|
2009 Almanac Highlights
U.S. Coast Guard Organization and Missions
Midway through his tenure as Coast Guard commandant, Adm. Thad Allen is steering his service through a massive restructuring, the likes of which haven’t been seen since World War II.
Aiming to ensure cohesion in a service with a wide-ranging mission portfolio, Allen and his staff in 2006 presented the Coast Guard’s more than 42,000 members with a new strategy, a framework that gave them a unified set of goals. They are: to protect the world’s oceans through improved operations, strengthen domestic and international agreements, maintain military readiness and emergency response, and ensure the perpetuation of marine transportation in an emergency or disaster.
To attain these goals, Allen sought a top-down overhaul and, shortly after he was sworn in in May 2006, he issued 10 orders, called Commandant Intent Action Orders, or CIAOs, to define the changes. Two years later, the service is halfway through his ambitious “to-do” list, with several items checked off and the remainder under way.
In summer 2007, the Coast Guard fulfilled Allen’s first CIAO by standing up the Deployable Operations Group, a command that oversees the service’s specialized operations forces, providing an adaptive force package for contingency operations. That year, the Coast Guard also created an acquisition directorate to handle its largest-ever modernization effort, Deepwater and other Coast Guard purchase programs, such as the Rescue 21 distress and emergency response system.
Allen forged a new national maritime strategy with his counterparts in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, and he realigned the service’s maintenance and logistics processes. In October 2008, the Coast Guard stood up the first of five planned logistics service centers in Elizabeth City, N.C.
Significant headway also has been made to realign the service’s headquarters and operational commands with those of the other military forces; however, congressional approval is needed before the Coast Guard can move forward on that CIAO.
The first day Allen became Coast Guard chief, he passed word to active duty, reserve and civilian personnel that a restructuring was forthcoming, resulting from the demands heaped on the service by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. While the Coast Guard had already begun a small-scale restructuring to shore commands, Allen sought broader initiatives to better equip the service for future operations.
“We will not change for change’s sake, but purposefully, with strategic intent and always focused on our first priority and duty to the nation: mission execution,” Allen wrote in his message to service members.
Among the Coast Guard institutions most needing alteration was the Deepwater program office, responsible for overseeing the largest acquisition effort in the service’s history. Deepwater had become a bloated, problem-plagued public relations nightmare for the Coast Guard, and Congress and the Government Accountability Office were demanding greater government oversight of the project.
As early as 2004, government watchdog agencies and congressional overseers urged the Coast Guard to pay closer attention to Deepwater and its primary contractor, Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS), a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. Under the initial $1 billion contract, ICGS had wide latitude in determining which assets would replace the Coast Guard’s aging fleet. But the service lacked the manpower or expertise to manage the project and, according to the General Accounting Office (now the Government Accountability Office), the Coast Guard failed to assess the contractor objectively, resulting in uncontrolled contract costs.
With other unforeseen circumstances, including the design failure of an interim Fast Response Cutter and questions over the design of the National Security Cutter (NSC), the contract grew from an initial $17 billion, 20-year contract to at least a $24 billion, 25-year contract.
Allen tackled the problems by creating a Coast Guard Acquisition Directorate, increasing the number of acquisition experts from 168 to nearly 1,000 military and civilian personnel and locating them in a single building adjacent to Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington. The office serves as lead systems integrator for Deepwater and manages contracts such as Rescue 21, the Great Lakes Icebreaker Replacement Program and the Nationwide Automatic Identification System.
To date, Deepwater contractors have delivered the first NSC, the 418-foot USCGC Bertholf, and nearly completed construction of the second, USCGC Waesche, with sea trials expected in 2009. NSC 3, recently named Stratton, also is under construction. In September 2008, the Coast Guard awarded an $88 million contract to Bollinger Shipyards to build a Fast Response Cutter, known as the Sentinel class, with options to build 34 during the next six to eight years.
