In 2015 the Coast Guard proudly completed its 225th year in service to the nation as a premier maritime force. Reflecting on this history recalls part of the guidance Alexander Hamilton provided in 1791 to the first commanding officers of the first revenue cutters, the precursor to the Coast Guard of today, “They will endeavor to overcome difficulties, if any are experienced, by a cool and temperate perseverance in their duty—by address and moderation, rather than by vehemence or violence.” This remains at the core of the Coast Guard’s identity and has molded a highly professional instrument that continues to enforce U.S. laws at sea, project sovereignty, promote efficient maritime commerce, and protect the safety of life at sea all around the globe.
Throughout 2015, cutting-edge national security cutters (NSCs) intercepted billions of dollars worth of illicit narcotics in support of Department of Homeland Security joint task force operations in the Eastern Pacific and bolstered U.S. governance in the far reaches of the Arctic. Oil-spill responders protected wildlife and pristine coastline in Southern California, while marine inspectors in Singapore certified the regulatory compliance of U.S.-bound cargo. The nation’s only heavy icebreaking ship, the USCGC Polar Star (WAGB-10), opened shipping lanes to resupply Antarctica’s McMurdo Station, and Coast Guard responders rescued people overwhelmed by significant Midwestern flooding. The service’s largest fleet-recapitalization efforts in nearly half a century also continued to progress smoothly, ensuring the Coast Guard will have the capability and capacity to provide these services for decades to come.
Leading this effort is Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Paul F. Zukunft, who articulated his operational priorities for the service in recent Senate testimony:
• Combating transnational organized-crime networks and securing the nation’s borders
• Safeguarding commerce
• Enhancing U.S. internal information technology security and promoting cyber security within ports
• Maintaining the nation’s presence in the polar regions.
As Admiral Zukunft told the Senate:
In 2016, we will continue construction of the final three NCSs. In the future, acquisition of an affordable and capable offshore patrol cutter [OPC] will also be a critical piece of the Coast Guard’s Western Hemisphere Strategy to combat these networks. The OPC will be the backbone of Coast Guard offshore presence and the manifestation of Coast Guard authorities. It is essential to interdicting drug smugglers at sea, as well as for interdicting undocumented migrants, rescuing mariners, enforcing fisheries laws, responding to disasters, and protecting our ports. As the [service] completes acquisition of the NSC, the OPC will become Coast Guard’s [top] acquisition priority.
Release of Cyber Strategy
Cybersecurity skyrocketed in importance as an issue in 2015. With the well-publicized intrusions into the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and Joint Chiefs of Staff networks following the 2014 hack into Sony’s networks, cyber security has become a major focus of Coast Guard leadership. In response to the Department of Defense Cyber Discipline Implementation Plan and tasking to all agencies operating on the DOD Information Networks, Admiral Zukunft directed the creation of the Cyber Crisis Action Team (Cyber CAT) and the initiation of Operation Blue Harvest to address gaps in compliance throughout Coast Guard networks.
Although not an “incident” in the traditional sense, Coast Guard leaders have integrated use of the Incident Command System (ICS) into training and response planning for cyber problems. ICS allows leaders to quickly stand up the necessary incident command, planning, operations, and logistics capacity that can rapidly mobilize trained personnel, acquire hardware upgrades, and monitor critical systems in a cyber breach. Lessons learned from the Cyber CAT are being implemented in the Coast Guard’s command, control, communications, computers and information technology (C4IT) support processes as well.
While the cyber challenges are new, the Coast Guard’s responsibilities to the safety, security, and stewardship of the nation’s maritime interests are not. To provide strategic vision and focus effort, the service also released a Cyber Strategy this year outlining a comprehensive plan to promote a resilient national maritime system. During his rollout of the Cyber Strategy, Zunkunft remarked, “Cyber is a new risk factor, but it does not interrupt long-standing and successful regimes for dealing with prevention and response to incidents. This isn’t about looking for new authorities or missions. We’re doing as we’ve done for 225 years. We’re applying our existing authorities and skills to meet demand in emerging domains.”
To meet these emerging risks, the Cyber Strategy prioritizes:
Defending Cyberspace: Protecting information infrastructure and building resilient Coast Guard data networks are critical to operating as a technologically cutting-edge military service.
Enabling Operations: Cyberspace operations help detect, deter, disable, and defeat adversaries. Robust intelligence, law enforcement, and maritime cyber programs are essential to preventing and responding to malicious activity targeting critical maritime infrastructure.
