more things change, The

Sea Power, Jan 2002 by Gaughan, John A

Loy: Homeland Defense Is Now "Job One" For U.S. Coast Guard

The U.S. Coast Guard was formed 211 years ago as the Revenue Cutter Service, for the purpose of the prevention of smuggling and the enforcement of U.S. tariff and customs laws. This function was essential at a time when the new federal government derived most of its revenues from tariffs. Since then, the roles and missions of the Coast Guard have grown to include maritime mobility and safety, as well as national defense in times of war.

Some people perceive that the Coast Guard has taken on a new mission recently in the wake of the terrible attacks against the United States in New York and Washington on 11 September. The Coast Guard's increased security posture, designed to defend U.S. ports and waterways from the threat of terrorism, has led the public to view the service in a somewhat different light. Even some of the Coast Guard's own members have seen the maritime-security mission as a new one, tacked on to an ever-expanding list of jobs to do, and perhaps reducing their capability to respond to other missions.

The fact is that, in similar times of trouble in the past, members of this small service have risen repeatedly to defend the nation's shores against attack by enemies determined to destroy the American way of life. One has only to think back for a moment to the early days of the republic. Many people forget that the British invaded the United States and destroyed the newly built White House by fire in the War of 1812. The British fleet cruised the eastern seaboard, terrorizing coastal communities and capturing American merchantmen. That terrifying war severely tested the resolve of the new nation. During that war, the Revenue Cutter Service (RCS) formed the core around which the U.S. naval forces were reconstructed. Along with the Navy, the RCS cutters mounted many heroic missions to defend the maritime interests of the nation.

In 1814, for example, the Revenue Cutter Eagle stood against the Dispatch, a British brig of superior firepower, to protect the port of New Haven and to free an American merchant ship, the Suzan, from capture. Capt. Frederick Lee and the crew of the Eagle encountered the Dispatch after an all-night search off the coast of Long Island. When the morning mists lifted, just after daylight on 11 October, they discovered the Dispatch and the Suzan, the captured merchantman.

Outgunned by the superior Dispatch's firepower, Lee tried to escape into shallow water, and finally beached the Eagle near a 160-foot bluff, 15 miles northeast of Port Jefferson, N.Y. He ordered his crew to strip the Eagle of her sails and rigging, and to haul her guns ashore and up the steep bluff. Taking up a position at the top of the bluff, they fired down on the British ship, keeping the enemy from capturing the Eagle or coming ashore.

Throughout that day and into the next morning, the crew of the Eagle bravely defended their cutter and their coast. When their supply of ammunition ran out, the crew began retrieving the shot that the British had fired at them. They loaded the shot into their own weapons, using the ship's log and other sundries for wadding, and returned it in a rain of fire to the enemy. The Dispatch was forced to retreat.

The Eagle was captured the following day as she limped back into port, but the heroic spirit of her crew captured the attention of the American people, and earned their appreciation as well. The story of the cutter Eagle helped to bolster the hope and courage of a nation in hard times.

The Heritage of Liberty

That is part of the heritage of the modern Coast Guard. Today the men and women of the Coast Guard are upholding that heritage again by defending the liberties of the nation. The mission of maritime security is not a new one. Perhaps it is more urgent today than it was in early September, prior to the terrorist attacks, but it is no less important than it was to the Revenue Cutter Service in the early days of the United States.

There is no doubt that the events of 11 September present new challenges to the Coast Guard, as they do to every government agency charged with a national-- security function. But in the Coast Guard's case those events also repeat "course-altering" situations familiar from the past-situations that the agency has successfully met for the last 211 years.

As a multimission agency, the service was carrying out its myriad of responsibilities at an "operations normal" tempo prior to the terrorist attacks. This is evident from an examination of the Coast Guard's prioritization of its missions prior to 11 September. (In some mission areas the service had been forced to actually slow its operational tempo due to severe fiscal constraints, but with the exception of some local criticism the American public had taken little notice.) In its 2001 Report, which presents both the 2000 Performance Report and the FY 2002 Budget-in-- Brief, the Coast Guard reported on its services to the country in five key areas-maritime mobility, protection of natural resources, maritime safety, maritime security, and national defense. The annual performance goals (with funding allocations in parentheses) are listed as follows in the report: