A new electronic management system will foster intuitive use of information, but funding for the Coast Guard’s intelligence systems remains erratic 

By DAVID W. MUNNS, Assistant Editor

Deepwater, the Coast Guard’s $24 billion, 25-year program to update its aging fleet and acquire new air and surface craft, and intelligence and communications resources, will rely, in part, on an electronic case management system that enables the service to make far better use of data on hand and provide for seamless information sharing with other military and law-enforcement agencies.

The Deepwater Case File Management (CFM) system enables the Coast Guard to access multiple data bases and search for consistencies or anomalies in various files, permitting intelligence officers to make connections between incidents and individuals, and generate the knowledge that can lead to the arrest of criminals, interception of illegal aliens and prevention of terrorist acts.

Deepwater’s CFM enables Coast Guard specialists to associate individuals’ records with other people as well as vessels, cargo, video history and geographic information.

The cognitive management system is being developed by Lockheed Martin Systems and Sensors, Manassas, Va., a partner with Northrop Grumman in Integrated Coast Guard Systems, the industry joint venture that manages the Coast Guard’s Deepwater programs.

The Deepwater CFM will be installed at the service’s command centers and on ships and aircraft of the fleet. It will operate at classified and unclassified levels and create an operational link between the Coast Guard’s intelligence centers.

The launch of the Deepwater CFM is indicative of several steps the Coast Guard is taking to upgrade its prowess at intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR).

For example, another key resource in the works is the intelligence knowledge center, a portal into Coast Guard intelligence services. Using this application allows Coast Guard members and their civilian counterparts to access intelligence information without having to know the nature of the intelligence collection and dissemination process.

The Coast Guard also is poised to launch a tool for the systematic screening of vessels, thus automating the existing process to vet crews and cargoes of vessels entering the United States. The service’s purpose is to expedite the processing of any foreign vessel larger than 300 gross tons that must report its arrival 96 hours prior to entering U.S. territory. This gives the Coast Guard time for background checks of the crew and the ship’s manifest.

The current screening process is labor intensive, and this tool enables the service to do the checking more rapidly, fostering more thorough reviews before a vessel arrives in U.S. waters.

Improved intelligence capabilities are also being installed in two of the highest classes of Deepwater cutters, the 425-foot national security cutter and the 350-foot offshore patrol cutter.

Capt. Pat Nemeth, chief of the Coast Guard’s office of Intelligence Plans and Policy, said these vessels will have a “cryptologic capability” for each ship’s compartmented information facility. Thus, the ship can transfer intelligence to other agencies that employ codes and encryption to limit access to their data.

Moving these and other intelligence tools from the drawing boards to the service’s operational units is a tedious process that requires a steady funding stream and concerted effort by several federal organizations, such as the White House and Congress, said Coast Guard Capt. Gordon K. Weeks, Deepwater program manager for command, control, communications, computers and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR).

However, current funding for Deepwater’s intelligence systems is about half of the amount requested. The Coast Guard budgeted $77 million for C4ISR in 2006, but was awarded $44 million. The total cost of C4ISR programs throughout the life of the Deepwater program is estimated at $1.5 billion.

The biggest challenge in dealing with other agencies often is articulating the importance of ISR tools, Weeks said.

“It’s very easy to look at a brand new cutter or aircraft, but the fact that the thing is blind, can’t talk and can’t hear is not always very well understood,” he said.

The Coast Guard’s intelligence programs are historically rooted in the service’s counterdrug efforts, said Nemeth. Over time, however, the program has taken on additional missions, particularly since 9/11 when the Bush administration began to accelerate the service’s involvement in port and coastal security.

Today, time is vital for Coast Guard units, Weeks said, and the persistent surveillance capabilities enabled by advanced ISR tools foster a revolutionary change in the way the service supports its maritime missions, including drug interdictions, stopping terrorist smuggling into the country and acting as the maritime law enforcement arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

“As soon as we come up with a measure to detect,” drug smugglers or terrorists “will come up with a measure to counter-detect,” Weeks said.

The C4ISR program office is one of five key Deepwater offices, with a charter to provide an array of intelligence capabilities to Coast Guard assets.

The office became operational with the overall Deepwater program in 2002, and consists of 11 government employees who are supported by Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. Additional support is derived from subcontractors, such as Booz Allen Hamilton and Anteon Corp.

 “You’re seeing a whole change in the way we do business in the fleet,” said Weeks.

He points to installations of the Automatic Identification System, essentially a shipboard transponder on shipping vessels, and secure Internet chat in the fleet and at command centers. These are among the tools that mean suspect vessels are “no longer able to evade us because they’re in faster boats or handing off from one cutter to another.”

Among his priorities this year is to continue to field command centers. Installations are under way in Miami and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Additional centers are planned, including one in Portsmouth, Va.