Enlist the Public in Maritime Homeland

The resource-strapped Coast Guard must enlist the input of observant citizens in the war on maritime terrorism. One model to help deter maritime terrorist attacks while successfully integrating the public comes from the 60-year-old Coast Guard "coastal pickets" program.

In World War II, the Coast Guard deputized recreational and commercial mariners as auxiliarists to provide eyes and ears to deter and detect Axis incursions near U.S. coastlines. They used sailing yachts, motor cruisers, and fishing vessels to guard U.S. waters against German submarines, rescue downed flyers, and perform harbor duties. These auxiliarists were known as the coastal pickets.

In testimony before Congress just one month after the 11 September terrorist attacks, Commandant of the Coast Guard Admiral James Loy admitted that "awareness and prevention had been missing in the port arenas and that the aviation events experienced by the FAA on 11 September could have easily happened in the maritime context."

The Coast Guard continually grapples with guarding against low-tech, asymmetrical threats to U.S. ports. Sophisticated Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard aircraft, ships, and cutters can provide a fairly comprehensive picture of all the vessels within a great distance from the coastline, but how can the Coast Guard and other agencies separate the wheat from the chaff, especially among thousands of smaller vessels—each one a possible threat to cruise liners, tankers, and key U.S. Navy assets?

Given the Coast Guard's resource challenges, the answer has been to get the public involved. In a 20 September 2001 meeting between Maine's Governor Angus King and the Coast Guard's First District Commander, Rear Admiral George Naccara, the governor inquired about how Maine's fishing fleet might be employed in the war on terrorism. Admiral Naccara responded that Maine would be the site of a new prototype reporting system for fishermen and the maritime public.

Another possibility is to expand today's Coast Guard Auxiliary. This group is a fully engaged, aggressively employed volunteer service that has exhibited tremendous value and flexibility in multiple areas. Its members have conducted safety and harbor patrols, supported their active-duty rescue station counterparts, stood radio watch, and performed many other useful duties. Today's auxiliarists are largely fair-weather sailors, and their on-water season is at most six months long, but this limitation might not be critical. The greatest need for anomaly detectors in today's war on terrorism will be during busy boating months when the waterways are crowded.

Commercial fishermen also could be used. They have an intimate knowledge of local waters. Fishermen, however, are an independent group. It remains to be seen how many would consider becoming auxiliarists as they did during World War II, joining the agency that continues to oversee and regulate their livelihoods.

Inviting the participation of the U.S. boating public to make reports of anomalous activities is another possibility. Such a program could be advertised easily by radio broadcasts, notices to mariners, media advisories, and public Coast Guard training courses. On the down side, the amount of information generated by such a large, untrained group could be overwhelming—or even misleading.

In Maine, the Coast Guard and FBI have initiated a new coast watch program for antiterrorist reporting. This program offers the opportunity for commercial and recreational boaters alike to make reports to their local Coast Guard stations or a toll-free number. It also provides insights as to what is normal and abnormal behavior in the maritime area.

However it is done, the Coast Guard must incorporate the public as part of its plan to develop maritime domain awareness. The effort must be local to capitalize on the Coast Guard's many existing relationships among communities, industry, and law enforcement, but it also must be linked to regional and national programs. To form a complete picture of our coastal waters, high- and low-tech means must be used. New and old lessons must be incorporated for success in today's war on maritime terrorism.

Captain Webster is Chief of Operations, First Coast Guard District, in Boston, Massachusetts. He is a frequent contributor to Proceedings.