US Capital West Side, by Martin Falbisoner
Because the Coast Guard budget is part of the DHS budget, and a lot of people are not happy with what a DHS agency has been doing, there is a good possibility the Coast Guards will not have a budget beginning in February.
This is yet another reason I believe the Coast Guard should be an independent agency. There are already more than 40 independent agencies including the postal service, NASA, and the CIA.
Six of the Coast Guard’s eleven missions, including SAR are not even considered DHS missions.
The Coast Guard has not benefited from being a part of any Secretary level organization. Our budget request was never presented to the Congress without it being balanced first against other department priorities.
Every year it seems the Coast Guard budget has been increased by bipartisan support in Congress. We don’t need a Secretary of the Coast Guard. Coast Guard leaders can represent the Coast Guard without adding another level of bureaucracy.
Chuck Hill's CG Blog 
I just deleted a comment on this post because it was highly political and really off topic.
I want too keep the discussion non-partisan and on topic.
Everyone is welcomed to comment if we stay on topic.
Personally I think you are headed to the DoN.
The country would certainly benefit from more coordination between the Navy and Coast Guard.
The Air Force does SAR through the Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service.
In other nations, notably the UK and France, their navies do maritime law enforcement.
Still it seems most of the world sees the benefits of having a separate Coast Guard.
I do see the possibility of creating a department concerned with exploitation of the oceans including the merchant marine and fisheries that might include the Coast Guard.
Our ‘maritime security’ be it out in the EEZ or even territorial waters is lamentable. Apart from the Met no police service does full time patrolling. ** Mostly it is diving support and then multi-service across a region. Then look at the assets Border Farce has and then compare with Germany………
** Hampshire does some patrolling but it seasonal and token.
At the moment YouTube keeps suggesting shorts from a creator who makes videos highlighting the cultural cliche differences between the service. It is the typical Marines are mad crayon eaters, the Navy is drunk or just getting over a hangover, and the Airforce is pampered overpaid and larping. What I find interesting though is his take on the Coast Guard. He seems to think you are super cold operators………I like it……. 🙂 😉
If it were up to me, Coast Guard would be independent, and would have NOAA and Fisheries under it.
Look at you with your common sense! That’s sounds sensible.
I know NOAA of course. But I have never ever given US fisheries a thought. I am off to do some research
I think the Coast Guard should be under the Department of Defense, and I have yet to see a good explanation why it isn’t. What do you think about moving the Coast Guard back to the Department of Transportation? Was there any real benefit gained from moving it from DOT to DHS?
I think moving the Coast Guard from the Department of Transportation to DHS after 9/11 was supposed to give the Coast Guard more respect, and for a while it did, but no longer. The current deeply unqualified DHS leaders and their actions have forfeited that department all of its respect from the American people. I no longer even want to wear the DHS golf shirt I got from the Coast Guard Auxiliary, because it would elicit suspicion and anger from Americans now.
The moment the Coast Guard lobbies hard for independence is the moment someone in Congress will realize the Coast Guard Academy doesn’t have candidates from Congressional Appointments, a big plum for campaign fundraising, and the Coast Guard will be under Navy Command, it’s training, shipbuilding and logistics absorbed by the Navy in “two shakes of a lambs tail !”
They have realized that long ago. There have been previous attempts to make end the apolitical application process for the Academy but somehow it has been resisted.
The fact most people don’t know there is a Coast Guard Academy may be an advantage.
Starts to feel like we do need to shake up the cabinet a bit. Maybe raise Secnav back to its own cabinet spot and consolidate the entire national fleet under it. Or cut the job in half to ensure their is an agency with primary interest in the economic potential from the water.