Still, the Coast Guard is doing what it can to bolster the white-hull capabilities of allies in the region. In September 2015, Zukunft met with several of his counterparts from nations around the nine-dash line – the coast guards of China, Japan, Vietnam, and the Philippines. The meetings produced a proposal for Japan to outfit the Vietnamese and Philippine coast guard with new patrol boats that will help them to establish a presence in their territorial waters – and the suggestion that U.S. Coast Guard personnel might help train crews in the operation and maintenance of the new boats. “We’re really looking at it multilaterally,” Zukunft said, “among those nations whose sovereign claims are put at risk by this nine-dash line. So our role, and my role as commandant, is to enable others who are directly affected by these extraterritorial claims.”

This effort to maintain and expand Coast Guard capabilities, however, is often a struggle. The Budget Control Act of 2011, and the budget battles that have plagued Capitol Hill ever since, have produced steep cuts or budgets flattened by sequestration and continuing resolutions that fund the government for weeks at a time. The Coast Guard’s “museum ships” include many of its medium endurance cutters (WMECs), some of them commissioned in the mid-1960s and nearly as old as the oldest river tenders. In 2014, four WMECs were dry-docked for unscheduled maintenance, a loss of 20 percent of the service’s expected “underway days.”

The Coast Guard’s role in the Asia-Pacific – and everywhere else in the world – is clearly spelled out in the recently updated “U.S. Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower”, released in March 2015 by the leadership of the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. The strategy, also known as CS21, mentions the Coast Guard’s continued work with partners in joint and combined controls, shiprider exchanges, and multinational exercises. It doesn’t mention Coast Guard cutters in the South China Sea. But the fact that its expertise and ability to work closely with partners – including partners whom others view as antagonists – reveals a challenge unique to the Coast Guard: When you’re a multi-mission agency, capable of projecting an American presence around the globe, you’re likely to encounter demand for your services anywhere in the world.

 

Building Capacity: The 21st Century Coast Guard

As these demands increase, the Coast Guard continues efforts to expand, upgrade, or simply maintain its capabilities. In March 2015, in recognition of the growing importance of cyberspace as an operational domain within the maritime environment, the Coast Guard released its first-ever Cybersecurity Strategy, outlining its approach to protecting not only its own networks and systems from attacks, but also the nation’s 3,600 heavily automated ports and facilities – and all the vessels they serve. The Coast Guard Cyber Command, officially stood up in 2013, consists of about 70 security experts – compared to the more than 6,000 who work at the
Pentagon – and is responsible for protecting entities in the .gov, .com, and .mil domains.

This effort to maintain and expand Coast Guard capabilities, however, is often a struggle. The Budget Control Act of 2011, and the budget battles that have plagued Capitol Hill ever since, have produced steep cuts or budgets flattened by sequestration and continuing resolutions that fund the government for weeks at a time. The Coast Guard’s “museum ships” include many of its medium endurance cutters (WMECs), some of them commissioned in the mid-1960s and nearly as old as the oldest river tenders. In 2014, four WMECs were dry-docked for unscheduled maintenance, a loss of 20 percent of the service’s expected “underway days.”

The Coast Guard’s acquisition program calls for procuring eight national security cutters (NSCs), 25 offshore patrol cutters (OPCs), and 58 fast response cutters (FRCs) as replacements for 90 aging Coast Guard cutters and patrol boats. This is the cutter fleet the CS21 document identifies as necessary for maintaining the global presence of American seapower. By late 2015, there were 15 active cutters of these three types: three NSCs and 12 FRCs. Construction of the first OPC – the cutter designed to replace the WMECs – is scheduled to begin in 2018. When the Coast Guard’s budget proposal was released in March, Zukunft pointed out that it fell $69 million short of fully funding the OPC program, and relied instead on DHS’ authority to transfer funds.

Overall, the Coast Guard’s annual acquisition budget has been trimmed by around 40 percent over the past four years. The amount necessary for repairing and modernizing shore infrastructure, estimated to be around $1.4 billion, receives about $40 million annually. While few, if any, legislators disagreed with the president’s proposal this past summer to accelerate the acquisition process for at least one new heavy polar icebreaker – a ship that will cost an estimated $1 billion to build – the White House’s 2016 budget includes $4 million for “pre-acquisition activities.” This rate of funding would deliver a new icebreaker to the Coast Guard in 250 years.

Literally nobody who understands the Coast Guard’s missions, and the increasing demand for their performance, believes this is an adequate or sustainable level of support. Zukunft was emphatic in his State of the Coast Guard Address: “We will not do more with less,” he said. “Those days are over.”

Fortunately, the commandant has said he sees a growing understanding within DHS and on Capitol Hill that the Coast Guard’s capacity is not keeping up with the growth in demand for its resources and expertise. What really makes him hopeful, he said, is the 88,000 people of the Coast Guard itself, who manage to achieve so much while operating 40-, 50-, and even 60-year-old platforms. He’s confident that the Coast Guard of America’s maritime future will look back on the Coast Guard of 2015 – when so much was happening, and so much seemed uncertain – with as much pride as he has now. “I cannot be more optimistic for the future of this organization,” he said, “because of the tremendous quality of men and women who have volunteered to serve in our Coast Guard.”

This article was first published in Coast Guard Outlook 2015-2016 Edition.