Collins Shakes Up Command Chain With Six New Sectors in 2004

Goal is Not to Reduce Resources, But ‘To Be Real Smart About the Resources We Have’

By PATRICIA KIME
Sea Power Correspondent

The Coast Guard is reorganizing its command chain at the nation’s largest ports to ensure that a single commander is responsible for all missions and operations in the area. The service is creating Coast Guard “sectors” — field units that integrate the functions performed by different units in the nation’s largest maritime shipping areas, including groups, vessel traffic services, marine safety offices and, in some cases, air stations.

The realignment means that there no longer will be two, or sometimes three, commanders in a port area. Under the current system, there could be a captain in charge of vessel traffic and marine safety, another leading search-and-rescue, law enforcement and other operations, and even a third as the aviation commander.

“[This] is not a new idea,” Commandant Adm. Thomas H. Collins said in a Jan. 18 Coast Guard-wide message. “We have explored this issue often and currently have integrated commands that have proven very successful. Sweeping changes to our operational environment brought about since 9/11 reinforce the need for new commands.”

Six sectors are to come online this year, in Boston; Miami; Mobile, Ala.; Detroit; Puget Sound, Wash.; and Honolulu. Also, commands that already had been integrated will be renamed “sectors,” including Long Island Sound, N.Y.; Baltimore; Philadelphia; Marianas, the Greater Antilles; Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.; San Diego; and Los Angeles/Long Beach. Transition is expected to be complete by assignment year 2006.

“In some places it will be fairly easy to do, where you have group boundaries sitting on top of the captain-of-the-port boundaries,” Vice Adm. Thad W. Allen, Coast Guard chief of staff, said in a February interview.

The consolidation gives local law enforcement and port authorities a single point of contact for decision-making at a port facility. It doesn’t cut billets, because the other jobs will continue to be filled as executive officer/deputy director jobs, but it does eliminate a number of already scarce and coveted command slots.

Rear Adm. David S. Belz, assistant commandant for operations, said in a Sea Power interview: “We will seek to have one Coast Guard voice in a port. That’s the goal. Just call the Coast Guard whether you have a search-and-rescue case or a port security concern. That will all go to the sector command. The goal is not some kind of resource reduction. We’re trying to be real smart about the resources we have.”

“There was a need to have a single Coast Guard voice in the port and to unify operations,” Allen said. “It’s not an effort to save resources. It’s a realignment so we can effectively operate.”

Personnel most likely to be affected by the consolidation are senior leadership, mainly 0-6s hoping for command. But Collins, in his message, pledged to work to ensure that captains and commanders still will have ample leadership opportunities.

“Our human resources processes — promotion boards, screening panels and assignment panels — will be adjusted accordingly,” he said.

In general, captains of the port have been selected from the marine safety side of the house while commanders of area groups and activities come from such operations as cutter or aviation forces. Allen, a career cutter forces officer and budget expert, served both as a captain of the port and as a group commander in the rank of captain, or 0-6. He said today’s Coast Guard leaders have experienced a gradual move toward consolidation of command and function, so they have the understanding to lead an integrated port command.

“This is a continuation of a trend,” Allen said.

Details of the integration still are being worked out by a Coast Guard headquarters team in Washington, D.C. It’s likely the sector areas will be based on the Coast Guard’s current captain-of-the-port zones, but could include sub-sectors, depending on regional needs, service officials said.

The headquarters team was to make its final recommendation to Collins by mid-February, but the deadline has been pushed to March.

“This is something that needs careful consideration,” said Cmdr. Jeff Carter, a public affairs officer who is a member of the sector-study team.

The requirement for a single port chief increased significantly following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, because Coast Guard activities at ports have expanded to include security patrolling, and security plan monitoring and enforcement, as well as interagency coordination with local, state and industry partners.

“This is a significant organizational change,” Collins said. “This is the right thing to do and the time is now.”