The Northeast Gate at Guantanamo Bay

After nearly ten years of discretion, the existence of U.S.-Cuba joint military and civilian first responder exercises has broken to the surface in a very visible way.

And that is news.

Last week's exercise, which drilled Cuban and U.S. first responder teams in a scenario designed to represent a brush-fire that threatened both sides of the installation's fenceline, is hugely symbolic.

First, that it occurred when at least 28 international journalists were on another part of the base covering detainee issues means that at least the JTF Commander, and likely his Cuban counterparts, were ok with the message of confidence-building, not confrontation.

Second, this would never have happened so publicly under Fidel Castro or George Bush. The message, to be blunt, blurs the hard line position that both invested so heavily in, even though both men held such exercises out of the public eye.

Finally, it just reinforces that there are multiple tracks to the U.S.-Cuban conversation and more is better. The talks in New York, reported to go well, are not the only game. That's great. The more confidence and trust that we can build up between the two sides, the more opportunity for further talks that go deeper on issues we are already discussing, like migration, as well as expanding to the numerous other issues we have to address.

Update: This UPI report adds more detail about the exercises and layers in some historical context: General Jack Sheehan, former SOUTHCOM commander initiated the exercises in the 1990s and today believes that this episode is likely a trial balloon from the Obama administration. Read the update here.