Major change for the USCG

[sfga6970]

This looks like a change for the better. Now they'll be better armed and trained to react to possible threats.




Coast Guard Terror Units Armed
Boston Globe
March 28, 2005

Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod - The United States is dramatically expanding its seacoast defenses by arming Coast Guard helicopters with machine guns, training security teams to rappel onto a hostile ship and take control of it through force, and deploying sensors, satellites, and surveillance cameras that feed new high-tech harbor command centers.


The buildup of maritime muscle, part of a comprehensive program detailed in the Department of Homeland Security's 2006 budget plan, stems from fears that, deterred by land and air defenses, terrorists may try to attack the nation by sea. Scenarios include smuggling in a nuclear bomb aboard a freighter or crashing an explosives-laden fast boat into a liquefied natural gas tanker, mimicking the 2000 USS Cole bombing.

To counter the threats, Homeland Security is transforming U.S. coastal defenses, from a search-and-rescue service that also policed for migrant and drug smugglers to a more militarized force aimed at stopping terrorists. Meanwhile, a U.S.-Canadian planning group is working on a cooperative maritime defense arrangement inspired by the North American Aerospace Defense Command.



"We already know that terrorists operate at sea," said James Carafano, a homeland security specialist at the Heritage Foundation and coauthor of a recent study on maritime counterterrorism. "They haven't done it here yet, but someday they will. We don't want to wait to get prepared until the day after a Cole bombing in New York Harbor."

Carafano said the economic consequences of an attack that shuts down commercial ports would be far worse than the loss of air transit after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But identifying threats is not easy with more than 95,000 miles of coastline, 361 ports, 200 daily arrivals of foreign vessels, and 76 million recreational boaters to monitor, according to Coast Guard data.

Moreover, although the Coast Guard patrolled U.S. coasts for enemy submarines during World War II, its culture for the past half-century has been largely that of a rescuer of lost fishermen and an enforcer of safety rules. At the time of Sept. 11 attacks, U.S. coastal protections included only a small number of significantly armed patrols, mostly for use against drug smugglers.

But that is changing, and New England has been among the first regions to experience the transformation.

The Coast Guard recently tested its first armed Jayhawk helicopters from its Cape Cod air station. With M-240 machine guns, armor plating, and night-vision equipment, the upgraded helicopters are now designed to intimidate, disable, and destroy a hostile vessel.

Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander Jay Balda, who oversaw the Cape Cod armed helicopters project, said the new military power requires rigorous retraining of crew members to avoid harming boaters who innocently wander into a secure zone.

"We have to be sure the vessel is hostile before engaging," he said. "The best solution is to not use our armed helicopters except in situations where a Coast Guard surface vessel is there as well, so we can see better if it's a bunch of men with weapons or a couple guys who are ignoring us because they are intoxicated and being stupid."

The first armed Jayhawks were transferred from Cape Cod to North Carolina after four months of testing, but Captain Bill Peterson, the Coast Guard's head of aviation, said a permanent squad of armed helicopters will be in place soon, although he did not specify when for security reasons. The Homeland Security Department plans to add permanent squads at five more bases next year.

In North Carolina, the armed Jayhawks have been linked with a new Coast Guard security team trained to rappel onto the deck of a moving ship. The team also is trained in close-quarters combat and handling a weapon of mass destruction.

Similar waterside security teams are now based around the country, including one in Boston. Using their highly maneuverable boats with front- and rear-mounted machine guns, the team helped sweep for underwater bombs and kept boaters away from waters near the site of the presidential inauguration, the Super Bowl in Tampa, the Group of Eight summit in Georgia, and both political party conventions.

"We enforce security zones around high-value assets," said Lieutenant Michael O'Neill, operations officer for the Boston team. "Let's say it's a craft approaching an LNG tanker. We'll intercept it quickly and force them to quickly show their intent."

The coming technology is on display at the Coast Guard's recently upgraded Sector Boston command center, which got its equipment early for the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

In a cluster of chilled rooms, duty watch officers sat surrounded by computer screens. A "wall of knowledge" the size of four large plasma televisions displayed maps overlaid with radar images and information on incoming vessels. Those that would be boarded were listed in red. In 2004, the Coast Guard performed 19,000 security boardings, a policy enacted after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Other screens showed images from harbor surveillance cameras, which are capable of reading 12-inch letters a mile away and can rotate and zoom with the flick of a joystick. A "high-interest vessels" board detailed an LNG tanker docked at Everett.

Another display mapped the location of every freighter in port, using data from new transponders required of every major vessel entering U.S. waters. With a few clicks of a computer mouse, the watch officer could pull up cargo, crew, and itinerary information about each -- data that must be sent 96 hours before a foreign ship may enter the port.

This is just the beginning, said Dana Goward of the Maritime Domain Awareness directorate. In some places, tethered blimps scan farther over the horizon. Sensors are being placed on weather buoys and oil platforms far out to sea. Unmanned drones are in the works. And a $7 million satellite to pick up ship transponder signals from space will be launched next year.

"We're thinking this will increase the amount of information our command centers have available by five to 10 times," said Jolie Shifflet, spokeswoman for Coast Guard headquarters.

The Coast Guard has had little trouble getting its budget approved since the Sept. 11 attacks; annual funding has surged by 51 percent to $7.5 billion in 2005. President Bush has proposed giving it $8.1 billion in 2006.

A deep-water cutter modernization project has been accelerated, and the Coast Guard ranks have grown by about 5,000 in the past four years, to 40,000 active-duty personnel. Congress has proved willing in recent years to give the Coast Guard even more money than the president requested.

Even with budget increases, the Coast Guard recently told Congress that it has an additional $919 million in priorities that would not receiving funding under Bush's plan, including $100 million for maritime security efforts, leading some senators to contend that more should be spent.

Still, Margaret Wrightson, director of homeland security and justice issues for the Government Accountability Office, testified at a recent Senate hearing that the Coast Guard's rapid buildup has resulted in "rising costs and slipped schedules."

She called for greater oversight of its contracts.

"Such funding increases may be warranted given the condition of the Coast Guard's aging assets, and the infrastructure needed for marine domain awareness did not exist prior to 9/11," Wrightson testified. "Nevertheless, with the added resources brings added risk that too much will be attempted too fast."

But maritime defenses are forging ahead rapidly. Much of the new data accumulated through coastal defense also is flowing to the military's U.S. Northern Command in Colorado Springs, home to NORAD, the Cold War-era air and space defense operation shared by the United States and Canada. Here a joint planning group is looking to expand sharing of sea defenses and information, an effort known as the "maritime NORAD."

Adding to the sense of urgency, in December the president issued a national security policy directive ordering federal agencies to work more closely on countering sea-based terrorism threats.

"Due to its complex nature and immense size, the Maritime Domain is particularly susceptible to exploitation and disruption," Bush wrote. "The United States must deploy the full range of its operational assets and capabilities to prevent the Maritime Domain from being used by terrorists."

[USMC5831]

This sounds like a very good idea. To be honest I think they should have been armed all along for a just in case instance. glad to hear they are updating and preparing for anything that may come there way.

[scott.voigt]

I agree... it's about time... The public has never really seen the coast guard as a military force, which it is. It's about time that the goverment give this branch of the military some muscle.. Rock on