Protecting Infrastructure: The maritime transportation system is vital to America’s economy, security, and defense. Identifying vulnerabilities in the cyber systems that enable the maritime transportation system to operate with unprecedented speed and efficiency as well as protecting them from malicious activity is critical to the nation’s prosperity.
Setting a clear direction with the Cyber Strategy, the Coast Guard is integrating its efforts with other DOD, federal, and commercial entities to ensure a safe, efficient, and technologically resilient national maritime environment.
Transnational Crime
The maritime domain in the Western Hemisphere represents a critical front in the ongoing effort against a growing number of challenges. The rise of adaptive transnational organized crime networks will pose new threats to maritime security. Over the next decade, the Coast Guard must confront these challenges to maritime safety, efficiency, and security.
The national security cutter USCGC Stratton (WSML-752) made history in July when she intercepted a South American narco-submarine packed with more than eight tons of cocaine. The Stratton’s crew seized six pounds of the drug before the sub sank with the remaining two tons. In August the crew stopped in San Diego to offload that haul and an additional 28 tons of cocaine nabbed in more than 23 seizures on her latest patrol—with a street value exceeding $1 billion, according to the service. The Commandant greeted the crew on the pier.
The Stratton’s patrol was part of a surge in Coast Guard drug interdictions; the service has seized more illegal narcotics in the past year than in the previous three years combined. The Stratton’s Ensign Brown stated at the San Diego offload: “It’s worth it when you see those drugs and know that they are going off with the DEA and not to people’s homes, and our neighbors’ houses.”
In April 2015, one of the oldest cutters in the fleet displayed tactical mettle carrying out an offensive strategy targeting transnational organized crime networks. These networks operate with impunity throughout the Central American region; the goal is disruption of these criminal network operations. The USCGC Boutwell (WHEC-719), in her fifth decade of operations, returned home with nearly 30 tons of uncut cocaine with a street value of more than $1.5 billion from two patrols. The Boutwell’s crew was featured extensively on two episodes of Fusion TV’s Drug Wars.
The Coast Guard made record-breaking contributions combating illegal drug trade networks from October 2014 thru August 2015:
• Transit Zone Coverage increased
• Ships increased 22 percent (11 from 9) (Coast Guard, Navy, and Allied)
• Maritime patrol aircraft increased 27 percent (7.9, up from 6.2) (Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection, Navy, and Allied)
• Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron steady at 4.
Results through 20 August 2015:
• Cocaine flow increased 5.5 percent (845 MT, up from 801 MT)
• Drug events increased 34 percent (186, up from 139)
• Cocaine removals increased 42 percent (112 metric tons, up from 79 metric tons)
• Detainees increased 65 percent (430, up from 260)
• Vessels seized increased 59 percent (121, up from 76)
• Cases referred for U.S. prosecution increased 55 percent (85, up from 55).
These are impressive numbers from any perspective. They do not, however, tell the whole story because interdictions go beyond numbers. But the figures do provide the foundation for a newer emphasis in approach to maritime law enforcement (MLE), which Rear Admiral Peter J. Brown refers to as “MLE 3.0.” This approach places a specific emphasis on targeting the transnational criminal organizations at their nodes through key exploitation, greater engagement with partners, and the determined use of new technologies.
‘Kayactivists’
In May, Shell Oil received conditional approval for drilling in the U.S. Arctic north of Alaska. In response, activists from Greenpeace and other environmentalist groups began protesting the proposed oil drilling. The protests largely took the form of activists on kayaks circling the waters around the massive drilling equipment and support ships bound for the Arctic drilling sites from Washington State. The term to describe the protesters morphed into “kayactivists.”
Fortunately for all parties, the Coast Guard has a long and storied history of managing the intersection of maritime commerce, enforcement of U.S. law, safety of life at sea, and free access to public waterways.
Coast Guard personnel coordinated then publicized security zones to separate protesters from Shell vessels and maintained a constant presence throughout the event. The protesters were allowed to exercise their First Amendment rights and garner national media attention for their cause while Shell had safe waterway access to move equipment to Alaska. Some protesters attempted to violate the established safety zones and move too close to the large drilling vessels, but the Coast Guard intercepted the kayactivists and escorted them to safe areas. The Coast Guard preserved the maritime rights of the kayactivists and Shell, while preventing any serious injuries in a challenging and sometimes volatile situation.
