PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE Every
Day of the Year
Any
discussion of today’s Coast Guard inevitably starts with one essential
fact: The U.S. Coast Guard is the world’s premier lifesaving service.
Last year alone, Coast Guard cutters and aircraft responded to almost
40,000 calls from mariners in distress on the sea, and saved 3,744
lives.
That is a remarkable record of achievement.
Typically, though, the Coast Guard’s own focus is not on the lives
that are saved, but on those who are lost at sea despite the
multimission service’s best efforts. "At least 12 percent of
mariners in distress, an estimated 500 or more persons per year, are not
saved," USCG Commandant Adm. James M. Loy points out in his 1999
Annual Report on
the state of the Coast Guard.
Despite a record year in cocaine seizures—a
collective haul of 111,689 pounds—the Coast Guard also fell slightly
short of target in another key mission area: the interdiction of illegal
drugs. The importance of that mission was spelled out by Barry R.
McCaffery, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, who
said that the Coast Guard plays an "essential" role in
countering the drug scourge "that causes us to lose 52,000 [lives]
per year" and costs the nation an estimated $550 billion in both
direct and indirect costs.
It is relevant to point out, to put those numbers in
proper context, that 25 years ago less than 1 percent of the Coast Guard’s
budget was allocated to counterdrug operations; today, drug interdiction
consumes about one-fifth of the service’s entire operating budget.
Much the same situation exists in almost all of the
Coast Guard’s other mission areas. The Oil Pollution Act of 1990
assigned the Coast Guard important new responsibilities in policing oil
spills and the release of hazardous materials. Last year the Coast Guard
responded to 12,500 reports of water pollution or hazardous material
releases, and inspected more than 900 mobile offshore drilling units.
The result has been a demonstrable decline in the oil-spill rate.
There have been similar positive trends in maritime
safety and in the maintenance of inland waterways. The Coast Guard also
has played an increasingly important role in national defense—in
numerous overseas operations as well as in U.S. coastal waters.
However, as Admiral Loy points out in his 1999 report
(and in speeches to the Navy League and other audiences), the Coast
Guard’s current military readiness capabilities are "not
adequate" to meet all of its national-security responsibilities.
This is a particularly worrisome problem in an era when, because of its
own budget problems, the Navy has been relying more and more on the
Coast Guard to assume a bigger share of the collective defense workload
in times of war or other national crisis.
There are about 35,000 men and women in today’s
Coast Guard—just about the same number as in 1967, incidentally,
despite the major increase in duties and responsibilities that the Coast
Guard has been assigned over the past three decades. Like their
predecessors, they display the same indomitable "can-do"
attitude, and fully live up to the Coast Guard’s proud motto: Semper
Paratus—Always
Ready.
But how long can they keep it up? The Coast Guard’s
cutters, aircraft, and shore structure are antiquated, technologically
obsolescent, just plain wearing out, and, in short, barely sufficient to
meet today’s needs, much less tomorrow’s. They also are considerably
overworked, as are the Coast Guard’s people. The breaking point is
just over the horizon.
Also over the horizon is another quantum increase in
duties and responsibilities for the Coast Guard. U.S. two-way
international trade is expected to double, perhaps triple, over the next
25 years. There also will be major increases in cruise ships and
cruise-ship passengers, in the number of pleasure craft owned by
Americans, and, in all probability, in oceanographic explorations and
various commercial uses of the ocean. The rebuilding of the U.S. port
infrastructure is another important national priority. All of these
trends and issues have major implications for the Coast Guard, which
undoubtedly will see an increase in its national-defense and
counterterrorism duties as well.
To their credit, Admiral Loy and his headquarters
team have developed an innovative and cost-effective
"Deepwater" recapitalization plan to replace the Coast Guard’s
operational infrastructure over the next 20 years, but to date the plan
has received only lukewarm support from the administration and Congress.
Let there be no doubt about it: This is a problem not
for the Coast Guard—which is doing all that it humanly can—but for
the executive and legislative branches of government. And for the
American people.
That means us. All of us. All members of the Navy
League and other patriotic and civic organizations that support the
Coast Guard. It is our responsibility
to educate our fellow citizens about the many and marvelous
accomplishments of the smallest of our nation’s armed services.
Loyalty is a two-way street. The men and women of the
U.S. Coast Guard demonstrate their
loyalty 24 hours a day, every day of the year. They deserve no less in
return from the American people they serve so well in so many ways.
Happy Birthday, U.S. Coast Guard! The Navy League
stands ready to support you in any and every way we can.
-John R. Fisher, National President |
