Added capacity, new capabilities, and "more in the pipeline"

Sea Power, Aug 2003 by Hessman, James D

Adm. Thomas H. Collins became commandant of the Coast Guard in May 2002, when the service was assuming new duties at a rapid pace. The Coast Guard's senior leadership was preparing to implement the Deepwater program, a long-range project to replace the Coast Guard's aging fleet of cutters, aircraft, and sensor systems. In addition, Collins and others had to manage the seamless transition of the Coast Guard into the new Department of Homeland Security.

A 1968 graduate of the Coast Guard Academy, Collins is uniquely qualified for his current post. As vice commandant from 2000 to 2002, he created the Coast Guard's Innovation Council and spearheaded a number of process-improvement initiatives. In an earlier tour as chief of the Office of Acquisition, he managed the acquisition and fielding of 12 major systems and laid the foundation for Deepwater, the largest acquisition and modernization program in the service's history. He also has served as chief of the Coast Guard's Programs Division; as commander, Pacific Area; and as commander, Fourteenth Coast Guard District. He was interviewed for this issue of Sea Power by Senior Writer & Editor Emeritus James D. Hessman.

Sea Power: The Coast Guard received significant increases in funding the last two years. How much additional is requested for FY 2004, and will it be enough to meet your new and expanded missions?

Collins: We have a 10 percent increase in funding and 2,000 more people requested for fiscal 2004. Add that to the [fiscal] 2002 and 2003 increases and it brings us in three years to a net growth of 30 percent in funding and more than 4,000 additional people. That's pretty significant. In our history it's unprecedented. We're in the business of building up our capacity and our capabilities to do three things: One, build up our readiness for the homeland security mission; two, so we have a sufficient resource base to devote to our other missions; and the third is to modernize our force structure.

The '05 budget is being worked up now. So we'll see if that growth continues. Clearly, we have a lot of pressure to do everything [in] an optimal way. We frequently have to shift resources from one mission to another, and we clearly can't do all missions full up simultaneously. The policy question is how many of those missions can we do concurrently and do them well.

If Congress gives you higher funding than the president requested, what would be your highest priorities?

Collins: Right up front, Deepwater, the Integrated Deepwater System-modernizing our fleets of aircraft and ships and all the associated sensors-is one of our highest-priority items. That's how we responded to the questions from Congress, in the context of improving homeland security, of perhaps accelerating Deepwater.

We also want to resource our ability to implement and oversee the new regulations in ship and port security that will be put into effect, as required by the Maritime Transportation Security Act. We promulgated the interim final rule [on the regulations] on 1 July. There will be a 30-day comment period, with the final regulations promulgated on the first of November to go into effect on 1 July 2004. That's a very substantial piece of regulation that requires us to review over 10,000 vessel security plans and 5,000 security clearances, then oversee the new security regime that follows. Having the oversight resources in personnel is therefore another high priority.

These [new regulations] dovetail with new security rules approved by the IMO [International Maritime Organization]-is that correct?

Collins: Yes. The IMO passed rules with similar terms and conditions that require each vessel to do its own security assessment and be certified by the flag state [of the ship registered] that verifies that they have an effective security regime on board. So in order to come into our country, it [the ship] has to have a security certificate.

The [ship] classification societies are going to have to extend their reviews to include security audits as well as safety audits, so they'll be serving in a third-party contractor role, if you will, for the flag states. The shipping and classification societies around the world are now positioning themselves to scrutinize and audit the security plans for the flag states. The flag states are responsible for the security certifications, but many of the smaller countries might hire outside organizations to ensure that their ships meet the security rules.

Will the crew members of incoming ships be required to carry biometric ID cards similar to those that will be required for tourists and other legal migrants?

Collins: I'm glad you asked that. Because the International Labor Organization [ILO] conference just addressed this issue-seafarer credentials. The Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 required us to negotiate an international protocol on seafarer credentialing. The [ILO] conference reported out a requirement for an agreement [on IDs] that would include biometrics and other information, the details of which will be worked up.