Reuters is reporting, “President Barack Obama on Tuesday said he would nominate Coast Guard Vice Admiral Peter Neffenger to be administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)…”
Fiercehomelandsecurity provided a link to a GAO report on Department of Homeland Securiy major acquisitions. I did not find most of it that interesting, but toward the end, there are summaries of individual programs. For the Coast Guard programs, they begin on page 68 (73rd page of the pdf).
One of our regular contributors, Lee Walher, has brought to my attention a publication I had not been familiar with, the Canadian Naval Review.
It seems to be a publication that addresses many issues that are common among coast guards and medium to small sized navies.
The publication is supported by subscription and sponsors. The full current edition is available only to subscribers, but in fact, it looks like virtually all the content is readily available. In addition, it appears that after a couple of months, full access is available to a pdf edition, via the Achieves and Index page.
This is the table of contents for the current edition.
Editorial: Always the Bridesmaid, Never the Bride, Ann Griffiths
The Case for a More Combat-Capable Arctic Offshore Patrol Ship, Rob Huebert
NOPEC: A Game Worth Playing?, Andrew Bergel
Interoperability and the Future of the Royal Canadian Navy, Andrew Touesnard
A Clash of Naval Strategies in the Asia-Pacific Region, Brian Wentzell
Most Capable Design or Most Qualified Team?, Janet Thorsteinson
Making Waves AOPS and the NSPS: Wishful Sinking?, Danford W. Middlemiss
Collaborative Naval Procurement: Lessons from the ANZAC Frigate Build, Jeffrey Collins
A View From the West: Reefs of Discontent in the South China Sea, Brett Witthoeft
Dollars and Sense: Can DND Afford New Submarines?, Dave Perry
Warship Developments: Flexible Examples from Offshore, Doug Thomas
Human Capital and the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy, Commander Ian Wood
Book Reviews
USAF CV-22, DOD photo
The Air Force Times is reporting the Air Force is considering using the V-22 Osprey for SAR, at least Combat SAR. They see these platforms as having an advantage where speed is critical. They also recognize that in other circumstances, agility may be more important, so they are not considering wholesale replacement of helicopters with these relatively large aircraft. The planned purchase of 112 HH-60W next-generation Black Hawk helicopters is still expected to go ahead.
It may be worth noting the Marines are already using their MV-22 for combat SAR.
In the not to distant future, we may have aircraft that combine the agility of the H-60 with the speed of the V-22.
CIMSEC has a post explaining the Coast Guard role in international maritime security capacity building.
Navy Recognition reports that BAE is developing a laser or image recognition guided round for the Mk110 57mm gun that equips the Bertholf Class, National Security Cutter (NSC) and is expected to equip the Offshore Patrol Cutter in addition to the two classes of Littoral Combat Ships.
It is referred to as “Ordnance for Rapid Kill of Attack Craft or ORKA (technical designation: MK295 MOD 1).” Which seems to indicate it is not an anti-aircraft round.
Guided rounds are already available for larger caliber weapons. Guess we will have to wait a while to see if it is actually any cheaper than a guide missile like Griffin or Hellfire. We already know the launcher is not cheaper.
G
gCaptain has a story of a private effort to help Vanuatu after it was hit by Typhoon. Conditions there are difficult and unusual. Some of the techniques they use are interesting.
I have been thinking about why the Coast Guard seems to be loosing the budget battle within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). While funding for the Department has grown, the Coast Guard budget has in fact declined in real terms. I suspect it has a lot to do with perceptions of a miss-match between DHS missions and Coast Guard missions.
Congress attempted to address this perceived mismatch in the Homeland Security Act of 2002 by requiring an annual report of resources allocated to DHS missions and non-DHS missions, to ensure non-DHS missions are not ignored. I will refer to this “Annual Review of the United States Coast Guard’s Mission Performance” (pdf) as the Performance Report.
It is an interesting report, but it does have significant weaknesses, largely stemming from the use of undifferentiated and undefined “resource hours” as a measure of effort. I reviewed a report back in 2010 and offered my criticism which have not changed here, here, and here.
Unfortunately, I think this report may be part of the problem, in that it defines several Coast Guard missions as “non-DHS,” and it gives the impression, erroneously I believe, that roughly half of the Coast Guard’s budget goes for things outside the DHS charter.
Of the eleven Coast Guard missions, six were regarded as Non-Homeland Security missions: SAR, AtoN, Living Marine Resources, Marine Environmental Protection, Marine Safety, and Ice Operations.
