Instead of proactively engaging in search and rescue, Italy adopts increasingly blurred interpretations of the concept of distress, persecutes humanitarian NGOs, and supports forced returns to Libya from the so-called Libyan Search and Rescue Region. Since communication related to rescue activities was transferred from the Italian Coast Guard to the Ministry of Interior, silence tends to prevail in the Strait of Sicily. The Ministry of Interior conveys the message that rescue operations should only be launched when it is strictly necessary. Thus, police operations override rescue operations, resulting in deadly shipwrecks. All in all, the Italian Coast Guard’s ability to respond to emergencies has been gradually diminished, and the corps has been stripped of its main institutional role. Retired Admiral Vittorio Alessandro, who has served in the Italian Coast Guard for over thirty years, comments on the past few years’ developments in the Central Mediterranean.