As joint train­ing ex­er­cis­es be­tween the US Ma­rine Corps’ 22nd Ma­rine Ex­pe­di­tionary Unit (MEU) and the T&T De­fence Force were set to be­gin to­day, sev­er­al gov­ern­ment min­is­ters and se­nior mil­i­tary of­fi­cials re­mained tight-lipped about the de­tails of the op­er­a­tion.

How­ev­er, mul­ti­ple De­fence Force sources told Guardian Me­dia that even se­nior of­fi­cers had not been briefed on the ex­er­cis­es or their scope.

Speak­ing on con­di­tion of anonymi­ty, one source said that as of Sat­ur­day morn­ing, nei­ther he nor oth­er se­nior of­fi­cers had re­ceived any in­for­ma­tion and first heard about the ex­er­cis­es from Min­is­ter of For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs Sean Sobers dur­ing a me­dia brief­ing on Fri­day.