The five Homeland Security missions are Ports, waterways, and coastal security, Drug Interdiction, Undocumented Migrant Interdiction, Defense Readiness, and Other Law Enforcement (primarily Foreign Fisheries Enforcement).
But these distinctions are fallacious.
The Department views its own missions as:
NON-DHS MISSIONS: All these mission at least in some respects support DHS missions.
SAR: A robust SAR organization is clearly a necessary foundation for “Ensuring resilience to Disaster.” What were Katrina and Sandy but huge SAR cases? SAR command posts and communications are the skeletal structure upon which Disaster Response is based. After all, every SAR case is really a response to a disaster of some dimension. If the 3,000 plus people the CG saves every year had died in a single incident, it would have been a disaster on the order of 9/11.
AtoN: Most of the population lives near the coast or inland waterways. Most depend heavily on marine transportation and in many cases fishing. When there is a disaster, restoring safe navigation is a high priority both for bringing in assistance and for recovery.
Marine Environmental Protection (MEP): The Deepwater Horizon was a disaster. MEP regulation attempts head off disasters and mitigate its effects, that is “Ensuring resilience to Disaster” plus offshore and portside energy infrastructure are potential terrorists targets.
Marine Safety: Marine Safety is designed to prevent marine disasters. A sunken cruise ship could be a disaster on the order of 9/11. Marine Safety standards tends to mitigate the effects of a terrorist attack on marine targets
Living Marine Resources: Destruction of valuable marine resources can actually be as disaster for the economy of some communities.
Ice Operations: Domestic icebreakers can prevent flooding. We recently had a case where a community in Alaska would have been left without fuel, if an icebreaker had not opened a path for delivery.
THE UNLISTED COAST GUARD MISSION:
Safeguarding and securing cyberspace: It is not one of the Coast Guard’s eleven statutory missions, but this is infact one of the Commandant’s key priorities. Still it is not addressed in the Coast Guard’s annual Performance Report.
THE NON-DHS DHS MISSIONS: Two missions listed as DHS missions in fact are of little interest to the department, and performance goals (which are themselves perhaps inadequate) in these two areas are not being met.
Defense Readiness: Apparently the Coast Guard is doing more for Defense Readiness now than it was before 9/11, but really little has been done in terms of adapting resources for wartime roles. Additionally, a potentially major Coast Guard contribution to defense readiness, the major cutters, are being replaced at such a slow rate, the fleet continues to age, making it less reliable.
Other Law Enforcement (primarily foreign fisheries): DHS probably has little interest in this. This mission also suffers from the aging of the cutter fleet, and additionally the very large US EEZ in the Western Pacific has been largely ignored.
Problems in DHS: I do think the Departments placement of priority on counter-terrorism over more general disaster response is misplaced, and this is another source of problems.
CONCLUSION:
I will quote my closing paragraph from my 2010 post,
When it comes time to decide the Coast Guard budget, I would suggest Congress take a different approach. Consider return on investment. If you like the return you are getting from the Coast Guard now, invest more. Don’t say, “Agency ‘X’ isn’t working, we need to put more money into that.” “The Coast Guard, is doing a good job with their current budget so we don’t need to give them any more.” I don’t quote scripture very often. I’m not religious, but there is some wisdom there. Check out the story of the “good and faithful servant” Mathew 25:14-30.
CBC News reports a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaking buoytender, CCGS Ann Harvey, ran aground near Burgeo on the South shore of Newfoundland. She was reported free, but disabled with her motor room flooded.
This morning, at the peak of the rush hour, San Francisco was attacked by a creature of monstrous size and appetite. Hundreds, perhaps thousands are dead or dying.
Children stare in horror as the Duck moves close to shore
The scene just before the massacre
USCGC Waesche (WMSL 751) attempted to stop the behemoth, but its six pound 57mm projectiles, were according to her captain, “Like water off a duck’s back.”
No one is sure where the feathered horror came from. Scientists speculate that global warming may have released the monster from a glacier’s icy grip. Fox news contends that it is an Islamic Suicide Duck (ISD). MSN reports that it is a product of Disney Studios, an artificial intelligence enhanced animatronic attraction gone terribly wrong.
No one can say where the Demonic Duck will strike next. Meanwhile, Phil Robertson of A&E’s “Duck Dynasty” has been called in as a consultant, as the National Command Authority considers the nuclear option. The Department of Homeland Security has approved a $2M grant to rebuild the San Francisco Fire Department gym destroyed in the attack.
