[House Hearing, 109 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
DEEPWATER IMPLEMENTATION
=======================================================================
(109-79)
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON
COAST GUARD AND MARITIME TRANSPORTATION
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON
TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
JUNE 14, 2006
__________
Printed for the use of the
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
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COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
DON YOUNG, Alaska, Chairman
THOMAS E. PETRI, Wisconsin, Vice- JAMES L. OBERSTAR, Minnesota
Chair NICK J. RAHALL, II, West Virginia
SHERWOOD L. BOEHLERT, New York PETER A. DeFAZIO, Oregon
HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina JERRY F. COSTELLO, Illinois
JOHN J. DUNCAN, Jr., Tennessee ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of
WAYNE T. GILCHREST, Maryland Columbia
JOHN L. MICA, Florida JERROLD NADLER, New York
PETER HOEKSTRA, Michigan CORRINE BROWN, Florida
VERNON J. EHLERS, Michigan BOB FILNER, California
SPENCER BACHUS, Alabama EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas
STEVEN C. LaTOURETTE, Ohio GENE TAYLOR, Mississippi
SUE W. KELLY, New York JUANITA MILLENDER-McDONALD,
RICHARD H. BAKER, Louisiana California
ROBERT W. NEY, Ohio ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland
FRANK A. LoBIONDO, New Jersey EARL BLUMENAUER, Oregon
JERRY MORAN, Kansas ELLEN O. TAUSCHER, California
GARY G. MILLER, California BILL PASCRELL, Jr., New Jersey
ROBIN HAYES, North Carolina LEONARD L. BOSWELL, Iowa
ROB SIMMONS, Connecticut TIM HOLDEN, Pennsylvania
HENRY E. BROWN, Jr., South Carolina BRIAN BAIRD, Washington
TIMOTHY V. JOHNSON, Illinois SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada
TODD RUSSELL PLATTS, Pennsylvania JIM MATHESON, Utah
SAM GRAVES, Missouri MICHAEL M. HONDA, California
MARK R. KENNEDY, Minnesota RICK LARSEN, Washington
BILL SHUSTER, Pennsylvania MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts
JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas ANTHONY D. WEINER, New York
JIM GERLACH, Pennsylvania JULIA CARSON, Indiana
MARIO DIAZ-BALART, Florida TIMOTHY H. BISHOP, New York
JON C. PORTER, Nevada MICHAEL H. MICHAUD, Maine
TOM OSBORNE, Nebraska LINCOLN DAVIS, Tennessee
KENNY MARCHANT, Texas BEN CHANDLER, Kentucky
MICHAEL E. SODREL, Indiana BRIAN HIGGINS, New York
CHARLES W. DENT, Pennsylvania RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri
TED POE, Texas ALLYSON Y. SCHWARTZ, Pennsylvania
DAVID G. REICHERT, Washington JOHN T. SALAZAR, Colorado
CONNIE MACK, Florida JOHN BARROW, Georgia
JOHN R. `RANDY' KUHL, Jr., New York
LUIS G. FORTUNO, Puerto Rico
LYNN A. WESTMORELAND, Georgia
CHARLES W. BOUSTANY, Jr., Louisiana
JEAN SCHMIDT, Ohio
(ii)
SUBCOMMITTEE ON COAST GUARD AND MARITIME TRANSPORTATION
FRANK A. LOBIONDO, New Jersey, Chairman
HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina BOB FILNER, California, Ranking
WAYNE T. GILCHREST, Maryland Democrat
PETER HOEKSTRA, Michigan CORRINE BROWN, Florida
ROB SIMMONS, Connecticut GENE TAYLOR, Mississippi
MARIO DIAZ-BALART, Florida JUANITA MILLENDER-McDONALD,
DAVID G. REICHERT, Washington,Vice- California
Chair MICHAEL M. HONDA, California
CONNIE MACK, Florida ANTHONY D. WEINER, New York
LUIS G. FORTUNO, Puerto Rico BRIAN HIGGINS, New York
CHARLES W. BOUSTANY, Jr., Louisiana BRIAN BAIRD, Washington
DON YOUNG, Alaska JAMES L. OBERSTAR, Minnesota
(Ex Officio) (Ex Officio)
(iii)
CONTENTS
TESTIMONY
Page
Allen, Admiral Thad, Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard............... 2
PREPARED STATEMENTS SUBMITTED BY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
Filner, Hon. Bob, of California.................................. 32
LoBiondo, Hon. Frank A., of New Jersey........................... 35
PREPARED STATEMENT SUBMITTED BY THE WITNESS
Allen, Admiral Thad............................................. 24
SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD
Allen, Admiral Thad, Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard
Response to a question from Rep. Filner........................ 6
Response to a question from Rep. Fortuno....................... 19
Response to a question from Rep. Boustany...................... 21
DEEPWATER IMPLEMENTATION
----------
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
House of Representatives, Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure, Subcommittee
on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation,
Washington, D.C.
