Pole Star Defense

Two U.S. agencies, over $36M: Pole Star Defense expands federal footprint Pole Star Defense closed Q4 2025 with two federal awards: a three-year, $36 million renewal with the US Coast Guard and a five-year contract with the US Army Corps of Engineers. The Coast Guard deal extends a partnership that began in 2020. Pole Star Defense provides vessel tracking, system modernization, and cloud-based analytics for operations nationwide. Domain awareness and search-and-rescue both depend on knowing exactly where vessels are, in real time. The Army Corps contract, worth $400,000 over five years, provides vessel intelligence for waterway and infrastructure management. The inland waterway system moves 600 million tons of cargo annually, and the Corps is responsible for keeping it running. Together, the contracts signal deepening federal reliance on commercial maritime intelligence. Pole Star Defense now serves over 60 governments including the US, UK, and Canada. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/dfCAEzsN #MaritimeIntelligence #NationalSecurity #MaritimeSecurity

📣 Webinar | Maritime Intelligence in Focus: Assessing Vessel Transparency for Defense Use-cases in the Current Threat Landscape Russian oil tanker sanctions evasion remains a central risk in maritime enforcement. On February 10, Saleem Khan, Chief Data & Analytics Officer at Pole Star Defense will present a live case study on Russian oil tanker sanctions evasion and a demonstration of the Maritime Transparency Index (MTI). The session will examine how MTI applies a six-level transparency scale to vessel risk assessment and how it identifies flag hopping, AIS manipulation, deceptive shipping practices and dark activity. Following this, there will be a 30-minute discussion led by David Cohen and Alex Field on defense and public-sector applications. The briefing addresses issues facing maritime enforcement, defense intelligence, port risk assessment and sanctions implementation. 👉 Register: https://lnkd.in/dteyHPDs ⏲️ February 10 | 10:00 AM EST | 30-min presentation + 30-min discussion #MaritimeIntelligence #SanctionsEnforcement #VesselRisk

Pole Star Defense is, again, proud to be the Gold Medallion recipient for the HIREVets award for the year 2025! The Honoring Investments in Recruiting and Employing American Military Veterans (HIRE Vets) Medallion Program implements the requirements of the HIRE Vets Act of 2017 (Public Law 115-31) which includes a commitment to recruiting, hiring and retaining veterans through programs focused on leadership, training, and resource groups. The HIRE Vets Medallion Award is the only federal award recognizing exceptional achievement in veteran employment. By meeting the criteria required for a Gold Medallion Award, Pole Star Defense demonstrated both patriotism and recognition of the values veterans bring to the workplace. U.S. Department of Labor #HIREVets #VeteransEmployment #PoleStarDefense

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗹 𝗯𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝗚𝘂𝘆𝗮𝗻𝗮 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝟭,𝟮𝟬𝟬 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 — 𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗶𝗹 𝗮𝘁 𝗮 𝗩𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘇𝘂𝗲𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹. 𝗢𝗻 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟬, 𝗨.𝗦. 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗶𝗹 𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗞𝗜𝗣𝗣𝗘𝗥 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝗩𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘇𝘂𝗲𝗹𝗮'𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗮𝘀𝘁. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝘀 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗿. Our retrospective analysis of the SKIPPER's movements uncovered a masterclass in shadow fleet deception: → 200 days without AIS transmissions (>50% of the year) → Six offshore cargo operations with no corresponding port calls → A multi-continent trading loop through known illicit transfer zones → Nearly a month of active geographic spoofing in its final operation This wasn't random evasion. It was a coordinated strategy to defeat compliance monitoring across three continents. Read our full analysis of the twelve-month deception that preceded the seizure: https://lnkd.in/dqBYqTVc The SKIPPER case reveals how modern sanctions evasion networks actually operate: systematically structured assets designed to create ambiguity about cargo origin, ownership, and destination at every stage. As shadow fleet operators adopt increasingly sophisticated concealment techniques, comprehensive maritime intelligence becomes essential for understanding these networks. It’s also critical for identifying the behavioural patterns that expose them. #MaritimeIntelligence #SanctionsEvasion #ShadowFleet

Recent tanker incidents in the Black Sea have shifted the operating picture. What are your views?

