Operations with a detachment of Coast Guard personnel to act as a legal "policing force" aboard "Ouellet". This was the first time that a Coast Guard flag flew from a U.S. Navy warship in operations such as these. In search for drug smugglers, the frigate recovered close to 1 ton of pure, unprocessed cocaine, which was jettisoned from an unknown vessel trying to elude authorities. While on Law Enforcement Ops '90", "Ouellet" transited through the Panama Canal with follow-on ports-of-call in Panama and Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles. After returning in to Pearl Harbor in November 1990 "Ouellet" was awarded the "Battle E" for overall excellence and the Joint Meritorious Unit Citation.