Coast Guard Atlantic Area: Translating Strategic Direction into Tactical Excellence

By Chris Doane - March 14, 2012

A Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Team crew, temporarily deployed from San Francisco, provides an escort for the USS Cole as the Navy destroyer returns to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Aug. 31, 2011. Coast Guard crews provided security zones for the Navy ships returning to harbor after Hurricane Irene. The Navy had ordered ships to head out to safer waters to protect them from the approaching storm. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class David Weydert

District 1

District 1, commanded from Boston, Mass., by Rear Adm. Daniel Neptun, is responsible for all of the U.S. Northeast from New Jersey to Maine. In 2011, the district has been busy breaking new ground for the service. Sector Northern New England successfully prosecuted a search and rescue case in April 2011 using new infrared technology on the MH-60T Jayhawk helicopter. The Jayhawk from Air Station Cape Cod used the new technology to locate a missing woman in the surf shortly before hypothermia set in. Without this equipment, it would have been much more difficult to locate the woman and the outcome could have been very different.

The 1st District, working with LantArea, Pacific Area, the Coast Guard Research and Development Center, Coast Guard Headquarters, the Coast Guard Forces Command, and two Department of Homeland Security Centers of Excellence – at the University of Southern California and Purdue University – developed the first stage of the Port Resilience Operational/Tactical Enforcement to Combat Terrorism (PROTECT) model concluding a successful pilot test in Boston that allows for

randomization of patrol patterns;
quantitative assessment of risk to allow for optimal allocation of resources for patrols; and
a unique perspective on operations analysis through the use of visual analytics.

The model is based on a Bayesian Stackelberg game, which has never been used previously in the service’s model development programs and could significantly alter the way security patrols are conducted.

District 5

The 5th District, commanded by Rear Adm. William “Dean” Lee and headquartered in Portsmouth, Va., is charged with protecting the mid-Atlantic maritime environment from central New Jersey to the southern border of North Carolina. Having the nation’s capital within the 5th District’s AOR creates additional and distinct responsibilities. For example, the district is responsible for rotary-wing intercept operations in support of the restricted airspace zones in the National Capital Region. The district also provides port security operations in support of special security events occurring in Washington, D.C., such as the State of the Union address.

An HH-65C Dolphin patrols over the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. District 5’s area of responsibility includes the National Capital Region (NCR), where aircrews provide helicopter intercept operations within the NCR’s restricted airspace. U.S. Coast Guard photo by AET2 Aaron Schol

In addition to these special missions, District 5 also worked to strengthen partnerships that will have a tangible impact on Coast Guard operations. In response to the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act of 2006, the district’s Sector North Carolina opened an Interagency Operations Center in Wilmington, N.C., where watchstanders from the Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement work together in a collaborative environment to advance response capabilities and maritime domain awareness.

District 7

Based in Miami, Fla., LantArea’s 7th District includes all of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and the Caribbean where the district’s counterdrug and migrant interdictions garner the most attention. Crewmembers from the CGC Oak led the multiagency underwater recovery of nearly 15,000 pounds of cocaine from the first interdiction of a self-propelled semi-submersible (SPSS) in the Western Caribbean. Originally intercepted by the CGC Seneca, the SPSS scuttled itself and sank in relatively shallow water. The sunken SPSS was located by the crew of the Oak using side-scan sonar.

Highlighting the migrant interdiction mission, the crew of the CGC Vigilant located an overloaded 25-foot Haitian sailing vessel approximately 35 miles south of Great Inagua, Bahamas. Once on scene, a total of 38 Haitian migrants were safely transferred to the Vigilant from the sailing vessel, which was taking on water throughout its voyage. Once aboard, all migrants were provided with food, water, shelter, and basic medical attention before later repatriation to their country of origin.

Demonstrating the Coast Guard’s famous multi-mission persona, the Oak also conducted an international engagement mission in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in December 2010. The Oak provided training to the Haitian Coast Guard (HCG) and conducted repairs to its base facilities. Crewmembers provided training in small arms, maritime law enforcement, and first aid. The Oak also delivered a completely refurbished 40-foot MonArk patrol craft to the HCG.