National Security

National Security

For more than 210 years, the Coast Guard has served the nation as one of the five armed forces. Throughout its distinguished history, the Coast Guard has enjoyed a unique relationship with the Navy. By statute, the Coast Guard is an armed force, operating in the joint arena at any time and functioning as a specialized service under the Navy in time of war or when directed by the President. It also has command responsibilities for the U.S. Maritime Defense Zone, countering potential threats to American's coasts, ports, and inland waterways through numerous port-security, harbor-defense, and coastal-warfare operations and exercises.

Today, U.S. national security interests can no longer be defined solely in terms of direct military threats to America and its allies. With the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the U.S. has fully realized the threat faced on the home front from highly sophisticated and covert adversarial groups. The Coast Guard has assumed one of the lead roles in responding to these unscrupulous attacks upon our nation by providing homeland security in our nation’s harbors, ports and along our coastlines. Commercial, tanker, passenger, and merchant vessels have all been subject to increased security measures enforced by the Coast Guard.

In the immediate days after the destruction of the World Trade Centers and Pentagon, over 2,600 reservists were recalled to provide operational and administrative support. Reservists and active duty Coast Guard members worked in unison to provide additional manpower to clean-up efforts in New York City and heightened port security in the ports of Seattle, Los Angeles, New York and Boston to include the implementation of “sea marshals.” As the nation re-defines national security and government leaders organize the Homeland Security Council, the Coast Guard will continue its efforts to reduce the risk from terrorism to commercial and passenger vessels traversing U.S. waterways and designated waterfront facilities.

The Coast Guard's national defense role to support U.S. military commanders-in-chiefs (CINCs) is more explicitly outlined in a memorandum of agreement signed by the Secretaries of Defense and Transportation in 1995. Four major national-defense missions were assigned to the Coast Guard. These missions--maritime intercept operations, deployed port operations/security and defense, peacetime engagement, and environmental defense operations--are essential military tasks assigned to the Coast Guard as a component of joint and combined forces in peacetime, crisis, and war.

In recent years, the nation's CINCs have requested--and have been provided--Coast Guard cutters to conduct maritime-intercept operations, carry out peacetime-engagement missions, and perform other essential warfare tasks for all three forward-deployed Navy fleets: the Fifth Fleet in the Arabian Gulf/Middle East; the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean; and the Seventh Fleet in the Western Pacific. In addition, Coast Guard cutters have recently supported NATO operations during the Kosovo crisis. However, the Coast Guard deepwater fleet is aging and in urgent need of replacement.

The U.S. Coast Guard's physical assets (cutters, aircraft, and shore facilities) have been undercapitalized for years. Only two of the 39 countries throughout the world with similarly sized navies or coast guards have an older physical plant. To remedy the situation the Coast Guard has initiated the Deepwater Capabilities Replacement Project. Instead of proposing a traditional one-for-one asset-replacement program, the Coast Guard is working with industry to develop a system of systems in an effort to ensure effective--and cost-effective--interoperability among all of its Deepwater assets and with the other four armed services. The eventual Integrated Deepwater System (IDS) will encompass all of the Coast Guard's major cutters, aircraft, and sensors, providing the capabilities required to perform all of the Coast Guard's essential deepwater missions. IDS procurement is designed to achieve maximum operational effectiveness at minimum total ownership costs.

Outside of U.S. coastal waters, the Coast Guard assists foreign naval and maritime forces through training and joint operations. Many of the world’s maritime nations have forces that operate principally in the littoral seas and conduct missions that resemble those of the Coast Guard. And, because it has such a varied mix of assets and missions, the Coast Guard is a powerful role model that is in ever-increasing demand abroad. The service’s close working relations with these nations not only improve mutual cooperation during specific joint operations in which the Coast Guard is involved but also support U.S. diplomatic efforts in general: promoting democracy, economic prosperity, and trust between nations.

More Information on the Web:
Coast Guard News Page
Historian's Office: The Coast Guard at War
Historian's Office: The Coast Guard's Battle Streamers
International Affairs Internet Site