ASOCUPA International Compliance Congress 2025 The Panama Association of Compliance Officers (ASOCUPA) has, for the past 14 years, represented the largest and most influential community of compliance professionals in the country. ASOCUPA will host its International Compliance Congress on 23–24 October at the Megapolis Convention Centre, under the theme “Global Policies, Challenges, and Opportunities in Compliance.” This event brings together over 1,000 local and international professionals from both the public and private sectors to exchange knowledge and experiences on transparency and compliance. Pole Star Defense is proud to announce that our Commercial Director for LATAM and the Caribbean, Dirk Blas Macre Arcia, will be participating in the panel “Sanctions Challenges and Due Diligence in the Maritime Sector” on 23 October at the Megapolis Convention Centre, Panama. At Pole Star Defense we are committed to advancing professional development and promoting best practices in anti-money laundering (AML), counter-terrorism financing (CTF), and other key areas of compliance. To learn more, get in touch 📩 https://lnkd.in/eMdFxzBy #Compliance #AML #CTF #MaritimeCompliance #Sanctions #Transparency #ASOCUPA #Networking #ProfessionalDevelopment

New Case Study ⚠️ When the Baltimore Bridge collapsed, rapid coordination was critical. Discover how real-time maritime intelligence empowered federal, state, and local agencies to: ➡️ Track live vessel movements ➡️ Fuse data for better decisions ➡️ Enhance security & rescue operations ➡️ Break down information silos Read the full case study: Baltimore Bridge Collapse – Real-Time Maritime Intelligence in a National Emergency [https://lnkd.in/e39N-QjQ] #MaritimeIntelligence #EmergencyResponse #BaltimoreBridge #PoleStarGlobal #PoleStarDefense

🚨 The Dark Side of Global Fishing 🚨 Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing is no longer just an environmental issue, it's a strategic threat to national sovereignty, economic resilience and global maritime stability. Criminal fleets hide behind spoofed identities, “go dark” to evade detection and exploit jurisdictional blind spots. These operations are increasingly linked to organised crime, sanctions evasion and forced labour, undermining trust, safety and lawful trade at sea. Pole Star Defense equips governments with the intelligence to expose and stop IUU operations. From real-time vessel monitoring and dark ship detection to sanctions screening and mission-ready data, our platform gives you the tools to act faster, smarter and with confidence. Our latest white paper reveals how we uncovered spoofing, dark operations and illicit transhipment networks in the South Pacific and South Atlantic. More than just a case study, it is a blueprint showing how visibility at scale can shift the balance from reaction to deterrence. Pole Star Defense helps you see what others miss, so you can enforce what others cannot. 📄 Read: TURNING THE TIDE ON IUU FISHING 🔗https://lnkd.in/eaBUVHrQ #MaritimeSecurity #IUUFishing #DarkFleet #SanctionsEvasion #SeaClearly #PoleStarGlobal #PoleStarDefense

Uncover how the San Marino Ship Register exposed 236 days of AIS spoofing on a tanker through advanced maritime intelligence. In early 2025, the San Marino Ship Register identified concerning AIS irregularities in a reflagged tanker, including unusual position reports, implausible anchoring patterns, and unexplained movement gaps, which threatened the nation’s reputation and compliance. What appeared to be routine shipping data was, in fact, over 236 days of falsified location records and multiple cases of AIS spoofing (covert tactics used to hide illicit activity on the world’s oceans). Without intervention, such manipulations can compromise safety, disrupt trade, and erode trust in global shipping. Partnering with Pole Star Global, investigators combined AIS, persistent tracking, and satellite imagery to expose the deception, protect registry integrity, and set a precedent for decisive enforcement. 📄 Inside the Case Study: ➡️ How advanced technology detects vessel spoofing and deceptive behaviours ➡️ Key red flags of AIS manipulation ➡️ Real-world evidence from the investigation ➡️ The role of independent verification in safeguarding registries 📥 Learn how maritime intelligence can outsmart even the most sophisticated illicit activity ➡️ Download the case study now https://lnkd.in/em4aqGgZ