Oil Spill and Flooding Responses
The Inland River System spans 10,300 miles and covers parts of 22 states. There are six major tributaries with the Ohio River being the largest, contributing 60 percent of water flow to the Lower Mississippi River.
The inland towing industry is responsible for the movement of approximately $100 billion of commerce annually and affords markets in the nation’s interior access to foreign markets through the ports along the Lower Mississippi. More than 880 million tons of cargo is moved annually along the inland waterways. A recent report by the National Waterways Foundation indicates that a common 15-barge tow of dry cargo has the equivalent capacity of 216 rail cars and 6 locomotives, or 1,050 tractor-trailers.
The Coast Guard, Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection, and Inland Marine Services established a unified command in response to a collision between two towboats resulting in the release of more than 120,588 gallons of slurry oil on the Mississippi River at mile marker 937 near Paducah, Kentucky, on 2 September. Response efforts spanned 23 days and included more than 120 response personnel to locate and recover as much of the product along the river bottom as possible. A combination of low- and high-resolution side-scan sonar, divers, and overflights were used to detect the submerged slurry oil.
The Western rivers form one of the largest drainage basins in the world, covering all or parts of more than 20 states and 2 Canadian provinces. Rainfall anywhere in the Midwest will eventually make its way into the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. The end of 2015 was particularly challenging with Winter Storm Goliath dropping precipitation across the majority of the United States and creating a high-water event for weeks along the Western rivers.
Coast Guard aviation resources mobilized and followed water from Goliath downstream along the Mississippi River and its tributaries. Aircraft and crews were provided from Air Stations Corpus Christi, Houston, New Orleans, Travers City, and Detroit, as well as Aviation Training Center Mobile, which provided 70 sorties. Coast Guard overflights were responsible for discovering the initial federal levee breach north of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, along the Len Small Levee, and they provided video of two nonfederal levee breaches to the Missouri governor.
Marine Safety: Outer Continental Shelf/Energy Renaissance
Coast Guard marine inspectors conducted inspections of the first liquefied natural gas–fueled vessels to be built in the United States. Sector Mobile completed the initial certification of the offshore supply vessel Harvey Energy in February 2015 after several years of overseeing her construction in Gulfport, Mississippi. Prior to that the service monitored the first LNG bunkering evolution to occur in the United States and the underway sea trials of the vessel using both diesel- and LNG-fueled propulsion.
Upon receiving the Certificate of Inspection the vessel began operations out of Port Fourchon, Louisiana. The second LNG-fueled vessel, the OSV Harvey Power, was also built in Gulfport and is now operating out of Port Fourchon as well.
Domestic Fisheries/Southwest Border
The Coast Guard is a critical supporting agency for the management of multiple fishery-management plans throughout the country. The management plans for the Gulf of Mexico, for example, include coastal migratory pelagics, red drum fish, reef fish, shrimp, spiny lobster, coral, and highly migratory species. Per strategic planning directives, the service provides living marine-resources enforcement to achieve compliance with the fishery management plans in a 6,179-vessel commercial fishing-fleet along the Gulf.
Operation Safe Catch was conducted from May to June as a response to a spike in commercial-fishing vessel fatalities, man overboards, and vessel fires. During the operation, 159 boardings were conducted, resulting in 34 violations and 4 terminations of voyage. Operations are being conducted in Coast Guard districts through the country, in Alaska, Hawaii, and in the waters off Guam.
Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing by Mexico-based fishing vessels, called lanchas, in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) continue to threaten our nation’s living marine resources. A Coast Guard operational research team recently completed a two-year study and developed a model that estimates 1,100 fishing incursions occur in the U.S. EEZ annually, depleting more than 1,000,000 pounds of red snapper and other species per year. The service focused enforcement efforts to mitigate this threat, which resulted in a record 39 seizures.
The external engagement plan to inform the stakeholders and public of this illegal poaching activity was instrumental in gaining visibility and support at the national and international levels. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, referencing the Coast Guard report, recently listed Mexico as one of six countries identified for IUU fisheries. The analysis also was presented to U.S. congressional members and staff, and was cited as the key factor in passing new legislation, the IUU Fishing Enforcement Act of 2015, which strengthens our nation’s fight against the illegal practice. The law provides new focus and enforcement tools so we may better protect our waters and natural resources in the Gulf of Mexico and across the country.
