New Budget Process

Fiercehomelandsecurity is reporting that the Department (DHS) is initiating a new budget process, that would make it more top down.

DHS is building a process where it will define its mission and objectives, then determine what resources it needs and look across components to avoid overlaps and inefficiencies.

“My impression is that the DHS budget process is too stovepiped,” Johnson told the House Appropriations subcommittee on homeland security, during a March 11 hearing.

Johnson, a former general counsel for the Defense Department who took over at DHS in December, said he used the DoD budget process as a model.

Perhaps this is what is needed to make the Department a bit more coherent in its approach to its missions. Perhaps it would be too much to hope for, but perhaps the Department will see that Customs’ Aviation and Marine units largely unnecessarily duplicate Coast Guard assets.

I don’t have any problem with the Department defining mission and objectives or eliminating  overlaps and inefficiencies. I do think they might be out of their depth in determining what resources it needs.

The new Secretary comes from the DOD and looks to their process as a model, but DOD is not necessarily the most efficient of organizations. DOD staff over and above the armed services themselves, is grossly inflated and part of the reason is that there is a lot of second guessing of the services expertise by an ever growing civilian bureaucracy, a model DHS cannot afford to duplicate.

Intercept at Sea, Israeli Style

I’ve seem several reports of the Israeli seizure of a Panamanian flag vessel, the KLOS-C, reportedly transporting long range rockets and perhaps other weapons being shipped by Iran to terrorists in Gaza. But NavyRecognition’s is the first report I’ve seen that actually showed the seizure. They also the show the reported route of the weapons.

The intercept point looks to be a bit over 700 miles from the nearest Israeli port. Apparently the crew of the Panamanian ship is claiming they had no idea what they were carrying.

It is interesting to see the forces the Israeli Navy used to make this seizure. They did not scrimp. They apparently made the boarding using three RHIBs and they had at least two surface combatants on scene, a Sa’ar 5 corvette (1,275 tons full load, larger than a 210, but smaller than a 270) and a missile boat, which appears to be a Sa’ar 4.5 (488 tons full load, about a third larger than an FRC). From the video it is obvious they had an aircraft on scene, possibly a helicopter from the Sa’ar 5. It may have been overkill in this case but both of the two Israeli vessels carried anti-ship missiles and a CIWS. The Sa’ar 5 corvette is also equipped with short range AAW missiles, and the missile boat has a 76 mm.

File:Three Sa'ar 5 Class Missile Corvettes Going For a Cruise.jpg

 

Photo: Israeli Sa’ar 5  corvettes. Israeli Defense Forces photo

File:Saar45nirit011.jpg

 

Photo: Sa’ar 4.5 missile boat, Israeli Defense Force photo

State of the Coast Guard Address

I’m afraid I’m a bit late with this, but if you have not seen or heard Admiral Papp’s State of the Coast Guard Speech you can read it here.

Actually it is a good speech, and it cites several indicators that the Acquisitions Directorate has gotten its act together. Lots of other issues addressed as well.

Coast Guard Foundation Setting Up Douglas Munro Scholarship Fund

The Maritime Professional is carrying an announcement from the

“The Coast Guard Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to the education and welfare of Coast Guard members and their families, announced today it has established the Douglas Munro Scholarship Fund. Named for the only Coast Guard member to be awarded the Medal of Honor, the new scholarship will help children of Coast Guard members achieve their goals of a college education.”

Check out the Maritime Professional post for details including a limited edition challenge coin offer.

Schedule for Barque Eagle

This is a direct quote in full of a Coast Guard News Release. I don’t normally do that, but thought there might be enough interest::

NEW LONDON, Conn. – Coast Guard Barque Eagle has finalized its training schedule for 2014.  During the year, Eagle will sail to the Caribbean, along the East Coast, to Canada, and throughout New England.

In late March, Eagle will sail to North Carolina with the Coast Guard and National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Officer Candidates.  The voyage will include a port call in Morehead City, N.C.

The Eagle will return to New London in early April and will depart for the annual summer deployment in May to train Coast Guard Academy cadets.  While in New London in April, the Eagle plans to moor downtown at City Pier and open for local tours on a daily basis.

