Representatives from numerous Caribbean forces have come together this week in Bermuda to discuss information operations.

The fourth meeting of the Caribbean Region Information Operations Council brought together representatives from the US, UK, Canada and throughout the Caribbean to share information and tactics to better achieve their goals.

Captain Duncan Simons, Adjutant of the Royal Bermuda Regiment, said yesterday: “The focus is on information operations, how do media relations and media products support operations and the various objectives we might have.

“In the regiment’s case, that could be recruiting, but in other jurisdictions they have other issues. In the Bahamas, for example, they have smuggling, illegal fishing and migration. They have an operation, Marlin Spike, to address that and in their case they got new ships, new capabilities and new personnel, but they need to tell their story to achieve their objectives.”

Captain Simons said that the meeting gives the member organisations an opportunity to pool resources, brainstorm and help make each other aware of opportunities and challenges.

“For the Bermuda Regiment, the tangible rewards have been some training,” he said. For other partner nations, like the Bahamas, they have had operational support and training with Marlin Spike and Marlin Shield.”

Senior Lieutenant Shawn Adderley, Operations Officer with the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, described Marlin Spike as an information awareness campaign that targeted mariners and marina operators.

“We have a lot of marine traffic and when people come to the Bahamas, we make them aware of what they have to do in port, what they can bring in,” he said. “These are the offences, these are the endangered species and so forth.

“We have boaters who are coming in who would have known about the RBDF but not how to get in touch with us, who are now aware of us via social media and we now have people who are hitting us up on Facebook, WhatsApp-ing us and also reaching us by more conventional means.”

Lieutenant-Colonel Roderick Williams of the Jamaica Defence Force said that for Jamaica, the meetings were all about sharing knowledge and experience.

“We are still very much in our capability development stage,” he said.

“We are still trying to get smarter and better at doing this. There are a number of areas we need to get stronger in.

“Meetings like this allow us to get insight into what opportunities are available to help achieve certain goals. Already we have had a number of interactions with the various partners, both big and small.

“Where the work really gets done is when we implement the ideas discussed here and pursue the insights we gained through training activities and exercises.”

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Sherron Manswell, of the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force, said the meeting had already provided him with information he could bring with him to advance the TTDF.

“What they have shared with us so far has been very fruitful, and we already have a few take always,” he said.