Search and Rescue
The Coast Guard’s search-and-rescue (SAR) missions have been the bread and butter of the service since inception. There are thousands of cases each year, and the introduction for trailers of the Disney movie, The Finest Hours, at the end of the year reinforced the service’s legacy in rescuing mariners in need. Typically this review includes only success stories. But to provide balance, two cases that ended tragically despite Herculean efforts are included.
The first occurred on 24 July, when Perry Cohen and Austin Stephanos, both 14, went missing in a 19-foot single-engine boat following turbulent weather during an ill-fated voyage from Florida to the Bahamas. The Coast Guard launched an extensive multiday ship and aircraft response from North Carolina to Florida. The national news coverage of this effort was unrelenting. The teens’ boat was found on 26 July, 67 nautical miles from Florida’s Ponce de Leon Inlet, but they were not. Coast Guard Captain Mark Fedor, the Chief of Response for District Seven, noted that the search had covered 50,000 square nautical miles. Fedor, at a final press conference a week after the teens vanished, noted, “We believe we reached the limit for our effective search-and-rescue effort.”
In October Coast Guard District Seven was again thrust into the national spotlight for a high-profile search-and-rescue case. There was a coordinated response to the sinking of the 790-foot roll-on/roll-off merchant vessel El Faro. Caught in Hurricane Joaquin, the vessel was en route to San Juan, Puerto Rico, from Jacksonville, Florida. On October 1 the crew reported the ship adrift. Following the hurricane’s passing, the Coast Guard led a multiagency response searching 183,000 square nautical miles. The rescue effort found a damaged life boat, a partially submerged life raft, and other debris, but not one survivor. “I have come to a very difficult decision to suspend the search for the crew of the El Faro at sunset tonight. My deepest condolences go to the families, loved ones, and friends of the El Faro crew,” Seventh District Commander Rear Admiral Scott Buschman announced in a news conference on 7 October. He added: “U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, and the Tote Maritime tug crews searched day and night, sometimes in perilous conditions, with the hope of finding survivors in this tragic loss.”
Along with those unfortunate outcomes, there have been multiple successes in difficult SAR missions in all Coast Guard Districts. Two members of Air Station Cape Cod received military aviation’s most prestigious award for their actions during a lifesaving rescue mission in February 2015. Coast Guard crews responded to an offshore distress call from a 43-foot sailboat. The Sedona was disabled and adrift in a winter storm about 150 miles south of Nantucket with a father and son on board. The son, who was operating the boat, reported that the boat had no power and that her sails had been torn in the storm. The Coast Guard dispatched an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew, who faced worsening storm conditions. Because of ice and low visibility, the HC-144 Ocean Sentry support plane was unable to take off. This is a harsh reality of operating in New England.
Meanwhile, the command center issued an emergency request broadcast to ships in the area. The crew of the 600-foot motor vessel Maersk Katalin, about 40 miles away at the time, set a course toward the scene and agreed to provide communications support. After navigating through low visibility and near-hurricane-force winds, the MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter arrived on the scene and hoisted the two men to safety. Initial on-scene weather conditions were 9-foot seas and building, with 40-mile-per-hour winds. By the time the crew was recovered, conditions had deteriorated to 25-foot seas and winds of nearly 60 miles per hour. The water temperature was 43 degrees and the air temperature was 35 degrees.
Also highlighted this year was the Coast Guard’s efforts to combat serial hoax callers. Such callers claim distress when not in danger, triggering a response from the Coast Guard and partners. Last year Coast Guard District Five, specifically Sector Hampton Roads, working with the Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS) and Virginia Marine Resources Commission and the Department of Justice’s U.S. Attorney’s Office, arrested and convicted 43-year-old Bryan Serafini, of Smithfield, Virginia, for falsely reporting a man overboard. Last June he was sentenced to 14 months in prison and ordered to pay $117,913 in restitution. The Coast Guard Research and Development Center in New London, Connecticut, is actively engaged with CGIS to exploit new technologies to identify individuals who facilitate the waste of service resources and can place responding units into dangerous conditions.
High Latitudes/Polar Regions
The Arctic and Antarctic areas of responsibility continue to be vitally important to the service. The Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Star rescued 26 people on board the Australian fishing vessel Antarctic Chieftain, which was trapped by Antarctic ice in February 2015. The icebreaker navigated through difficult weather conditions during the five-day rescue operation including heavy snowfall, high winds, and extreme ice conditions. The rescue demonstrates the critical importance of active heavy icebreakers for operations in the polar regions.
