An extra set of eyes watches over Super Bowl, homeland 24/7

  • Published
  • By Tina Pendell
  • public information officer, AMOC, CBP/DHS
MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, CALIF. --  The Air and Marine Operations Center (AMOC), a Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence, is the foremost aviation and maritime-oriented law enforcement operations /coordination center in the U.S. The AMOC discovers and anticipates criminal use of noncommercial, air and marine conveyances throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico and then mitigates these threats by coordinating a law enforcement interdiction/investigative response. In short, we find bad guys who use air and marine craft to do bad things. When we find them, we call in the good guys to deter, inhibit and investigate them.

Every year during the Super Bowl, AMOC acts as a second set of eyes for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, surveying the airspace through a sophisticated surveillance system, looking for aircraft violating the Temporary Fight Restriction established for the Super Bowl. If NORAD's Western Air Defense Sector delays in detecting a violation, AMOC staff will announce the violation over the Domestic Event Network, alerting all parties involved in the TFR airspace security. The operations center will also track violators who and will coordinate a law enforcement response at the landing site.

The area in the vicinity of the Super Bowl has designated divert airports that have federal and local law enforcement teams to interrogate violators who are forced down. When positive identification of the pilot and the aircraft is received, AMOC will pass that information back to the Federal Aviation Administration, WADS and other law enforcement officials.

The AMOC, part of Customs and Border Protection's Office of Air and Marine, secures the Nation's airspace and waterways 24 hours a day, 7-days a week. Through highly qualified and experienced personnel, advanced technology and numerous domestic and foreign partnerships, the AMOC is able to address the global threat of terrorism and contraband smuggling on multiple levels.