Under Deepwater, the service also has accepted delivery of six HC-144A Ocean Sentry aircraft; modified three of six HC-130J Hercules aircraft, with a contract for a fourth under way; replaced engines on 95 HH-65 Dolphin helicopters and altered 21 to include improved communications subsystems, armament and armor for airborne use of force; and purchased three of a possible 180 Response Boats–Medium, built by Marinette Marine Corp., Marinette, Wis., to replace its 41-foot utility boats.
When complete, Deepwater is intended to give the Coast Guard eight NSCs, 25 282-foot Offshore Patrol Cutters, 34 153-foot Fast Response Cutters, 33 long-range interceptor vessels, 91 short-range prosecutor boats, six HC-130J and 16 HC-130H surveillance aircraft, 36 HC-144As, 42 rebuilt HH-60 medium-range helicopters, 102 rebuilt MH-65C multimission helicopters and a number of unmanned aerial vehicles.
The Coast Guard’s other large acquisition program, Rescue 21, continues to be installed nationwide. Although originally expected to be fully operational by 2006, delays in Rescue 21’s development and software programs have postponed full implementation and driven up costs. The original $611 million contract is now expected to be fully implemented by 2017 at a cost of more than $1 billion. Prime contractor is General Dynamics C4 Systems.
Also high on Allen’s priority list is a reorganization at Coast Guard Headquarters. If the service receives approval from Congress, the Coast Guard will abandon its current structure of one four-star billet — the commandant — and four three-stars, including a vice commandant, chief of staff and two area commanders, in favor of two four-star billets (the commandant and the vice commandant), two three-star deputy commandants and two three-star force commanders.
The new deputy commandant billets would include a deputy commandant for operations, overseeing operation policy, planning and capabilities, and a deputy commandant for mission support, responsible for personnel management, acquisition, research and development and logistics support. The force commanders would include a single three-star fleet command for operations and a three-star force readiness command that oversees acquisition, logistics and maintenance support.
In addition to the challenges presented by Deepwater, Coast Guard leaders face a bigger problem dealing with an aging fleet. In 2007, the Coast Guard spent $76 million on unanticipated repairs to cutters and aircraft. Other challenges that lie ahead, according to Allen, including the rapid increase in global commercial maritime activity, terrorism, human smuggling, drug trafficking, piracy and coastal development in the United States.
The service also must deal with growing international interest in the Arctic region. Since 2001, Russia has staked a claim in the region under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea and, in July 2007, attempted to assert its sovereignty further by planting a Russian flag in the seabed beneath the North Pole. Countries including Canada, Denmark and the United States object to Russia’s claims and have started mapping the seabed in attempts to assert claim rights to the oil- and gas-rich region.
In 2008, the Coast Guard supported U.S. mapping research of the region, carrying scientists to the area on the newest icebreaker, Healy. Increased traffic also has forced the service to bolster its presence there. In 2008, the Coast Guard conducted a 16-day exercise in Barrow, Alaska, to determine whether ongoing operations in the region were necessary and viable. Results of that study will be released in early 2009.
The Coast Guard is the only military service operating under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It falls under Title 14, U.S. Code, which established the service on Jan. 28, 1915, as a member of the armed forces and a military service with law enforcement authority on the high seas and in U.S. waters. It also operates under Title 10, U.S. Code, as a military service that provides personnel to naval vessels for law enforcement purposes and other assignments.
In addition to its active-duty force of 42,609, the Coast Guard maintains a reserve of 14,627 active and inactive members and an auxiliary — an all-volunteer force — of 30,000 members. It also has a civilian work force of nearly 6,000 personnel.
In 2008, Allen introduced a new philosophy for the service’s personnel, the “Guardian Ethos,” which is to provide them with a unifying service identity, defining “the essence of the Coast Guard which could be viewed as the contract the Coast Guard and its members make with the nation and its citizens.”
Allen said the new mantra was needed because “we are so multifaceted, from time to time we are not well understood.”
The Guardian Ethos is the embodiment of the Coast Guard’s capstone doctrine, CG Publication One: “I am America’s maritime Guardian. I will serve the citizens of the United States. I will protect them. I will defend them. I will save them. I am their shield. For them I am Semper Paratus. I live the Coast Guard core values. I am a Guardian. We are the United States Coast Guard.”