“The seas of Antarctica are treacherous and unforgiving,” said Vice Admiral Charles W. Ray, the Commander of U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Area. “This incident is a sobering reminder of the importance of the U.S. icebreaker fleet as we see increased human activity in the Polar Regions.”
Always Multi-Mission in Focus
The service’s overall record of achievement is significant. “The past year of Coast Guard operations was no exception” Admiral Zukunft said. “The Coast Guard responded to more than 17,500 search-and-rescue cases, saving more than 3,400 lives; seized more than 91 metric tons of cocaine and 48.9 metric tons of marijuana destined for the United States, worth an estimated $3 billion; detained more than 340 suspected drug smugglers; interdicted more than 3,500 undocumented migrants; conducted more than 25,000 container inspections; completed more than 9,600 Safety of Life at Sea safety exams on foreign vessels; and responded to approximately 8,000 reports of pollution incidents.”
In August, the Coast Guard commissioned its fifth national security cutter, the USCGC James (WMSL-754) in Boston. Homeported out of Charleston, South Carolina, the James is the service’s second East Coast cutter. The vessel is named for Captain Joshua James (1826-1902), who is credited with saving many lives during his career with the U.S. Life-Saving Service, which became the modern Coast Guard. The James will play a vital role in the Coast Guard’s ability to secure the nation’s maritime domain, while providing the American people with a modern tool to accomplish a myriad of missions to keep our nation, our markets, and our oceans secure and prosperous.
In addition, the Coast Guard introduced a new innovation program based on a crowd-sourcing approach. The service is using a web-based open innovation platform to “in-source” solutions from the workforce. The innovation program provides a means for leadership to take full advantage of member knowledge, expertise, and creativity while offering a “bottom up” capability for members to share their ideas with both leadership and with peers across the fleet. The innovative program included more than 1,000 users among the Coast Guard workforce (active, reserve, auxiliary, and civilian) who posted 219 ideas to seven challenges.
Finally, the Coast Guard concluded its support to ground missions in Afghanistan. In 2003 the service set up the 15-person Redeployment Assistance and Inspection Detachment (RAID), which worked with deployed forces to inspect and certify military cargo that was being shipped back to the United States. Since RAID’s inception, more than 250 Coast Guard members deployed—conducting about 300 inspections a month. The team was set up because container inspections returning from the operation failed hazardous-material inspections. This meant a container was put on hold requiring more inspection work. The Coast Guard stepped in when requested—and the process was streamlined. Semper Paratus.
Disney Film Depicts SS Pendleton Rescue
The Coast Guard has been portrayed in TV shows and movies for decades, but few feature films have focused on the service. Disney’s The Finest Hours depicts the February 1952 rescue of 32 sailors from the SS Pendleton during a ferocious storm off the coast of Cape Cod. The four-man crew of U.S. Coast Guard Motor Lifeboat CG-36500, from small-boat Station Chatham in Massachusetts, set out in frigid temperatures and 70-foot-high waves to execute what is often called the greatest small-boat rescue in the Coast Guard’s history.
True to history, the film portrays the danger of crossing the Chatham Bar. The CG-36500 lost not only her windshield but also her compass. After losing those sea-faring necessities, the CG-36500 crew was left with only the searchlight to assist them in finding the Pendleton survivors and eventually making their way home. Their accomplishment was made even more amazing as they brought the CG-36500 alongside the 504-foot tanker more than 30 times—loading the 32 survivors aboard a vessel designed to carry only 12 people!
For their actions, Boatswain’s Mate 1st Class Bernard Webber, Engineman Petty Officer 2nd Class Andrew Fitzgerald, Seaman Richard Livesey, and Seaman Ervin Maske were awarded Gold Lifesaving Medals. Webber additionally was honored by the service naming the first-in-class 153-foot fast-response cutter after him.
Dr. DiRenzo is the Research Partnership Director at the Coast Guard Research and Development Center in New London. Connecticut. A frequent contributor to Proceedings, he is the former Coast Guard Chair at the Joint Forces Staff College, and currently teaches for American Military University and Northcentral University.
Both Dr. DiRenzo and Mr. Boyd are retired Coast Guard officers, with a combined 25 years of sea duty.