Country Snapshot

Population: 297,477 (2002) Size, comparable to U.S.: slightly smaller than Connecticut Per Capita GDP, not adjusted for PPP (year): (2002): $17,000. Defense Expenditure as a percentage of GDP: .7% (FY 1999) Size of armed forces: 1,000 (2001) U.S. military personnel present: 28 (2003)

As might be expected of a country so near the shores of south Florida, the Bahamas’ relationship with the U.S. defense establishment centers on drug interdiction. Several assistance programs and joint operations aim to help the Bahamian security forces stop drugs that transit the archipelago en route to the United States.

The primary Bahamian recipients of U.S. anti-drug assistance are the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF), the Royal Bahamas Defense Force (RBDF), and the country’s judicial system. Among the security forces, the Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU) of the RBPF is the lead institution for drug law enforcement. As of early 1999, the DEU had an actual strength of 84 officers, including a counternarcotics strike force.¹ The DEU, which works closely with the U.S. Justice Department's Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), receives training and equipment through the State Department's International Narcotics Control (INC) program.² Other police units receiving U.S. assistance include the Canine Squad, the Internal Security Division, and the Corruption and Investigation Unit.³

The INC program trains RBPF units to conduct sophisticated drug trafficking and money laundering investigations, and offers maritime interdiction training to the RBDF.⁴ The Defense Department’s budget pays for counter-drug and other training with U.S. Special Forces. In 1998, Section 1004 funds supported at least two visits of Navy SEALs to the Bahamas to provide counternarcotics naval special warfare training to dozens of RBDF personnel. SEALs and Army Special Forces also carried out Joint Combined Exchange Training (JCET) on such subjects as foreign internal defense, close-quarters battle, and disaster assistance.⁵

INC and Defense Department funds support Operation Bahamas and Turks and Caicos (OPBAT), a long-running joint narcotics interdiction operation. The State Department describes OPBAT as “a combined effort by the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands police and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to intercept loads of cocaine and conduct investigations. OPBAT employs U.S. Coast Guard and Army helicopters assigned to joint interdiction bases in Nassau, George Town, Great Inaugua, and elsewhere.”⁶ U.S. helicopters participating in OPBAT carry out missions throughout the Bahamas and the Florida Straits. The INC program’s support for OPBAT, according to the program's Congressional Presentation, includes "base operating costs such as electricity, equipment repair and maintenance, air conditioning, runway resurfacing, and other support costs."⁷

The U.S. government has indicated that it will encourage the Bahamas to assume increased responsibility for OPBAT. U.S. forces are also launching OPBAT-style operations in other areas of heavy drug transit, such as Operation Frontier Lance in the waters around Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

While the Bahamian police play an active role in OPBAT, the State Department’s February 1999 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) notes that “the Royal Bahamas Defense Force (RBDF)--a potentially important player in counternarcotics interdiction--has yet to clearly define its role in this effort.”⁸ The U.S. Coast Guard nonetheless carried out four separate operations with the RBDF in 1998.⁹

In May 1996, the United States and the Bahamas signed a maritime counternarcotics cooperation agreement, which allows RBPF or RBDF officers to act as “shipriders” on U.S. vessels operating in Bahamian waters. The shiprider is empowered to board, search or seize possible drug-transport vessels. The agreement also allows U.S. law enforcement aircraft to overfly Bahamian territory.¹⁰

International Military Education and Training (IMET) funding pays for technical and other advanced courses -- few specifically related to counternarcotics -- for a limited number of RBDF officers. “IMET’s success,” notes the State Department’s 1999 Congressional Presentation for Foreign Operations, “is evidenced by the RBDF’s participation in both the Multinational Force and the UN Mission in Haiti, and the U.S. military’s ability to conduct exercises in Bahamian territory.”¹¹

Bahamian forces participate in multilateral military exercises sponsored by the U.S. Southern Command, such as Fuerzas Aliadas Humanitarian, Fuerzas Aliadas Peacekeeping, and Tradewinds. The “New Horizons” series of Humanitarian Civic Assistance exercises carried out construction and medical projects in the Bahamas in both 1998 and 1999.¹²

The Bahamas receives small amounts of military equipment through the Caribbean Regional fund of the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program and the International Narcotics Control program.

Bahamian arms purchases through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) and Direct Commercial Sales (DCS) programs have been minimal in the past few years, with a single exception: the granting of DCS licenses for the purchase of two patrol boats in 1998.¹³

Sources:

¹ U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, 1998, (Washington: Department of State: February 1999): <http://www.state.gov/www/global/narcotics_law/1998_narc_report/major/Bahamas.html>.

² United States, Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Department of State, International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, 1996, Washington, March 1997, October 1997 <http://www.state.gov/www/global/narcotics_law/1996_narc_report/index.html>.

³ United States, Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Fiscal Year 2000 Budget Congressional Presentation (Washington: Department of State: March 1999): 10. <http://www.state.gov/www/global/narcotics_law/fy2000_budget/latin_america.html>.

⁴ Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Fiscal Year 2000 Budget Congressional Presentation 10.

⁵ United States, Defense Department, "Report on Training of Special Operations Forces for the Period Ending September 30, 1998," Washington, April 1, 1999.

United States, Defense Department, State Department, "Foreign Military Training and DoD Engagement Activities of Interest In Fiscal Years 1998 and 1999: A Report To Congress," Washington, March 1999: 1, 10.

⁶ Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Fiscal Year 2000 Budget Congressional Presentation 15.

⁷ United States, Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, INL Country Programs - The Bahamas, Fact Sheet, April 20, 1999 <http://www.state.gov/www/global/narcotics_law/fs_bahamas.html>.

⁸ United States, Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Fiscal Year 1999 Budget Congressional Presentation (Washington: Department of State: March 1998): 16.

⁹ Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, 1998.

¹⁰ Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, 1998.

¹¹ Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, 1998.

¹² United States Southern Command, J34, Exercise Program Quick-View, (U.S. Southern Command: October 13, 1998).

¹³ United States, Department of State, U.S. Arms Exports: Direct Commercial Sales Authorizations for Fiscal Year 98 (Washington: July 1999): 8-9.