Legacy
The Coast Guard’s primary predecessor, the Revenue Cutter Service, was established in 1790 to collect tariffs and enforce regulations regarding the importation of goods. The Revenue Cutter Service was combined with the U.S. Lifesaving Service in 1915, creating the Coast Guard. The U.S. Lighthouse Service and Navigation and Steamboat Inspection Service later merged with the Coast Guard. Under Title 14 of U.S. Code, and as modified by the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2006, the Coast Guard operates under the Department of the Navy when Congress directs a declaration of war or at the direction of the president. The Magnuson Act of 1950 solidified the Coast Guard’s responsibilities for the security of U.S. ports and harbors.
Commandant
Adm. Thad W. Allen is the Coast Guard’s 23rd commandant, taking office in May 2006. He previously served as the Coast Guard’s chief of staff — a role in which he spearheaded the service’s transition to the DHS and led the federal response to Hurricane Katrina following the ouster of Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown as principal federal officer.
Allen is most recognized nationally as the chief of federal response following Hurricane Katrina. He also led the Coast Guard’s East Coast response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Allen is a 1971 graduate of the Coast Guard Academy and holds a master’s degree in public administration from George Washington University, as well as a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management.
Organization, Missions and Capabilities
The Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington is the administrative control center for the service, managing logistics, support, intelligence, acquisition and research and development.
The commandant is the senior official at headquarters, and is supported by a vice commandant and a chief of staff. The command staff oversees several directorates: human resources; intelligence and criminal investigation; operations; plans and policy; engineering and logistics; command, control, communications and information technology; and resources and acquisition.
The Coast Guard operates 60 sectors, air stations and maintenance and logistics centers in the United States and its dependencies in places such as Puerto Rico, Guam and the Far East. Operations are overseen by two commands — Atlantic Area and Pacific Area, each of which is commanded by a vice admiral. This structure will change as the service’s reorganization is implemented.
Coast Guard operational units belong to districts. There are nine Coast Guard districts, each commanded by a rear admiral. District commanders answer directly to the area commanders. They also work closely with first responders, local governments and area law enforcement personnel to ensure communication and cooperation on a range of subjects and emergency response plans. The areas and, subsequently, the districts are supported by maintenance and logistics commands.
Districts are composed of sectors, combined commands that meld a region’s marine safety and boat forces. Some parts of the country have separate Coast Guard groups that oversee small boat forces and air stations. These units, and the sectors, report directly to district offices. The Coast Guard operates 35 sectors, 23 air stations and two maintenance and logistics centers.
The Homeland Security Act of 2002 specifies five homeland security and six non-homeland security missions for the Coast Guard. The following missions are considered vital to homeland security: ports, waterways and coastal security; drug interdiction; migrant interdiction; defense readiness and other law enforcement.
The Coast Guard’s non-homeland security-related missions are: marine safety, search and rescue, aids to navigation, fisheries, marine environmental protection and ice operations.
Homeland Security Missions
Before 9/11, the Coast Guard devoted 38 percent of its operating hours to homeland and maritime security missions. Today, it spends more than 60 percent of its operational hours on these missions, according to the Government Accountability Office. These missions include:
■ Ports, Waterways and Coastal Security
The Coast Guard is responsible for securing the nation’s ports and maritime borders — 361 ports and 95,000 miles of coastline and navigable waterways. It also is charged with enforcing federal laws and laws of the sea, including vessel safety regulations, inspections and oversight.
■ Drug and Migrant Interdiction
The service in fiscal 2008 captured 141,280 pounds of cocaine in 75 operations, arresting 196 alleged smugglers. And from October 2006 to July 2007, it intercepted nearly 4,802 migrants from Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico and the People’s Republic of China.
■ National Defense
The Coast Guard deploys service members frequently in support of defense operations worldwide. At the height of Operation Iraqi Freedom, it had 1,250 members in-theater, including nearly 500 reserve members.
The service sent two high-endurance cutters, a buoy tender, eight patrol boats, four port-security units, a harbor defense command unit, pollution responders, law enforcement detachments and support staff to Central and European Command theaters of operations to support ongoing military operations.
