High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre (MAOC) (or Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre - Narcotics), based in Lisbon, is an international agency set up to coordinate anti-drug trafficking action by several European Union states with financial support from the Prevention against Crime Programme of the European Union, European Commission – Directorate -General Home Affairs. The participating states are Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, the Netherlands and Italy. The centre has been active since April 1, 2006. The Agreement that established MAOC (N) states that the Centre is to provide a forum for multi-lateral cooperation to suppress illicit drug trafficking by sea and air. The Centre aims to use intelligence on drug smuggling operations, by air or sea, to apply the most suitable military and/or law enforcement teams to respond to situations that arise. Its area of operations is the eastern Atlantic, from the Cape of Good Hope in Southern Africa to the Norwegian Sea.The Lisbon headquarters is staffed by Country Liaison Officers (CLOs) representing the police, customs, military and maritime authorities of the participating European nations, as well as by permanent observer from the United States through the Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATFS). The European Commission, Europol, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), European Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) are observers of the MAOC (N), as well as Canada, Cape Verde, Germany, Greece, and Morocco. MAOC (N) is headed by an Executive Director and guided by an Executive Board.