Following cadet final examinations, Eagle will set sail in early May and is scheduled to travel to the following ports: San Juan, Puerto Rico; Oranjestad, Aruba; Cozumel, Mexico; Miami; Sydney, Canada; St. Johns, Canada; New York City, N.Y.; Bourne, Mass.; and Rockland, Maine.  Eagle will return to New London City Pier in early August.  During these voyages, Eagle will train four different groups of approximately 150 cadets each.

In late August, Eagle will depart with the fall Coast Guard and NOAA Officer Candidate classes, traveling to Yorktown, Va. and then to Baltimore. While in Baltimore, Eagle will take part in the celebration of the 200 year anniversary of Francis Scott Key’s penning of the Star Spangled Banner. 

Following the celebration, Eagle will transit to the Coast Guard Yard facility in Baltimore and commence work on its upcoming Service Life Extension Project.  Eagle will remain at the Yard facility until the spring of 2015, when the Barque will travel to New London to commence the 2015 training program.

Specific port call dates are:

Morehead City, N.C.               March 27-30

San Juan, Puerto Rico            May 21-24

Oranjestad, Aruba                 May 28-31

Cozumel, Mexico                   June 7-10

Miami, Fla.                           June 14-17

Sydney, Canada                    June 28-July 1

St. Johns, Canada                 July 4-7

New York City, N.Y.                 July 18-21

Bourne, Mass.                       July 24-28

Rockland, Maine                    Aug. 1-4

Yorktown, Va.                        Sept. 4-6

Baltimore, Md.                      Sept. 11-15

At 295 feet in length, the Eagle is the largest tall ship flying the stars and stripes and the only active square-rigger in U.S. government service.

Constructed in 1936 by the Blohm and Voss Shipyard in Hamburg, Germany, and originally commissioned as the Horst Wessel by the German Navy, the Eagle was taken by the United States as a war reparation following World War II.

With more than 23,500 square feet of sail and six miles of rigging, the Eagle has served as a classroom at sea to future Coast Guard officers since 1946, offering an at-sea leadership and professional development experience.

A permanent crew of seven officers and 50 enlisted personnel maintain the ship and guide the trainees through an underway and in-port training schedule, dedicated to learning the skills of navigation, damage control, watchstanding, engineering and deck seamanship.

To follow the adventure onboard Eagle, visit the ship’s Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/CoastGuardCutterEagle.

While inport in February and March, the Eagle will be available for tours at the Ft. Trumbull pier most days from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.  For more information, call 860-439-1562,

Problem with Safe Boat RB-S?

Defense News is reporting, “The Israel Navy is restricting use of a US-built, rigid-hulled, inflatable boat pending an investigation of technical and operational conditions that caused one of the small craft to capsize last week off the coast of Gaza.”

I believe these are the same 25 foot boats the Coast Guard uses as the first generation Response Boast, Small (RB-S). Reportedly, the boat capsized as a result of a sharp turn. There were apparently no casualties. The Coast Guard’s new RB-S are produced by Metal Shark.

Thanks for a successful 2013

Before we get too far into the new year I would like to thank my readers, and particularly those who have contributed to the discussion, for what I consider a very successful 2013.

I would also like to thank other bloggers who have seen fit to reference our little corner of the internet, including:

  1. thinkdefence.co.uk
  2. coltoncompany.com
  3. timawa.net
  4. cimsec.org
  5. http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/
  6. http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/

Daily readership is up approximately 50% from where we ended 2012. During the course of the year, the site got 155,432 views. New monthly records of successively higher use were set in January, May, June, October, and December, the last with 16,909 hits. On a typical day about 200 individuals visit the site. WordPress tells me we had visitors from 170 countries, but I suspect some of those were were spammers, still, in the last year, readers in 32 different countries have made 200 or more views. Aside from the US the most frequent visits were (in order) from the UK, Canada, Philippines, Netherlands, Australia, France, Germany, Chile, India, Italy, Greece, and Japan, all with over 500 views.

I’m happy to see many readers are using my list of recommended blogs. It is in fact the most viewed post.

The busiest day of the year was December 5th with 1,700 views. The most popular post that day was What is a Corvette? and What Next?.

There were 239 new posts in 2013, pushing the total to 960 posts.

The posts most frequently viewed in 2013 were:

The most commented on post in 2013 was “Reinvent the Fifth Armed Service, Quickly”-USNI

I look forward to 2014 and will continue to try to give you material that is worth your time without duplicating stories on the official sources.

If anyone has any suggestions, or would like to write a post for publication here, you can contact me at chuckhhill@aol.com