Military, Maritime, Multimission, and More

James H. Thach III

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JAMES H. THACH III is a retired aerospace program manager and the past chairman of the Navy League's Active and Reserve Affairs Committee.

When Hurricane Floyd ravaged the U.S. East Coast in September 1999, leaving thousands of Americans flooded out of their homes and businesses, the United States Coast Guard was again ready to protect life and property.

At 9:15 p.m. on 16 September, Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., was advised by the Coast Guard's Fifth District Rescue Coordination Center that "hundreds of individuals" were stranded "on rooftops, in cars, on highways, in trees, and in rivers" in the vicinity of Tarboro, N.C. The Air Station assumed the role of on-scene commander for the rescue efforts around Tarboro. An HC-130H was launched to provide airborne command and control. The U.S. Navy sent an E-2C Hawkeye equipped with airborne radar to provide an accurate picture of all the aircraft operating in and around the area; the Coast Guard and other services provided aircraft for the recovery operations. Ground stations were set up on-scene and manned by personnel from Air Station Elizabeth City to allow immediate communications for the evacuation being planned. The Coast Guard also forward-deployed its Transportable Communications Center, which played an invaluable role by serving as a direct link between officials on the ground and the on-scene commander. Rescue Coordination Center personnel worked closely with local officials to provide expert advice.

Every type of Coast Guard aircraft was called into service. Seven Coast Guard and 12 Department of Defense (DOD) facilities provided aircraft and personnel. The aircraft came from as far away as Clearwater, Fla., and Traverse City, Mich. Over the next 42 hours, during which the Coast Guard headed the recovery operations, more than 2,200 lives were saved or directly assisted. Coast Guard aircraft flew over 350 flight hours and saved 450 people. Navy, Army, and Marine components flew a collective total of more than 450 hours and recovered an astounding 1,800 people. DOD heavy-lift helicopters were able to transport large numbers in the same aircraft, and at one point evacuated an entire community in a single flight.

While this is an extraordinary case, it is what the American people have come to expect of the U.S. Coast Guard--but saving lives is only one of the numerous missions assigned to the Coast Guard throughout its long and sometimes complex history.

The Early Years

That history started in 1790, when the United States Congress, under the direction of Alexander Hamilton, then Secretary of the Treasury, established the Revenue Cutter Service and gave it the specific task of collecting the customs and tonnage duties that were sorely needed by the new nation. Congress also authorized 10 cutters, each to be manned by an "Officer of Customs" and a crew of not more than 15 personnel in operations along the Atlantic seaboard. In 1797, the Congress further strengthened the military character of the Revenue Cutter Service by assigning it the responsibility of defending the nation's sea coasts and countering any hostility to U.S. vessels and/or commerce. In 1799 the Congress formally made the Revenue Cutter Service a military organization by statute and provided that the Service would, in time of war--or whenever else the president might direct--cooperate with the U.S. Navy, which itself had been reestablished one year earlier. Within its first 10 years, therefore, the organization that was to become the United States Coast Guard was created for maritime purposes and as a military organization. The U.S. Coast Guard retains those two key characteristics today. It is a military and maritime force in all respects.

The multimission character of the service developed quickly. In 1807 the first lifesaving station was established in Cohasset, Mass., and 1818 saw the building of the first lighthouse on the Great Lakes. Manning and maintaining both types of facilities would later become major responsibilities of the Coast Guard.

The Service fought, and fought gallantly, in the War of 1812. One encounter underscores the zeal and fortitude with which the Revenue Cutter Service defended the United States. On 12 June 1813, Stephen Evans reports in his The United States Coast Guard, 1790­1915, the cutter Surveyor was anchored in New York harbor. Manned by only 15 men, she was attacked by a boarding party of 50 Englishmen from the frigate Narcissus. Outnumbered and surrounded, the cutter's crew defended their deck foot by foot until it was clear to her commanding officer that further resistance would result in useless loss of life. Only then did he surrender. In the brief and bloody battle five cutter men and seven British were wounded, and three British were killed. The following day, the captain of the Narcissus sent a note expressing his admiration for the gallantry with which the American crew had defended the Surveyor. In short, the spirit and dedication of the Coast Guard was established very early, and set a standard that endures to the present.

A Proliferation of Missions

By the 1850s there were several additional responsibilities that would later be assigned to the Coast Guard: enforcement of the Neutrality Laws of 1818, for example, the suppression of piracy on the high seas, the protection of timber reserves in Florida, and the suppression of the slave trade. The creation of the Steamboat Service within the Department of Justice, the formal assignment of the Revenue Cutters to search and rescue, the establishment of the Bureau of Navigation within the Treasury, and the establishment of the Revenue Marine Bureau within the Treasury Department added other duties. In addition, the revenue cutters were formally assigned to the search-and-rescue (SAR) mission, and the Bureau of Navigation and the Revenue Marine Bureau both were established within the Treasury Department.

