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[countdown beeps]

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>> It's 0:100 hours Pacific Time.

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In Riverside, California the clock is ticking on a new day.

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A day that'll see literally tens of thousands of air and Marine movements

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across and within the borders of the United States.

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Most are routine, well-documented, perfectly legitimate.

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A handful, however, are more suspicious, sinister and potentially deadly.

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They travel in secret but they do not go unseen.

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This is AMOC, the Air Marine Operations Center,

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a center of excellence within U.S. Customs and Border Protections Office of Air and Marine.

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And here every hour of every day the men and women of AMOC stand watch, 24 hours on the line.

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[Music]

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>> The Air Marine Operation Center is the nation's law enforcement air interdiction center.

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It's working with the intelligence folks are able to do targeting.

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It's working with the investigators and we're able to connect that with law enforcement

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and making sure that we're getting them in the right place at the right time

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to put the handcuffs on the bad guys.

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>> But making that happen is getting harder.

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Throughout the night, detection enforcement officers monitor over 250 sources,

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ATC and approach control radars, military radars, satellites, aero-stat radar balloons

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and a variety of airborne surveillance,

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including P3 Orion Radar aircraft and predator unmanned aircraft systems, or UAS's.

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But as important as the resources and technology are,

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it's the knowledge and experience of the people watching these screens that accomplish the mission.

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They represent different agencies: CBP, Coast Guard,

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the Federal Aviation Administration, the Air National Guard.

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And different backgrounds.

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They are dedicated, skilled and smart.

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And today, as every day, they know that somewhere

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hidden among the thousands of legitimate radar signatures,

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there will be something wrong.

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Something that demands a closer look.

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>> What our folks are doing every day, they look at 8 to 10,000 targets

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at any instant in time in trying to pluck the needle out of the haystack.

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>> So every exception is regarded as a potential threat.

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0600.

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The morning watch team arrives.

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Detection enforcement officers, the communications group and Intel specialists.

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>> It's very chaotic some days, most days as a matter of fact.

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Obviously if you're working a watch which would be providing the support to the floor,

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you're going to be using the AMOC system.

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Additionally we use a variety of different databases in order to provide the information we need.

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>> The intelligence team makes the work of AMOC unique.

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AMOS, the Air and Marine Operation Surveillance System,

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is the most advanced law enforcement air and Marine surveillance system in the United States.

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This state-of-the-art technology, together with real time analysis,

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communications capabilities and years of combined experience

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make AMOC Intel among the most effective in Federal law enforcement.

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>> 950, this is Omaha 1-0.

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I've got a group of 12 at position

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>> 10:46 hours.

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High above the Rio Grande, an unmanned predator bee out of Arizona patrols the Southwest border.

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Below shadowy figures wait in the cover of the underbrush for a quick sprint and a promise of illegal entry.

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>> I've tried to coordinate with Omaha 3-2-0.

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Stand by.

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>> The pilot of the UAS finds he's out of radio contact with the CBP team aboard a nearby Black Hawk U860.

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So he turns to the communications capabilities of AMOC to direct this interdiction.

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>> 950 at 3-2-0, go ahead.

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>> Omaha 3-2-0 from X Ray 950.

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Received a report from Omaha 1-0 of a group of 12 individuals northeast bound at the following location.

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>> The trickledown effect of them coming in illegally, it's everywhere.

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No one prospers.

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So you're protecting them as well as protecting U.S. assets.

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>> 950, Omaha 1-0's reporting agents are on the scene.

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A group of 12 are in custody.

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>> Omaha 1-0, X Ray 950.

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Copy all agents on the scene.

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Subjects in custody.

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Over.

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>> 13:50 hours.

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>> POTUS is in D.C., will be...

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>> In the watch briefing, the supervisor gives DEO's their assignments

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and the team hears updates from communications and intel.

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>> All right, let's go to work.

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>> At each station, DEO's hand off to the incoming team with a quick summary

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of the morning's activities and the watch goes on.

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Into the evening hours traffic over and around the continental U.S. builds:

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general aviation, commercial and military aircraft.

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Domestic and international vessels.

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From Bar Harbor to San Diego, United States airspace and border waterways

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will see over 150,000 operations in this day alone.

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It's a lot of movement to conceal criminal activity.

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A lot of haystack for the needle to hide in.

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>> Supe!

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>> Yes?

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>> I got a primary.

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>> 19:40 hours.

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>> Looks like he's going towards Tucson.

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I checked Nogales

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>> The DEO in the Southwest station is tracking an unidentified target over Western Mexico,

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just minutes from the U.S. border.

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In consultation with AMCO intel specialists and law enforcement advisors,

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the supervisor determines that this is a possible short landing.

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The aircraft lands in Mexico close to the border

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and offloads its illicit cargo to be transported into the U.S. in vehicles or on foot.

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The best place to stop this operation is where the plane touches down, before the contraband hits the road.

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>> Get ahold of the officials from the Mexican government.

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>> Roger that.

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>> With a call to the liaison at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, the wheels are set in motion.

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Telephone, radio and satellite communications enable instant access

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to units of Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations,

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Border Patrol, the Air and Marine branches, local and state law enforcement,

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as well as agencies of the Canadian and Mexican governments.

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>> We have 186 UHF radios, 58 VHF radios, 5 HF's and 5 sat-coms.

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Also we have a total of 264 no-rad and FAA radars that get fed into here.

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>> With the powerful communications tools of the AMOC,

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law enforcement agencies throughout North America

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can coordinate operations that strike at the very heart of this deadly trade.

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>> Supe, Mexican government just called and said that reportedly the aircraft crashed

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and there's preliminary reports that the aircraft may have been torched.

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Ground units have apprehended one pickup truck.

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They have an approximate amount of 900 pounds of marijuana.

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>> Good job.

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>> 21:58.

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The watch changes once more.

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Throughout the hemisphere the work of the Air and Marine Operations Center

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goes on around the clock every day of the year.

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Today's operations are done, criminals are caught, potential terror attacks are thwarted for another day.

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The skies are safer, the borders more secure, but the job never stops.

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Tomorrow is coming and with it another skirmish in the battle,

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a different threat on the frontier, another 24 hours on the line.

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[Music]

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[countdown beeps]