Guardian Media contacted Sturge seeking the Government’s assessment of whether the US military operation had reduced the flow of illegal drugs into T&T, whether Operation Southern Spear remained active following the apparent absence of recent military strikes, and whether he considered the mission a success for this country. In response, Sturge said the operation had delivered significant benefits by giving the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force time to restore its naval capabilities. “Operation Southern Spear gave us much-needed breathing room to get our naval assets up to 75 per cent capacity so as to improve interception rates.” On whether Operation Southern Spear was continuing, Sturge also declined to comment, directing questions on its status to US officials. Despite those findings, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell defended the campaign, saying Operation Southern Spear was accomplishing exactly what it had been designed to do by detecting, disrupting and dismantling organisations involved in narcotics trafficking and imposing “systemic friction” on their operations.