threats, including drug trafficking, financial crime and cybercrime.
Looking to the future
COPMIN participants work to enhance maritime domain awareness, shipboard crew cooperation, and port and border security. They are also working to protect legitimate supply chains from traffickers, cut off the supply of precursor chemicals and equipment, and build capacity to investigate fraud, cryptocurrency money laundering, and corrupt officials who facilitate these activities. The United States will support Pacific partners to continue this momentum into 2027 and beyond, strengthening a situation where security and prosperity go hand in hand.