The committee met, pursuant to call, at 1:00 p.m. in room
2167, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Frank A. LoBiondo
[Chairman of the committee] presiding.
Mr. LoBiondo. Good afternoon. The Subcommittee will come to
order.
The Subcommittee is meeting this afternoon to review the
Coast Guard's Deepwater Program and the Service's revised
Deepwater implementation schedule. The Coast Guard's Integrated
Deepwater System is designed to replace or modernize
approximately 90 ships and 200 aircraft currently utilized by
the Service to carry out missions more than 50 miles from
shore.
The new assets obtained under this program are extremely
important and will greatly expand the Coast Guard's ability to
perform its many traditional and homeland security missions.
The original Deepwater implementation plan and asset mixture
were devised prior to September 11th and consequently, the plan
has been revised to take into account the Coast Guard's greater
homeland security responsibilities.
It was important for the Service to do this, and I am
pleased they did. Nevertheless, it is my duty to evaluate the
plan, and I have some concerns. First, I am disappointed that
the plan extends the time period for acquiring the new assets
from 20 to 25 years. Every year we delay the purchase of new
assets, the men and women of the Coast Guard, and our
taxpayers, lose, for a couple of reasons. First, the cost of
maintaining legacy assets significantly increases, eating more
and more of the money available to purchase replacement assets.
And newer and more capable assets are not available to improve
the performance and safety of the Service's operations.
My second major concern is with the workhorse of the Coast
Guard's fleet, the 110-foot patrol boats. These boats are
rapidly failing, resulting in an estimated patrol boat
readiness gap of nearly 20,000 hours annually from 2008 through
2012. Exasperating the problem are the failures surrounding the
development of the replacement of the 110, the fast response
cutter, as well as the termination of the agreement with the
Navy to provide the Coast Guard with 179-foot patrol ships.
I am especially interested in hearing from the Commandant
on how he plans to manage the readiness gap and what progress
has been made in fixing the design problems of the FRC, as well
as the status of the search for an off the shelf patrol boat
design as an alternative to the FRC.
Finally, I would like to congratulate Admiral Allen on
becoming the Service's 23rd Commandant. We have enjoyed when
you have been here before and we are especially pleased that
this is your first visit as Commandant of the Coast Guard. I
know I speak for the entire Committee: we are absolutely
thrilled, Admiral Allen, that you got the position.
When Mr. Filner comes, he may have an opening statement. I
want to apologize, we have some floor activity. Mr. Coble is
going to temporarily take over in a minute. But Admiral Allen,
please proceed.
TESTIMONY OF ADMIRAL THAD ALLEN, COMMANDANT, UNITED STATES
COAST GUARD
Admiral Allen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I have a statement that I would like to submit for the
record and I have a very brief oral statement that I would like
to make right now.
On the 25th of May, I made a compact with the men and women
of the Coast Guard to do four things as Commandant. The first
one was to focus on mission execution, to sustain the high
level of performance that has been demonstrated over the last
year in response to the hurricanes and since 9/11, with our
response in homeland security. To do that, we have to have the
very best people.
But our people are nothing without platforms. We have to
put the right tools in the hands of our people, and we have to
build a command and control structure behind that that
optimizes mission execution. Then we need to build a mission
support system that focuses on the right logistics,
maintenance, financial support, so that all the forces in the
Coast Guard are optimized on mission execution.
To that end, we are going to rationalize our force
structure. We made a major reorganization in the last year by
establishing Coast Guard sectors that unifies Coast Guard
effort in and around our ports. The Deepwater acquisition is
our maritime patrol and presence force that allows us to meet
and defeat threats as far offshore as possible.
The final piece of that are our deployable teams, port
security units, maritime safety and security teams and so
forth. It is my intention to consolidate all those units under
a unified command of the Coast Guard to get better synergy out
of them and to offer that force to the Secretary of Homeland
Security for all hazards, all threats.
In regard to today's hearing, I would like the Committee
know that last week I traveled down to Pascagoula, Mississippi.
I walked through the shipyard, I got a briefing, and I
completely toured the national security cutter that is under
construction. It will be floated later this fall, and we will
take possession of it next year.
I have made it clear to our partners in Integrated Coast
Guard Systems that my watchwords for the Deepwater project are
ruthless execution. We need to cut steel and float boats, we
need the right tools in the hands of our people. If we need to
make tough decisions on requirements, we will do that. We need
to focus on cost, schedule and performance. We have issued the
first award term and we are in the process of entering
negotiations on the criteria and how that contract will be
managed.
