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By Lieutenant Thomas P. Marian, U.S. Coast Guard
When the U.S. Coast Guard celebrated its 250th anniversary in 2039, it was considered the most effective U.S. government agency—bar none. Getting there wasn’t easy. It took a lot of time. In fact, it took a revolution.
In 1996, the dissatisfaction of the American people with the federal government—especially over its inability to control deficit spending—reached an unbelievably high level of intensity. So instead of proposing new programs, the 1996 crop of presidential candidates competed to put the most dramatic spending-reduction measures before the voters. Eventually, the proposal of a Pennsylvania congressman—the Lincolnesque Fred Schoultz of Gettysburg—for a 12% across-the-board spending cut for all federal programs struck the most resonant chord with the voters, and propelled him to his party’s nomination and into the White House.
Many denizens of the Washington establishment predicted that President Schoultz would temper his campaign proposals. Instead, he pushed relentlessly for them and was able to persuade the Congress—dominated by new faces—to approve the 12% cut. Congress then went one step further, passing a sweeping privatization plan. Under this program, some federal agencies that had been considered sacred cows—for example, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration—were abolished and their functions were turned over to private corporations.
The Semper Paratus Revolution
Many had thought that the U.S. Coast Guard was ripe for the privitization of at least some of its functions. However, immediately after the 1996 elections, the service had worked out a plan for an austere future. In early 1997, the Coast Guard Commandant struck a deal with the Office of Management and Budget and the Congress. The bad news was that the Coast Guard would make an immediate 15.5% cut in operating expenses and an 18% reduction in personnel over two years. The good news was that the Coast Guard would reinvest the difference between the 15.5% cut and the mandated 12% cut, as well as any savings from personnel reductions, into improvements in technology and training. The Commandant called this program “The Semper Paratus Revolution.” Cynics dubbed it, “the Semper Paratus Dissolution.”
The program concentrated on improved computer and communications technology, the centralization of information acompanied by a decentralization of operations, and extensive training as well as a renewed commitment to public service and the welfare of all service members. Furthermore, improvements were to be refined continually through constant interaction.
Super Computers and Reorganization
The most potent symbol of the success of the Semper Paratus Revolution—and the means by which it was achieved—is Obje, a second-generation Cray-X super computer, located at Coast Guard Headquarters in Symrna, Delaware. All Coast Guard installations, ships, and aircraft are connected with Obje. All information related to the Coast Guard—for example, weather conditions and international shipping schedules—is fed into Obje through satellite links, microwave inputs, and fiber-optic relays. Thus, Obje can simultaneously monitor every buoy, coordinate search-and-rescue cases, direct resources to any domestic or international hazardous-spill incident, track ship movements worldwide, and even locate ice leads for icebreakers.
Obje represents not only what the new Coast Guard is all about, but why it is so successful. It also symbolizes the enormous investment in training and technology made by the Coast Guard. Moreover, Obje is the basis of the strategy of centralizing information while decentralizing field operations—themselves executed more efficiently by giving individuals more responsibility and authority at lower levels.
Obje’s power allowed the elimination of many levels of the old Coast Guard bureaucracy of 50 years ago. Gone are the Maintenance and Logistics Commands and theif associated appendages as are the Atlantic and Pacific area
commands. District offices are smaller and, in most cases, no longer located in expensive urban areas. In fact, the Headquarters staff is 75% smaller than it was 50 years ago. The shift has meant a greater proportion of personnel are now at Coast Guard groups and stations.
Coast Guard districts are charged mainly with ensuring that the stations’ logisitics detachments are functioning properly, that stations are supported adequately, and that district resources are coordinated effectively. Not only are the groups more responsible for daily operations, but they also conduct the aggressive training program required to keep the entire Coast Guard system vigorous.
Every support mechanism—engineering, computers, finance, or telecom- ntunications—is devoted to supporting and eliminating any undue administrative burden on the basic element of the service: the Coast Guard station.
The New Coast Guard Station
On any given day, the crew of any Coast Guard station will service aids to navigation, collect pollution data, rescue niariners in distress, seize illicit cargo, investigate local marine collisions, and respond to the Marine Call Box (more °n that later). Fifty years ago, this would have been considered too big a job for a chief Petty officer and a crew of 15, hut these stations perform flawlessly. The key to their success is the combination of extensive training and technology. Every petty officer assigned to a Coast Guard station is an expert in boating safety, marine-environmental Protection, aids to navigation,
'aw enforcement, and waterways management. Through an extensive network of sensors connected to the station’s Watch room, all marine activity in a station’s area of responsibility is monitored. Every station is linked with its assigned SWATH patrol boat as well as other stations Within the group, group headquarters, and district headquarters. Meanwhile, at Coast Guard Headquarters, Ohje collects and analyzes data from every station, group, and district, so the Headquarters staff—if required—can co- °rdinate all field operations.
