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CONTACT: Mark Schlakman, (850) 644-4614; <mschlakman@admin.fsu.edu> September 2008 MILITARY LEADER TO DISCUSS TRAFFICKING, TERRORISM LINK IN SEPT. 11 TALK U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Joseph L. Nimmich, director of the Joint Interagency Task Force (JIATF) South, will launch Florida State University’s “Human Rights and National Security in the 21st Century” fall lecture series on Thursday, Sept. 11. Nimmich will discuss “Intelligence, Trafficking, Counter-Terrorism and National Security in the Western Hemisphere” and the implications for Florida. JIATF South, a national interagency task force under the Miami-headquartered U.S. Southern Command, comprises all five U.S. armed services and all relevant federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies along with foreign liaison officers representing select Latin American and European military forces. It coordinates U.S. detection and monitoring operations to combat trafficking and terrorism in the Americas, a region of the world that policy experts believe receives comparatively little attention. Nimmich’s talk will highlight how JIATF South monitors the skies and seas for potential threats to the United States, while respecting the rule of law and partner nation sovereignty. He will discuss how arms smugglers and human and drug trafficking networks undermine democratic governance in the Western Hemisphere. JIATF South has overcome many of the obstacles to information sharing and interagency coordination in an effort to defeat the trafficking networks and neutralize terrorist organizations that may attempt to leverage their resources. JIATF South is widely regarded as the pre-eminent model for multiagency and international coordination. A graduate of the Coast Guard Academy and the Army War College, Nimmich is a highly decorated senior officer with almost three decades of experience, which includes service at sea as commander of the Coast Guard cutters Point Estero, Red Beech and Sorrel. He also has served as deputy chief of staff of the Coast Guard and commander of the Coast Guard Group Key West. Prior to assuming his current position as director of JIATF South, he served as assistant commandant for Policy and Planning and director of the Maritime Domain Awareness Program Integration Office at USCG Headquarters in Washington, D.C. The “Human Rights and National Security in the 21st Century” lecture series examines human rights interests and national security imperatives within the context of the U.S.-led “War on Terror.” It is sponsored by the FSU Center for the Advancement of Human Rights. This event, which is free and open to the public, will be held: THURSDAY, SEPT. 11 Public parking is available across the street at the Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center. # # # |