Effectively standing watch over 3.5 million square miles of ocean area and 98,000 miles of coastline calls for careful planning, and the U.S. Coast Guard is taking a layered approach to carrying out this mission. Ever-expanding homeland security demands have prompted the sentinel of the seas to create maritime domain awareness plans that extend from international to local borders and from industry to the federal government. Assessing, addressing and reducing risk is at the core of the strategy.
As the lead federal agency for maritime homeland security, the Coast Guard’s responsibilities include preventing terrorist attacks, reducing vulnerabilities and responding to conflict in the maritime domain. To perform these duties better, the Coast Guard has developed plans that focus on identifying and intercepting threats before they reach U.S. shores. Although terrorist activities remain a top priority, the Coast Guard must continue to meet its obligations in other areas such as preventing illegal immigration, thwarting drug smuggling and impeding international organized crime.
As a law enforcement agency and an armed force, the Coast Guard is in the unique position of being part of both homeland security and homeland defense efforts. According to Capt. Anthony Regalbuto, USCG (Ret.), chief, Office of Policy and Planning, Port Security Directorate, the Coast Guard has been transforming its organization’s approach from one of primarily responding to crises to what he describes as policing. Among the transformational initiatives the Coast Guard has introduced this year are a family of assessments and a family of security plans.
On the local level, the captain of port will use a security risk assessment tool that identifies critical infrastructure in the port. This will help determine how resources would best be used in a crisis. It examines vulnerabilities as well as the severity of consequences. Individual vessel and facility owners are required to conduct self-assessments to determine their own vulnerabilities.
A Coast Guard 47-foot motor life boat enforces the naval vessel protection zones and escorts the USNS Gordon as it leaves the Charleston Harbor in South Carolina. As lead agency for maritime homeland security and a branch of the armed forces, the Coast Guard ensures the safety and security of military outloads in U.S. ports.
In addition to these assessments, the family of plans will include a national thrust that currently is under development. The Coast Guard is designing the maritime element of these strategies. This strategy lays out the division of labor identifying who will do what to secure the maritime domain, Capt. Regalbuto notes. “What we want to do is protect the crown jewels of the United States, those critical infrastructures…,” the captain says.
To accomplish this task, the Coast Guard uses the colored threat advisory system developed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. In July 2003, the Coast Guard created a list of protective measures for ports and industry that corresponds to the threat levels. As the threat level changes, the Coast Guard notifies the captains of ports, companies and approximately 50 maritime organizations such as the American Waterways Operators and requests that the appropriate security measures be put into place. The recommendations become regulations on July 1, 2004.
Capt. Kevin Quigley, USCG, chief, Office of Defense Operations, Port Security Directorate, explains that the Coast Guard’s security activities also are tied to the threat levels. The U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Strategy for Homeland Security, published last December, calls for a robust but flexible command and control system to ensure operational and tactical control in situations that involve a number of agencies. In some instances, such as marine safety, the Coast Guard works with federal agencies and coordinates response. In the homeland defense scenario, Capt. Quigley shares, the Defense Department is the lead agency, but the Coast Guard provides assets as well as expertise. “Right after 9/11, the [U.S.] Navy shifted tactical control of 13 of its 170-foot patrol craft to the Coast Guard. We still have tactical control of several of those craft today,” he says.
A 25-foot Coast Guard boat patrols the New York Harbor with a New York Police Department Harbor Unit boat as part of interagency cooperation under operation Liberty Shield, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's national plan to ensure safety in ports, waterways and facilities.In addition to supporting the Defense Department’s defense efforts at home, the Coast Guard has played a significant role in the war against terrorism abroad, Capt. Quigley relates. The Coast Guard is fostering interservice cooperation through the creation of Joint Harbor Operations Centers. These facilities will help the Coast Guard and Navy create a common operational picture of the people, vessels and cargo entering ports.
Intelligence gathering and distribution has been part of the Coast Guard’s mission for many years. However, as part of its increased homeland security and defense efforts, maritime intelligence fusion centers are being set up on the east and west coasts to facilitate multiagency intelligence sharing.
Several initiatives address specific maritime security needs. For external threats outside a ship, Maritime Safety and Security Teams can be moved into a port where a higher level of threat exists to enhance security. To counter internal threats aboard a ship, sea marshals are being placed on ships.
The Coast Guard worked through the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization to develop new safety-of-life-at-sea security regulations and an international ship and port facility security code. These rules, which mirror the U.S. maritime transportation regulations, were finalized last December and become effective in July 2004. “We didn’t want ships to exercise their security plans only coming into the United States. As the ships are in the foreign ports, we wanted to ensure that the port facilities and the ship had good security around it so that the ships were not going to be contaminated as they were trying to come to the United States and other places,” Capt. Regalbuto explains.
Capt. Quigley says industry understands the Coast Guard’s technology needs as they relate to maritime domain awareness and the Deepwater program (
SIGNAL, December 2002, page 39). Capt. Regalbuto shares that some of the most crucial technology areas that need to be explored are biometrics in terms of credential verification and face recognition. The Coast Guard also is interested in lethal and nonlethal weapon systems that would be particularly useful in locations such as ports where collateral damage is a concern. In addition, underwater technologies and protective clothing are of interest.
The full version of this article appears in the November 2003 issue of
SIGNAL. If you don’t already receive
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Additional information on U.S. Coast Guard homeland security efforts is available on the World Wide Web at
www. uscg.mil/news/reportsandbudget/Maritime_strategy/USCG_Maritme_Strategy.pdf.
