It Is Time to Move the Coast Guard to DoD

Most arguments for moving the Coast Guard to the Department of Defense (DoD) have centered on operational, budgetary, or cultural debates; however, the most compelling reason might be to better serve the needs of Coast Guardsmen and their families. As members of the only armed force not part of DoD, they are not always afforded the same support services and programs as offered by the much-larger Defense Department.

The Military Child Care Act of 1989, for example, passed primarily to improve the availability, safety, and quality of child care for military dependents, did not include the Coast Guard.¹ The Coast Guard developed its own programs but still relies on support from DoD.

In June 2020, however, DoD updated its child development center policy, dropping active-duty Coast Guard members to third-level priority access. This would have resulted in 1,000 Coast Guard dependents having to withdraw from DoD on-base centers.² Fortunately, before the update was implemented, then–Secretary of Defense Mark Esper directed that “Coast Guard families be afforded the same priority as their DoD counterparts.”³

Coast Guard members and their dependents also have been left out of nonmilitary programs designed to support service members and their families. In June 2018, Linked-In announced a program offering Premium Access free for a year for military spouses. That offer did not initially include Coast Guard spouses as eligible participants.⁴

In March 2017, Congressman Duncan Hunter, attempting to rectify some of these types of inequities, asked the President to move Coast Guard oversight to DoD, arguing that “the Coast Guard is a military force. It deserves to be housed in a department that recognizes the importance of its mission and has the capabilities to properly advocate for greatly needed resources.”⁵

Recently, not being part of DoD has had even more serious consequences for Coast Guard members, due to the continuing threat of government shut-downs. Writing in The Hill in November 2018, Jeffrey Phillips, executive director of the Reserve Organization of America, observed, “Lapses in appropriations break faith and cause undue stress on our military and civilian workforce and their families. . . . In a shutdown, the Coast Guard would not be able to provide military pay, allowances, and health care or civilian benefits and retirement contributions.”⁶

Indeed, the 35-day partial government shutdown in 2018–19 resulted in the furlough of the majority of Coast Guard civilian employees and left active-duty members working without pay. Then–Coast Guard Commandant Karl Schultz acknowledged the stress on Coast Guard families: “I find it unacceptable that Coast Guard men and women have to rely on food pantries and donations to get through day-to-day life as service members.”

This was the serious breach of faith Phillips warned about. Yet, the potential government shutdown in 2021 threatened by another budget ceiling debate would have left Coast Guard members working without pay once again.

If the operational-based arguments advanced over the years have not been persuasive in moving the Coast Guard to DoD, perhaps significantly improving benefits to members and their families will be.

Coast Guard members are a vital part of the military establishment and deserve to be paid for doing their jobs regardless of government shutdowns and to have access to the same level of family support and services provided to members and dependents of the five DoD services. The only way that will happen is for the Coast Guard to be part of the Department of Defense.