The Marine Call Box is perhaps the Coast Guard’s greatest innovation in the area of public service. Every marina and port in the United States is equipped with at 'east one with its direct line to Coast Guard Headquarters and Obje. The caller’s information, suggestion, or complaint is quickly cross-referenced with Obje's files for confirmation or addition, and, if it is determined to be worthy of investigation, the information is sent to the responsible Coast Guard station. This program shows the Coast Guard’s commitment to the needs of boaters, commercial fishermen, and any other people who use the nation’s waterways.
Even the Coast Guard Auxiliary gets into the act. It played a key role in the development, testing, and implementation of the call-box system. Auxiliary members orchestrate indoctrination courses and conduct user-feedback meetings that are used to improve the service and prevent widespread abuse of the call boxes.
But nothing can beat the human touch. Therefore, for a week or two each month, every Coast Guard station sends out two people as an informal public-relations detachment. Closely working with the local Coast Guard Reserve and Coast Guard Auxiliary, these detachments “show the Coast Guard ensign” throughout the local area and continually ask the questions: “What else could we do for you?” and “How is our service?” The overwhelmingly positive reaction to these programs not only has led to improvement in the Coast Guard’s service to the public, but also has garnered it significant public support and, consequently, political clout.
Meeting the Coast Guard station’s internal needs is just as important as winning public and political support. To assure maximum internal responsiveness, each station has a Coast Guard Logistics Detachment of two petty officers. Through the power of their Obje-linked terminals, they can negotiate local repair contracts for any piece of station gear, obtain parts using same-day freight, oversee simple “just-in-time” inventories, and audit a station s books. It’s little wonder then why many Coast Guardsmen brag, “No one in the public sector is more efficient and responsive than we are—and we can quantify that!”
Service and Personnel: Constant Improvement
Any organization—public or private—will not benefit one iota from reorganization and improved technology if its people are unmotivated and alienated.
It is apparent that this organization thrives on tweaking the system. Under a program initiated by the Commandant, managers are sent out of their offices to ask Coast Guard personnel—officer and enlisted—how their operations could be streamlined and what would motivate them to remain in the Coast Guard.
Some might be suspicious of this verbal polling, but because numerous suggestions from the ranks are adopted internally, there is a sense of constant improvement and Coast Guard personnel believe in the system. Thousands of small changes are implemented annually because of the constant interaction within the service and with the Coast Guard’s “customers.” Sometimes these continuous changes bring temporary confusion, but the net result is an incredibly high level of responsiveness and efficiency.
Another element of the Semper Paratus Revolution continued today is the emphasis on training. By the time Coast Guard personnel reach the rank of petty officer, they are highly skilled experts in many mission areas. Thousands of Coast Guard personnel earn college credits in many different academic fields and are proficient in the use of various forms of technology. Earning a commission in the Coast Guard has become more difficult, but most officers are now drawn from the enlisted ranks rather than colleges and universities.
Coast Guard personnel are considered the best-trained
employees in the federal government. It seems that everyone wants to join the Coast Guard—despite longer enlistment contracts, two-year waits for boot camp are not uncommon—and every company wants to hire Coast Guard veterans. However, it is a mark of the pride of those in Coast Guard uniforms and their satisfaction with their positions that very few leave the Coast Guard for a job in the civilian world.
The organizational transformation of the Coast Guard in the 1990s and 2000s gave it a new lease on life, saving it from being gobbled up by the private sector. After five decades of massive bureaucratic reshuffling, technological infusion, user interaction, and constant fine tuning, the nation’s lifesavers are surviving quite well on a smaller piece of the federal fiscal pie.
Paratus Revolution was an immensely painful undertaking. Perhaps if many Coast Guard personnel had given more than just lip service to the precepts of quality and , service in the early 1990s, the tumultuous revolution would [ have been nothing more than a smooth transition to new i technologies.
Nevertheless, thanks to the foresight of Coast Guard I leadership 50 years ago, the Coast Guard—and its repu- ' tation—are thriving. As long as the Coast Guard contin- ' ues its commitment to constant internal improvement and dedication to serving the public, it will serve the nation for at least another 250 years.
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Lieutenant Marian is a 1984 graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and currently is operations officer of Vessel Traffic Service, Puget Sound, Washington.