The Committee has my complete commitment to do just that:
manage cost, schedule and performance. I think it is very, very
important that we get these tools in the hands of our people.
I was very pleased with the walkthrough of the national
security cutter last week. This is going to be a major step
forward for our folks who go to sea. It is much more habitable.
It is going to be a much greater, effective tool for our people
to use. I took the new Master Chief of the Coast Guard with me.
He was very pleased with what he saw, and I think we need to
tell the Coast Guard what they have got coming, I think they
are going to appreciate this ship.
There are some technical issues associated with the
construction that we will address in subsequent hulls. But I am
here to report to the Committee that my watchword for
acquisition is ruthless execution.
I will be glad to take your questions.
Mr. Coble. [Presiding] Admiral, I want to extend what
Chairman LoBiondo has said. Pardon my immodesty, but I think I
may have been the first person to have congratulated you
prematurely back in January. But I felt confident in extending
those words of congratulation to you. As Mr. LoBiondo has said,
I think this was warmly felt on the Hill, your having been
named Commandant. Good to have you on the Hill again.
While I am at it, I might as well say a good word to the
three-striper who sits behind you. They do a good job with
House liaison. I continue to get good words from them. So two
thumbs up for them as well, Admiral.
And Mr. Filner I presume is on his way.
Admiral, let me ask you this question. We all know the
significance of Deepwater. But there was a recent GAO report
that focused on the RESCUE-21 program. One of the major themes
of that report was that the Coast Guard needs to improve its
management oversight of the program.
Let me ask you a two-part question, Admiral. A, do you
agree with this, and if so, what steps are you taking to ensure
this critical, life-saving system is successfully deployed?
Admiral Allen. Thank you, sir. First of all, this is a
critical system for the Coast Guard for mission execution and
for the American public. There are issues with this
acquisition. There are issues on both sides, both Coast Guard
and General Dynamics.
What we have agreed to do is put together an executive team
to address the issues that were raised in the GAO report. The
GAO report concentrated on a couple of areas. One was
requirements management. The other was project monitoring. The
other one was risk management. Also contractor costs and
schedule estimation delivery controls. And most importantly,
executive oversight.
We have brought in a distinguished panel of acquisition
experts to take a look at this. I am going to have an action
plan presented to me by August. I spoke with the CEO of General
Dynamics this morning on the need for he and I to take a
personal leadership role in moving this process forward, that
we need to take a look at the current contract vehicle that is
in place, whether or not it is serving the Coast Guard and
General Dynamics well.
I will say this, where this equipment has been deployed, it
has been remarkably effective. We have a much increased
efficiency and response to search and rescue cases and
direction finding. This is something the Coast Guard and the
Country sorely needs, and I am taking it on as a personal
leadership issue to deal with the CEO of General Dynamics, sir.
Mr. Coble. Thank you, Admiral.
We have been joined by the distinguished gentleman from
California, Mr. Filner.
Mr. Filner. You have never called me distinguished before.
Thank you.
Mr. Coble. I was just trying to impress the Commandant with
that.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Filner. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you,
Admiral.
Mr. Coble. Excuse me. Also the distinguished gentleman from
Louisiana is with us. Didn't mean to overlook you, Mr.
Boustany.
Mr. Filner. I apologize for being late, Admiral. I would
like my opening statement to be made part of the record.
Mr. Coble. Without objection.
Mr. Filner. Let me just ask you, and if you have covered
these, just say that and I will listen to the tape.
Admiral, the Deepwater plan to replace the 110-foot boats
has had one problem after another. I don't think we need to
detail them now. But cracks in the hull and attempted
conversion, which did not work, replacement vessels made out of
composite materials, which also did not work.
Now you are going to try I think to do an off the shelf
design for the cutter. Is there one that meets your needs? Are
you going to be able to do that? What is plan C now that plan A
and B haven't worked?
Admiral Allen. Yes, sir, I think there is a craft that will
work. Let me provide some context, if I could. As you know, we
attempted, as a bridging strategy to the new fast response
cutter to extend the 110-foot cutters to 123 feet, put in a
stern ramp and improve the command and control communications
on those vessels. We have had significant structural problems
associated with that, and the project was terminated with eight
hulls.
We are now testing those hulls to see if further repairs
may be needed. Their current operations are restricted to eight
foot seas or less.
I would note, though, despite the operational limitations
of those vessels, they have a significantly improved boat
handling capability and significantly improved secure
communications capability, so we are using them to mission
effect down there, not to the extent that we envisioned or with
the number that we wanted.
In the meantime, we have a tired 110-foot fleet out there,
as you have mentioned. We have tended to stabilize that fleet
through our mission effectiveness program where we were
actually looking at hull structural issues. We are running
these boats through the Coast Guard yard. I think with the
current 110 fleet that we have out there now, we will stabilize
it in the near term, so those units can be effectively applied
to mission effect.
