Defence Headquarters, 20 FEB ‘23 (RBDF): Collaborating with the United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), the Office of Defense Cooperation (Bahamas), the United States Coast Guard (USCG) District 7, and Rhode Island National Guard (RING), the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) played a key role in co-hosting the Security Cooperation Synchronization Workshop (SCSW) 2024 at HMBS Coral Harbour on February 13-14.
The primary objective of this two-day event was to sustain ongoing discussions and assess and affirm Security Cooperation objectives and programs that were established during the Bilateral Security Cooperation Framework (BSCF) executive meeting held in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in April 2023. These annual engagements serve as a platform for coordinating, planning, and reviewing mutually beneficial Annual Plans of Activities for the upcoming year.
Throughout the workshop, deliberations encompassed a thorough review of proposed BSCF changes at the senior leadership level, examination of major initiatives and milestones in multi-year plans, validation of the fiscal year Annual Plan of Activities, and endorsement of training and equipment initiatives. These crucial discussions are integral to further consideration and approval at the strategic level during the anticipated Executive level meeting later in the year.
Key participants included SCSW Senior Leadership co-chairs, RBDF BSCF Leader Captain Glenn McPhee, Colonel Mike Jones from USNORTHCOM J59, and Captain Gregg Gellman from the Office of Defense Cooperation, USEMB Nassau.
The STCSW facilitated break-out sessions for each of the four functional working groups, where plans were presented and involved representatives from USNORTHCOM, RING, and USCG District 7, alongside RBDF leads such as Captain Sonia Miller (Logistics Integration Group), Senior Commander William Sturrup (Maritime Operations Group), Acting Lieutenant Commander Thora Gardiner (Institutional Capacity Building), and Acting Lieutenant Commander Lystra Bastian (Command, Control, Comms, and Computers Group). Ongoing meetings are scheduled to ensure seamless continuity and the realization of projected milestones.
(Photographer: M/S Tenaj Wallace)
