Hope and promise, risks and uncertainties

Sea Power, Aug 1999 by Kreisher, Otto

Coast Guard

Vision

Statement

Sees Major

Challenges

Ahead

Looking ahead 20 years, the Coast Guard sees a world in which growing demographic, economic, and environmental pressures on America's maritime regions and resources will severely challenge the multimission service's ability to sustain its Semper Paratus (Always Prepared) tradition.

"More than ever, America will call upon the Coast Guard to protect lives and serve the national interests on the high seas, along the nation's maritime borders and coasts, and in the inland waterways. Mindful of these responsibilities, the service has charted its course and embarked on an ambitious plan to renew assets and increase capabilities," the Coast Guard declares in its vision statement.

The statement, called Coast Guard 2020, envisions a future in which the demands on it will soar, but the financial, human, and material resources available to meet those demands will remain constrained. The document prescribes the use of revolutionary technologies and innovative concepts as one way to bridge the gap between resources and requirements.

"Profound advances in information and communications technologies will expand the ability to project maritime presence, to analyze, interpret, and integrate data, and to coordinate response to emergencies and other contingencies," it says at one point.

But the vision statement later declares: "In the final analysis-it will be the Coast Guard's men and women -shaped by professionalism, leadership, and selfless humanitarian service -who will transform this vision into reality."

Coast Guard 2020 (CG2020) grew out of a series of studies conducted by the Coast Guard's Office of Strategic Analysis with the help of the Center for Naval Analyses, said Capt. Joel Whitehead, chief of the analysis office.

Because of the demands on them, Coast Guard personnel and leaders usually are "crunched for time" and can only rarely focus on concerns beyond next month or next year, Whitehead said. The vision document "was designed to get the leadership thinking way ahead," he said.

Direction and Continuity

The vision statement was published last year under then-commandant Adm. Robert E. Kramek, with considerable input from his successor, Adm. James M. Loy, Whitehead said. Loy reissued it this year without change, reaffirming "both the continuity of Coast Guard leadership and the role of Coast Guard 2020 in providing direction for that leadership," Loy said. The statement should be read by all Coast Guard personnel, he said, "for it is the Coast Guard's vision document, providing guidance on how we will move into the future while maintaining our heritage as a military, multimission, maritime service.

"It challenges the nation and the Coast Guard to support the people and programs that will enable us to remain Semper Paratus-Always Ready-to serve America," Loy said.

In its concluding chapter the vision document notes that a number of "critical decisions" confront the Coast Guard "as it prepares for a new century of service to America.

"Coast Guard 2020 provides the vision and framework to make the hard decisions necessary to ensure that the Coast Guard remains ready for today's missions and tasks, even as the service prepares for tomorrow's requirements and operations."

The document will serve as the "cornerstone for the service's strategic planning and budgeting process and... will mold the Coast Guard's capital acquisition plan," it says. It also will provide "the foundation for programs to attract, train, and retain highly skilled and motivated people and to design, acquire, and maintain modern cutters, aircraft, and systems," the publication says.

The statement sets the stage by taking a hard look at the world the Coast Guard could confront in 2020. That future presents "challenges and opportunities," it asserts.

The nation looks to the new millennium "full of hope and promise," while at the same time recognizing that "significant challenges, risks, and uncertainties will undoubtedly accompany the opportunities," it says.

A Change in Mission Emphasis

The numerous changes expected early in the new millennium will have particular impact "on the nation's waterways-inland rivers, ports and harbors, coastal areas, and offshore maritime regions that serve as arteries for trade, sources of food and natural resources, playgrounds for recreation, and national borders," according to CG2020.

It warns that a "host of transnational dangers-from pollution to illegal immigration to international terrorism-will continue to tax America's maritime security, demanding action from a broad spectrum of agencies."

The document also proudly proclaims that the "key to America's maritime future is the United States Coast Guard."

Loy told a friendly audience earlier this year that the next decade could be called "the Coast Guard decade" because of the mounting demands for its services. He said that, after analyzing a "number of studies," the Coast Guard believes "there will be no major change to its traditional roles and missions," and predicted that "mission emphasis will shift based on changing national priorities."