During the several intervening decades before the Coast Guard was formally established under that name in 1915, the various agencies that would later merge into it acquired numerous additional maritime responsibilities: the building and operation of additional lifesaving stations, the enforcement of immigration laws, and law enforcement in the newly acquired territory of Alaska. A School of Instruction was established in 1877 for the training of cadets, the Life Saving Service became part of the Treasury Department, navigation and anchorage requirements were introduced, and the Collectors of Customs were integrated into the Revenue Cutter Service. The protection of fisheries in federal waters and the enforcement of motor boat regulations became yet additional missions. The Bering Sea Patrol was created to protect endangered fur seals. Finally, the International Ice Patrol was created after the tragic loss of the Titanic in 1912.

In short, by 1915 the "new" Service already had assumed responsibility for the management and protection of virtually all waters bordering the United States. The Coast Guard's multi-mission character was thus firmly established.

Since 1915, the Service's maritime responsibilities have continued to grow and expand. Responsibility for detecting against coastal pollution was added as early as 1924, and was significantly expanded later (in 1990). Icebreaking was another duty assigned to the Coast Guard. All maritime navigation facilities and systems, from lighthouses to LORAN (long-range aid to navigation), also became USCG responsibilities. The Coast Guard Auxiliary, a voluntary nonmilitary organization created to promote boating safety, was established in 1939; the Coast Guard Reserve was created only two years later. During World War II the Coast Guard reported to the U.S. Navy, and distinguished itself on virtually every combat front.

Statements Clear and True

After the war the Coast Guard once more came under the Treasury Department. In January 1948 Congress mandated the first detailed and independent study of the roles and missions of the Coast Guard. That study was completed over 50 years ago, but provides a worthwhile perspective on the current review of the Coast Guard's roles and missions. The purpose of the independent study established by Public Law No. 299 of the 80th Congress was simply stated as: "Review the functions, policies, operations, and procedures of the Coast Guard, promoting efficiency and cost savings." The scope of work included a detailed analysis of operations carried out at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C., and at representative field units--with an emphasis on diverse locations, types of units, and the operations of each. The study's "Conclusions and Recommendations," presented in three clear statements, are as true today as they were 50 years ago:

Historically, the Coast Guard is a changing, not a static, organization;
All of the duties/functions performed by the Coast Guard are in the public's interest; and
No evidence was found that any other Federal Government agency could perform these functions at lower cost or with greater efficiency.
The 1948 study also found that the most significant problems faced by the Coast Guard were not of its own making, but were the product of Congressional activity (or the lack of it). Discussing "principal problems," the study stated that "Under current required budgetary and appropriations procedures, the Coast Guard is operating on a type of budget which permits only short-range operational planning with little or no opportunity to achieve the efficiency possible with long-range planning.

"The development of a base operating plan and program, with activities and costs segregated along functional lines, as specified and recommended in this report, should materially increase the efficiency of the Coast Guard."

Today's Coast Guard

How much haschanged in the last 50 years? In some respects, very little. The Coast Guard is still a military organization, involved on every maritime front throughout the world, and is still the nation's multimission service. Perhaps some examples of today's Coast Guard will serve to show the significant variety of its current missions.

The high-endurance cutter Midgett is stationed in Seattle, Wash., and normally cruises the Alaskan coast in support of international fisheries regulations. However, Midgett left Seattle on 18 June 1999 and sailed 8,500 miles in 28 days to Pusan, South Korea, as part of the USS Peleliu Amphibious Ready Group for operations enroute to the Arabian Gulf. In early 1999, Midgett became a permanent unit of the USS Constellation Carrier Battle Group, under the command of Cruiser Destroyer Group One--the first time since World War II that a Coast Guard cutter has been so assigned.

The Midgett and her crew bring unique capabilities to a U.S. Navy Battle Group, including the skills required for boarding and inspecting vessels for safety and contraband. Of course, rescue in all of its aspects is another skill currently being passed on to Navy crews by the Midgett crew. As Capt. Paul D. Luppert, commanding officer of the Midgett, said, "This is a chance for the Coast Guard to demonstrate our commitment and showcase our ability as part of a national asset. We bring a practical side to the Battle Group with our traditional ability of boarding ships."

Unfortunately, having to deploy for extended periods has produced certain difficulties for this aged cutter. The Midgett was designed for much shorter deployments, and to operate at considerably slower cruising speeds than the Battle Group's usual 20 knots. The higher speed has necessitated running the turbines constantly, and these ancient 707 aircraft engines are simply too old and tired for such stress--and there are numerous unexpected breakdowns as a result. The Midgett's crew has always found a way to get the turbines running again, and the cutter always met her commitments.