The Coast Guard continues to contribute to the war effort and support defense exercises and operations worldwide. In 2008, the service had six patrol boats in the Persian Gulf conducting maritime intercept operations and security duties and it maintains a contingent of personnel for law enforcement, port security, inspections and management.
The cutter Dallas deployed in July 2008 for four months to Central and West Africa to educate and assist the navies and coast guards of several African nations, conducting maritime security and safety training, while the cutter Diligence coordinated relief efforts in Haiti and the Bahamas following Hurricanes Hanna and Ike in September.
The Coast Guard’s role in national defense is to provide personnel for maritime intercept operations, security and port defense operations, peacekeeping and environmental protection operations.
Non-homeland Security Missions
■ Maritime Safety
The Coast Guard’s search-and-rescue role remains its most visible mission, and during an average year the service rescues more than 5,000 people from U.S. and international waters. The service’s motto is Semper Paratus (Always Ready).
The service’s maritime safety mission also encompasses marine and boating safety and ice patrols. It is responsible for setting rules and standards for safe boating and maritime commerce, transportation and navigation. The Coast Guard manages a marine safety program that oversees regulation and inspection of boaters and merchant vessels, including the licensing of masters and crews.
The Coast Guard Auxiliary, a force of 30,000 volunteers, supports the service greatly in this mission, running boating safety courses, marine examinations for recreational boaters, reporting the condition of aids to navigation and supporting the inspection of commercial facilities.
■ Maritime Mobility
The Coast Guard works to ensure the safety of domestic shipping-related trade by overseeing ports and maintaining navigable waterways and harbors. Critical to marine traffic, the service’s aids to navigation program and vessel traffic services guide the safe movement of all vessels.
Each year, more than 8,000 foreign-flag vessels call at U.S. ports. Twenty-five percent of U.S. domestic trade is moved by water and more than 134 million passengers transit U.S. waters on ferries, cruise ships and floating casinos. There also are more than 16 million recreational watercraft in the United States.
Coast Guard officials believe that in the next 25 years, greater numbers of ultra-large, deep-draft ships and mammoth cruise ships, carrying 6,000 or more people, will be on the water. The projected increase demands continued effective control over the ship traffic.
In 2002, more than 150 countries agreed to develop a strategy for increasing the security of the maritime transportation system, and on July 1, 2004, these requirements took effect. The International Ship and Port Facility Security Code requires vessels and port facilities to conduct security assessments, develop security plans and hire security officers.
Through the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002, U.S. vessels and port facilities also are required to implement security plans. Implementation of the act is overseen by the Coast Guard.
■ Marine Environmental Protection and Fisheries Enforcement
The Coast Guard protects the nation’s natural marine resources and is responsible for overseeing response to incidents of maritime pollution. It enforces fisheries and poaching laws and oversees maritime pollution cleanup. The Coast Guard maintains a 200-member national strike force trained in chemical, biological and hazardous material cleanup and investigation. Its marine safety offices maintain assets to respond to oil and hazardous material spills in waterways and they investigate such events to determine who is responsible.
The Coast Guard also is charged with ensuring that the nation’s more than 100,000 commercial fishing vessels abide by U.S. regulations and it enforces national and international fishing regulations. The service anticipates that as the world’s fish stocks decline, its role in fisheries law enforcement will grow, placing more responsibility on the service as an international peacekeeper and enforcer.
■ Ice Operations
The Coast Guard is responsible for providing icebreaking services to support scientific research and maritime patrols in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. The service operates two icebreakers, the 418-foot Healy and 399-foot Polar Sea, for summer operations at the poles. The 32-year-old Polar Star, sister ship to the Polar Sea, currently is in dry dock awaiting repairs.
In 2008, Healy supported mapping research in the Arctic as well as other research. Polar Sea will be on stand-by for Operation Deep Freeze 2008-2009 in Antarctica. The National Science Foundation, which manages the nation’s icebreaking funds, has contracted with the Swedish icebreaker Odin to clear the path to McMurdo Station on Antarctica.
|
