The Cutterman Association website has been recently renovated and it seems to be more active than it has been in the past. I’d like to call your attention to one post in particular. The Commandant has asked for questions and the Cuttermen Association is collecting any that might be cutterman related.
The US Naval Institute Blog has a nice post about the Coast Guard’s difficulties balancing military and non-military roles. You might want to take a look.
The Naval Institute News Service has published the Congressional Research Services Ronald O’Rourke’s latest views on the status of cutter recapitalization. http://news.usni.org/2014/08/26/document-coast-guard-cutter-report-congress-2
CNN reports USCGC Monomoy fired one round at an Iranian dhow after it appeared to be preparing to fire on the cutter’s small boat.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/26/world/u-s-coast-guard-iran-incident/index.html
I will not be able to work on the blog much for the next couple of weeks. Please continue the conversation. I will try to look in occasionally and will be back full time in September.
“The Stevens Institute of Technology in the U.S. has been selected as the lead institution for a new Center of Excellence for Maritime Research (CMR). The selection, announced by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate will provide Stevens with $2 million per year for five years. The center will also include the following partner institutions: MIT, University of Miami, Rutgers University, University of Puerto Rico and Elizabeth City State University. Stevens also has new partners with which it will collaborate on research projects, including LSU, Florida Atlantic University and the University of Connecticut.”
While I wonder if putting money into the Coast Guard’s own R&D Center, which is getting only a tiny fraction of the Department’s R&D budget, might not have been a better investment, I do find it promising that in making the announcement, Michael Bruno, Feiler Chair Professor and Dean of the School of Engineering and Science cited the Coast Guard as their “primary customer.” Reportedly Stevens already has a prior association with the DOD and NSA.
Thanks to Rex for the heads-up.
Happy Coast Guard Day to all who have worn the “true blue” and to all who wish them well. If you want to take a look back, you might check out the “Heritage” page. Meanwhile Grand Haven has been putting on its usual show of appreciation.
This year also marked the 75th anniversary of the formation of the Coast Guard Auxiliary. Probably one of the greatest bargain in the history of the US government.
CIMSEC (Center for Maritime Security) is looking for articles on maritime border control. If interested in making a contribution, you can check it out here. Deadline is August 15 and will be published August 19-23.
CIMSEC is doing a series on “non-navies” and the first,”The Mumbai Attack: Terrorism from the Sea, talks about the attack on Mumbai and how it might have been thwarted including cultivating the public as an information source.
This is not the first time CIMSEC has talked about the attack, an earlier post “Indian Maritime Security After Mumbai,” July 2, 2012, by Mark Munson, talked about the difficulty of actually converting domain awareness into actionable information.
We have also talked about the attack, primarily here. (Note, apparently reports that the terrorists killed two Indian Coast Guard officers were untrue.)
Former Commandant, Adm. Papp, has a new job, as reported here in Stars and Stripes.
Chuck Hill's CG Blog 