WASHINGTON –
U.S. Northern Command deployed the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Gravely to the U.S. Northern Command area of operations March 15, 2025, to assist with border security operations, the Pentagon announced on March 17.
"USS Gravely departed from Naval Weapons Station Yorktown, [Virginia], for a scheduled deployment to the Gulf of America," Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell told the media.
"It's not only vital for the United States to have control of our border via land. It's equally important to control our territorial waters, and this deployment directly supports U.S. Northern Command's mission to protect our sovereignty," he added.
According to Air Force Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, Joint Staff director for operations, once in Northcom's AOR, USS Gravely will participate in drug interdiction missions.
"[USS Gravely] will go down [to] the Gulf of America and surrounding areas and be involved in the interdiction mission for many of the drugs … that are coming in," Grynkewich said, adding that the ship will be partnered very closely with the U.S. Coast Guard's drug interdiction mission.
The USS Gravely will host a Coast Guard law enforcement detachment while operating in the AOR, according to a recent Northcom press release.
"Founded in 1982, Coast Guard LEDETs carry out a variety of maritime interdiction missions, including counter-piracy [efforts], military combat operations, alien migration interdiction, military force protection, counterterrorism, homeland security and humanitarian response," the release reads.
Additionally, Northcom activated Joint Task Force-Southern Border over the weekend, Parnell announced.
JTF-SB "assumed the role of synchronizer of several [Northcom] activities and military forces from Joint Task Force-North," reads a separate Northcom press release.
"The transfer of authority … aligns efforts to seal the southern border and repel illegal activity under a single joint task force responsible for full-scale, agile, and all-domain operations, which will allow for more effective and efficient DOD operations," according to the release.
"This is an important step in the whole-of-government efforts to seal the southern border and maintain U.S. sovereignty and territorial integrity," Northcom's top officer, Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, stated in the release.
"The Department of Defense is proud to defend our homeland and the territorial sovereignty of the United States," Parnell said, adding that, although there has been a 93% decrease in illegal border crossings, border enforcement operations will continue until 100% operational control of the southern border is achieved.