10 U.S.C. § 279 — Assignment of Coast Guard personnel to naval vessels for law enforcement purposes

submitted 40 years ago by Pub. L. 99-570 to r/title-10-ARMED-FORCES · 243 words · no verdicts yet

in plain englishAI-generated · not legal advice

This law requires the Coast Guard to place trained law enforcement members on Navy ships patrolling drug-smuggling areas. At least 500 Coast Guard members must serve this duty every year. They can make arrests and conduct searches while helping stop drug smuggling.

(a) The Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security must make sure that every proper Navy surface ship at sea in a "drug-interdiction area" has Coast Guard members on board. Those members must be trained in law enforcement and hold the Coast Guard's powers under title 14 — including the power to arrest people and search and seize property. (b) Those Coast Guard members enforce laws — including stopping drug smuggling — in whatever way the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of Homeland Security agree on, as long as it's also within the Coast Guard's normal legal authority. (c) At least 500 active-duty Coast Guard members must be assigned to this duty every fiscal year. But if the Secretary of Homeland Security decides — after talking with the Secretary of Defense — that there aren't enough Navy ships available for this, those Coast Guard members can instead be assigned to enforce the laws listed in section 374(b)(4)(A) of this title. (d) A "drug-interdiction area" is an area outside the land area of the United States (as defined in section 374(b)(4)(B) of this title) where the Secretary of Defense, after consulting the Attorney General, decides that people are smuggling drugs into the United States.

the actual law source: uscode.house.gov ↗public domain

(a)

The Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall provide that there be assigned on board every appropriate surface naval vessel at sea in a drug-interdiction area members of the Coast Guard who are trained in law enforcement and have powers of the Coast Guard under title 14, including the power to make arrests and to carry out searches and seizures.

(b)

Members of the Coast Guard assigned to duty on board naval vessels under this section shall perform such law enforcement functions (including drug-interdiction functions)—

(1)

as may be agreed upon by the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security; and

(2)

as are otherwise within the jurisdiction of the Coast Guard.

(c)

No fewer than 500 active duty personnel of the Coast Guard shall be assigned each fiscal year to duty under this section. However, if at any time the Secretary of Homeland Security, after consultation with the Secretary of Defense, determines that there are insufficient naval vessels available for purposes of this section, such personnel may be assigned other duty involving enforcement of laws listed in section 374(b)(4)(A) 1 of this title.

(d)

In this section, the term “drug-interdiction area” means an area outside the land area of the United States (as defined in section 374(b)(4)(B) ¹ of this title) in which the Secretary of Defense (in consultation with the Attorney General) determines that activities involving smuggling of drugs into the United States are ongoing.

Source credit: (Added Pub. L. 99–570, title III, § 3053(b)(1), Oct. 27, 1986, 100 Stat. 3207–75, § 379; amended Pub. L. 100–456, div. A, title XI, § 1104(a), Sept. 29, 1988, 102 Stat. 2045; Pub. L. 107–296, title XVII, § 1704(b)(1), Nov. 25, 2002, 116 Stat. 2314; renumbered § 279, Pub. L. 114–328, div. A, title XII, § 1241(a)(2), Dec. 23, 2016, 130 Stat. 2497.)

history & why it existsrecord from the source credit

1986Enacted · Pub. L. 99-570 · 100 Stat. 3207
1988Amended · Pub. L. 100-456 · 102 Stat. 2045
2002Amended · Pub. L. 107-296 · 116 Stat. 2314
2016Amended · Pub. L. 114-328 · 130 Stat. 2497

A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 99-570 on 1986-10-27.

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