Coast guard in deep water

When the Coast Guard moved from the U.S. Department of Transportation to the Department of Homeland Security earlier this year it knew that its mission priorities would change, A new mission--keeping our shores sale from terrorists--would require a new effort. h also knew that it would be receiving considerable direction from Congress. What it hadn't counted on was taking a shot across the bow from an old ally, the U.S. Department of Defense.

The first public inkling that something was up came in the August 31 edition of The Washington Post which ran an article headlined, "Coast Guard Fights to Retain its War Role" by reporters John Mintz and Vernon Loeb. The article said that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld had all but decided to remove the U.S. Coast Guard from participation in future wars.

The Post said the prospect was "devastating morale" in the maritime service and quoted an unnamed Pentagon source as saying, "This is a moment in Coast Guard history, one that is breaking their hearts."

At issue is who should guard U.S. Navy warships in combat. Rumsfeld believes that the U.S. Navy should guard their own ships even though the Coast Guard has been guarding them since the founding of the Republic. While there is some debate over whether the Coast Guard or the U.S. Navy sank more German U-boats during World War II, there's no doubt that up to 10 Coast Guard cutters have been in Iraq since the beginning of combat.

Coast Guard officials have refused to comment on Rumsfeld's plan, giving the answer heard often in Washington: "We do not comment on internal documents."

The debate disappeared from the headlines for about two weeks until The Navy Times newspaper published its version of the story entitled, "Rumsfeld May Move Some Security Duties To Navy." The article cited three internal Defense memos and a meeting between the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, chief of Naval Operations and the Coast Guard commandant to discuss the ship security would free the Coast Guard to concentrate on homeland and maritime security as well as its search and rescue, law enforcement and environmental missions.

Adding fuel to the fire was an article from the Naval Reserve Force Public Affairs office in New Orleans. The story pointed out that this is a time of transformation for the Naval Reserve Force and that the creation of Reserve Naval Security Force (NSF) units has been initialized. What will these units do? You guessed it, they will guard Navy ships.

On top of all this there is the increasingly rancorous debate on Capital Hill about funding for homeland security. Many in Congress have raised the issue that the Coast Guard has been stretched too thin with the addition of its new maritime port security duties. Congress has already added money to the Coast Guard budget to beef up these efforts and the President's budget for the Coast Guard is the largest in the organization's history.

What's really at stake? A number of inside-the-Washington-Beltway experts believe it is the Coast Guard's expensive $17-billion "Deepwater" ship modernization program launched two years ago. With the average age of the Coast Guard fleet at 35 years, "Deepwater" would replace more than two-thirds of existing cutters, including eight huge 424-foot ships, 25 patrol craft and 58 fast response boats. In addition to the ships, "Deepwater" will upgrade and purchase new helicopters.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has already weighed in with support for Coast Guard modernization. He fully supports the "Deepwater" program. "The President, in this year's '04 budget, gives the Coast Guard the largest single appropriation that they've ever received," he said recently.

What all of this will mean to the nation's recreational boaters, who own over 13 million vessels, is unclear at this time.

If the Coast Guard prevails, the boating public could benefit from an agency fully funded for both war and homeland security missions. Some of this funding will most certainly trickle down resulting in the acquisition of new search and rescue boats and communications equipment that could make our waterways safer for all.

On the other hand, a Coast Guard relieved from protecting Navy ships thousand of miles from our coastlines--but fully funded for homeland security--could concentrate its scarce resources closer to borne and do a better job protecting the nation's nearly 100,000 miles of waterways and hundreds of ports from terrorist threats while at the same time ensuring the safety of those who use our waterways for both recreation and commerce.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Boat Owners Assn.
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group