Maintaining enough fuel and food has been another issue. Because of her limited carrying capacity the Midgett has needed to take on new supplies, and to refuel under way, every few days, a complex operation not frequently practiced by Coast Guard cutters. In spite of the difficulties, the Midgett and her dedicated crew have performed very well as part of this Navy team.

On every front today, the Coast Guard is hard at work on a staggering number, and variety, of missions. For example, Coast Guard C-130 long-range patrol aircraft are currently patrolling vast areas of the Pacific Ocean for illegal drift-net fishing. Coast Guard motor lifeboats are saving lives and protecting property at the entrance to the Columbia River at Cape Disappointment. USCG drug-interdiction teams operating out of remote locations in the Caribbean basin are flying HH-60J Jayhawks and HU-25 Falcon aircraft to disrupt the smuggling of drugs into the United States. Coast Guard marine inspectors board foreign-flag vessels, before they enter U.S. waters, to ensure their operational safety. Coast Guard Reservists man small boats and communications sites around and along the nation's coasts. Coast Guard MH-90 helicopters are now armed, and have proved very successful in stopping the latest tool of the drug smugglers--the go-fast boat. (The go-fasts are usually open fiberglass boats, 30 to 45 feet long, equipped with high-powered outboard motors and capable of carrying a ton of narcotics at speeds in excess of 50 knots; the helicopters, which work in teams of two with Coast Guard cutters, use their weapons--after receiving proper authorization--to warn, and then disable, the go-fast boats by destroying their engines.)

In other words, the Coast Guard of today is performing all of the numerous missions that the Service has been assigned over the last two centuries, albeit with a few new tools.

Defining "the Core Business"

Often overlooked in any discussion of the Coast Guard is its unique ability to perform so many different functions so efficiently. The president of any private company would be staggered by the task of incorporating into his or her business the diverse activities that the Coast Guard undertakes on a daily basis, particularly those that are not part of "the core business" that defines the company. The question therefore arises: What is the Coast Guard's core business, and how does one define it in simple terms?

One perhaps surprising answer that has been suggested is that the Coast Guard is the nation's "Maritime Primary Care Organization"--because it is a maritime agency, and is usually the first agency to be called on to deal with the vast and sometimes bewildering diversity of maritime issues facing the United States.

The analogy is not all that far-fetched. The Coast Guard installs and maintains the more than 50,000 aids to navigation around the United States, but when a mariner chooses the rocks rather than the channel the Coast Guard is called out to save both his life and his property. The Coast Guard promulgates numerous regulations for the safe design of vessels, the licensing of commercial mariners, and the protection of all of the nation's natural maritime resources--but when an oil spill occurs the Coast Guard is almost always the first federal agency on the scene, as well as the last to leave.

The Coast Guard also is tasked to patrol millions of square miles of open ocean to prevent illegal drift-net fishing--and when an infraction is discovered, it is the agency that responds. The Coast Guard also is always ready to respond in the event of a national disaster, such as Hurricane Floyd.

The Coast Guard's multiplicity of missions poses problems for analysts, particularly those seeking to measure the Service's cost-effectiveness.

One study determined that the Coast Guard returns $4 in benefits to the taxpayers for every $1 in Coast Guard appropriations. But, as positive as the 4­1 ratio is, it encompasses only a small seg-ment of the Coast Guard's operations--specifically, the Coast Guard's search-and-rescue activities. The 4­1 ratio was developed by comparing the value of the lives and property saved to the total operational expenses of the Coast Guard, averaged over five years. But it does not consider the value of the Coast Guard's drug-interdiction operations, which last year stopped well over 111,000 pounds of cocaine from entering the United States. It does not consider the value of LORAN or differential GPS (Global Positioning System) to navigators (on land and in the air, as well as at sea). It does not consider the benefits generated from the regulation and licensing of mariners, and the inspection of both U.S. and foreign-flag vessels entering and leaving U.S. ports. Nor does it consider the military value of the Coast Guard to the nation, or the value of those over 50,000 aids to navigation set and maintained by the Coast Guard, or the dollar value of the Coast Guard's domestic icebreaking on the Great Lakes and along the nation's rivers and in U.S. ports and harbors.

The conclusion of the 1948 study was that, "All of the duties/functions performed by the Coast Guard are in the public's interest." That statement remains valid and makes it clear that the value of the United States Coast Guard is quite possibly incalculable, at least in dollars. It may be appropriate, therefore, to add to the current definition of the Coast Guard--"Maritime, Military and Multimission"--a few additional words: "No one does it better, and no one does it for less."