>> The source in-transit zone.
The wild and lawless open ocean of the Caribbean
and Eastern Pacific Ocean,
where smugglers of illegal narcotics
and immigrants attempt
to transit their illicit cargo from Central
and South America north to the United States.
This expanse of endless ocean is the place
where the pirates of the twenty-first century make their first moves
to unload their booty of uncut cocaine
and heroin, marijuana,
or illegal migrants to the next stop along the line
of the international criminal chain.
This is also where U.S. Customs
and Border Protection meets them head on, stopping them,
and breaking links in that chain one by one.
The tool of choice
- the P3 Orion Aircraft,
CBP's eyes over the ocean.
>> We're in the heart of the hunting ground,
per se, of looking for drug runners,
this location offers us a great opportunity
to be able to go out, to prosecute,
be able to come back, refuel, go back out if necessary.
>> Most of the conveyances we follow nowadays
are going to be surface conveyances,
either small vessels, high-speed vessels,
so we call them "Go Fast."
They're modified fishing boats;
two, three, sometimes even single engine.
>> The P-3 aircraft is flown by very experienced CBP pilots.
They guide this aircraft over the ocean
to a designated target
search area commonly referred to as "the box."
And behind them is a massive array of sensory equipment,
which is the technological heart of the P-3 mission.
Now, once the aircraft reaches the box,
CBP officers and agents,
who are detection experts,
use that powerful radar to search for, pinpoint,
trap and monitor any suspicious targets
that they find in the air and on the ocean.
>> You know, when you get a good case
and you bring home that knowledge that you did something
to stop bad people
from bringing bad things into our country,
I feel very, very happy about what I'm doing.
If anything looks suspicious,
and that's just according to knowledge
that we've gained throughout the years,
of what looks legitimate and what's not looking legitimate.
Also aircraft, aircraft usually give themselves away
by not doing what they're telling everybody that they're doing,
or going into areas of possible suspect activity.
>> The P-3 platform comes with two kinds of radar;
one is an airborne, early detection radar system
that was put on top of a P3 that came from an E2.
The other radar system is a surface search radar,
primarily,
that looks for the vessels and vessel traffic
that is approaching from the littoral waters
of our Central and South American countries.
Combined, they do a very thorough job of looking for air
and surface targets as they approach from those countries
and destined for the United States.
>> U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Air
and Marine operation's P-3 program.
Watching, stopping and protecting the United States of America, 24-7.
To learn more about a career with Air
and Marine Operations,
visit CBP.gov/Careers.