There is a “High Latitude Study” the Coast Guard submitted to Congress in July 2011; it called for three heavy and three medium icebreakers to conduct its statutory mission responsibilities. As you know, the United States has one operational heavy icebreaker, Polar Star. Its sister ship, Polar Sea, is in inactive status, and funds to analyze the feasibility of reactivating it are included in the authorization. How many polar icebreakers do you think is an appropriate number for the Coast Guard to operate in the polar regions and to defend the nation’s interests within these areas?

That same study also concluded that in order for the Coast Guard to both fulfill its statutory missions in the polar regions and maintain the continuous presence requirements of the Navy, the Coast Guard requires six heavy and four medium polar icebreakers. The problem is that a new heavy polar icebreaker is expected to cost anywhere from $800 million to $1 billion to build. I believe at a minimum we should be working to replace the Coast Guard’s polar icebreakers with three heavies and three mediums, based on its own needs analysis. The Senate’s defense appropriations bill for fiscal year 2017 actually includes $1 billion in funding for the Navy to acquire a new heavy polar icebreaker, to be owned and operated by the Coast Guard, and I’m cautiously optimistic we’ll see that plan come to fruition.

Climate change is rapidly taking place and most would argue it is most evident in the high latitudes, with longer ice-free summers. To accentuate this, on Sept. 16, the luxury cruise ship Crystal Serenity completed its 32-day voyage through the Northwest Passage. Aside from polar icebreakers, what are the service’s most urgent needs to fulfill its missions in the Arctic?

I’ve been up to Alaska with the Coast Guard, and I’ve seen and heard about some of what they’re facing up there. The problem is they have little to no ability to respond rapidly to a vessel in distress in the Beaufort or the Chukchi [seas], because the harsh conditions on the North Slope make it very difficult to maintain something like an air station there. The Coast Guard’s worst nightmare would be for a cruise ship to capsize or start taking on water in icy conditions up there, where it would take several hours to respond. What the Coast Guard might find useful, in addition to more medium polar icebreakers like the Healy, is for some number of their new cutters to be built so they’re ice capable. All of these cutters have or will have flight decks and helicopter hangars, so that they could be stationed there to respond to vessels in distress quickly, without going to the time and expense of building and maintaining shoreside infrastructure.

 

The service has awarded the Panama City-based Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Inc., a Phase II contract to produce the lead offshore patrol cutter (OPC). Why is the OPC program important to the Coast Guard?

Yes, we’re all really excited that Eastern Shipbuilding won that contract. The OPCs are critically important to the Coast Guard’s enforcement capabilities in deep water. They are going to replace the medium endurance cutters, some of which are 45 to 50 years old. The aging cutters are far past their intended service life and some are undependable, impacting mission readiness and response capabilities. Securing the funding for the 25 new offshore patrol cutters has been one of my top priorities in the Senate.

 

The contract could bring about an economic boom to the Panama City, Florida, area. How many new jobs might this contract create?

It is a $10.5 billion contract – the largest the Coast Guard has awarded in its 226-year history. It is definitely a big win for Panama City and the people of northwest Florida. It could bring as many as 2,000 new jobs to the Panama City area.

 

Where do you see the Coast Guard in five years? Ten years?

In five years, I see the Coast Guard bringing offshore patrol cutters into service to replace their 50-year-old medium endurance cutters, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see at least 10 national security cutters, if not 12.  I think at some point we’re going to realize that something closer to a one-for-one swap-out of high endurance cutters is necessary to maintain or even expand Coast Guard operational capabilities. When you look at how the Navy is pivoting to the Pacific, that has serious implications for the interagency drug interdiction efforts in the Caribbean. The most obvious one is that the Coast Guard is going to have to pick up the slack by dedicating more of its assets to the region. I also expect to see a new heavy polar icebreaker under construction. A few of my colleagues and I have been warning of the need to recapitalize the polar ice breaking fleet, but I think others in Congress have finally awakened to the seriousness of the situation. Russia has dozens of polar icebreakers all over the Arctic and Antarctic. Even China is in the polar regions engaging in freedom of navigation exercises.

I think the American people – unless they get in trouble out on the high seas – don’t really have an understanding of what a professional military organization the Coast Guard is, and all that it does.

In 10 years, I hope that the Coast Guard’s recapitalization effort will be close to completion, and we will have already started to think about the ongoing maintenance, repair, and replacement needs of the service, and how we can fund those requirements as fully and cost-effectively as possible. In addition to a stepped-up role in our Caribbean drug interdiction efforts, I also see the Coast Guard playing an increasingly important role internationally, especially in the Pacific. Many of our fellow Pacific Rim nations and many nations around the world react very differently to a gray hull than they do to a white hull with an orange and blue stripe. The Coast Guard’s goodwill or brand value could be extremely helpful to our nation as we attempt to deal with issues like the international maritime boundary dispute in the South China Sea, Cuban oil and gas exploration off the Florida Keys, and the global problem of illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing.

 

In 1986, you orbited the Earth for nearly a week aboard the space shuttle Columbia. What perspective did that experience give you?

It changed my life. In the six days that I flew, I came to see our planet in an entirely different light. I still vividly recall looking back at our planet from the window of the shuttle and not seeing any political, religious, or racial divides. From that perspective, you can see how we’re all in this together. If we could just remember that, we’d sure get a lot more done. The experience also gave me a unique perspective on Earth’s fragile environment and the need to protect it, as well as an appreciation of the importance of our nation’s exploration into the unknown.

 

You’ve ridden aboard the CGCs Vigorous and Raymond Evans. Would you comment on the interactions you had with crewmembers?

I met some of the most remarkable and dedicated young men and women one will ever meet. They are out there on patrol in our nation’s waters and on the high seas, away from their loved ones for months at a time, and they are focused like a laser beam on maritime border security and protecting lives and property at sea. It’s just so impressive to see, and I really admire and respect them for what they do. We all owe the men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard a big thank-you for their service.

 

If there’s one thing the American people should know about the Coast Guard, what would it be?

I think the American people – unless they get in trouble out on the high seas – don’t really have an understanding of what a professional military organization the Coast Guard is, and all that it does. We have the Coast Guard participating with our Defense Department in war zones – the area of responsibility of Central Command. We have the Coast Guard patrolling and demonstrating freedom of navigation in the Arctic waters off of Alaska. We have the Coast Guard breaking out McMurdo Station in Antarctica for resupply each spring. We have the Coast Guard patrolling the waters off of the continental United States, as well as the island state of Hawaii and the U.S. territories in the Pacific. The Coast Guard is always there when Americans get in trouble, and indeed even when any mariners of any nationality find themselves in distress. It plays a vital role in protecting the nation from narcoterrorism, human smuggling, environmental disasters, and from the loss of life and property at sea. It does this despite the fact that it is a small armed service of only 42,000 active-duty members. These are amazing individuals, and I want the American people to know more about who they are and all that they do for us.

This interview was first published in Coast Guard Outlook 2016-2017 Edition.