The problem is that as we have evolved the composite design
for the fast response cutter, there are some technical issues
that need to be resolved. As a risk mitigator, we have elected
to put out a request for information on parent craft or
replacement type designs where we could get something that is
pretty much off the shelf that could be a gap-filler for the
patrol boat hours that were mentioned by Mr. Coble in his
statement.
My goal is to proceed with an acquisition as soon as we can
on a replacement patrol boat as a gap-filler to give us those
patrol boat hours and simultaneously validate the concept and
technology of composite hulls. And to the extent that we can
move forward on that, when the time is right, we can suspend
the other procurement. But my goal is to have patrol boats
being brought into the Coast Guard to fill that gap until such
time as can validate the composite hull and move forward with
that acquisition.
Mr. Filner. Where will those boats be built?
Admiral Allen. That will be subject to a procurement
process. We have put out a request for information to find out
what is available. We know there are a substantial number of
hulls out there that can probably meet our mission
requirements. It will be a matter of making that selection and
proceeding with the contract, working with our partners at
ICGS.
But in the meantime, we need to be moving ahead and seeing
what the doability is on the composite design.
Mr. Filner. But I notice you didn't say there would be any
competition amongst U.S. ship yards for that. I mean, does ICGS
make that decision themselves, or would there be a bid process?
Admiral Allen. We fully expect that there will be
competition everywhere there can be as part of this
acquisition. We have passed that on to ICGS, and in fact, in
the next award term, one of the criteria will be competition as
a means to measure their performance.
Mr. Filner. When is that contract looked at, again?
Admiral Allen. We are in the process of beginning to
negotiate the next award term, which will take effect in June
2007. We just awarded the award term decision for 43 months to
Integrated Coast Guard Systems. We have established the basic
criteria by which we will evaluate that award term, and we will
shortly enter into negotiations with ICGS on the request for
proposal.
Mr. Filner. I lost you. So did you award a 43 month
extension?
Admiral Allen. We have established the next award term to
be 43 months. That becomes a sole source award that has to be
negotiated------
Mr. Filner. Why is that less than the 60 that you initially
did? Were there any problems with them?
Admiral Allen. That was based on an evaluation of their
performance against a set of criteria and a board of Coast
Guard personnel that were actually operating that equipment out
there. Our chief of operations led the evaluation board and
made a recommendation to our program executive office that
given the performance and the evaluation criteria that 43
months was the proper award term and that is what was conveyed
to ICGS.
Mr. Filner. Were there problems that led to not doing it
for the full 60 months? You said evaluation, but you haven't
said what.
Admiral Allen. We were looking at things like operational
effectiveness, total ownership costs and those sorts of things
across not only the system but the platform and the component.
So it is a combination of performance across the system by the
contractor. In some cases they did better than other places and
the aggregate score, that led to the decision for 43 months,
sir.
Mr. Filner. I don't know if you heard me say this to your
predecessor, but you should read what you just said sometime
and see how that translates into English. You get into a
certain mode of talking and we lose the English. Did they
perform or not is what I want?
Admiral Allen. They performed well, they did not perform
well enough to get a 60 month award term. The reasons for
that------
Mr. Filner. And where didn't they perform well enough?
Admiral Allen.--are embedded in different levels of
performance related to the specific platforms, how the system
operates and their ability to control total ownership costs. We
can disaggregate this for the record for you if you like, sir.
It is a fairly complex matrix that was evolved, sir.
[The information received follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Filner. And of course, Congressmen couldn't possibly
understand anything so complex, right?
Admiral Allen. It is understandable, sir, but it is pretty
significant------
Mr. Filner. Believe me, whatever you get me, I will
understand it.
Admiral Allen. Excuse me?
Mr. Filner. I said get me whatever paper you want, I will
understand it or I will ask the commander behind you to explain
it to me.
Admiral Allen. Yes, sir.
Mr. Filner. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Coble. I thank the gentleman.
The distinguished gentleman from Louisiana, Mr. Boustany.
Mr. Boustany. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
First of all, Admiral, congratulations. And also
congratulations on your outstanding service and the outstanding
service of the Coast Guard in my home State of Louisiana in the
aftermath of the two storms. We certainly appreciate the work
that you did.
I want to talk about the risk of accelerating the program.
We are all aware of the problem with the FRC. But could you
outline some other risks that are out there if we were to try
to accelerate the program, the Deepwater program?
Admiral Allen. One risk that we really haven't talked about
in prior hearings, and it may be a good time to bring it up
now, is the actual capacity of the Coast Guard to execute on an
accelerated time line. As much as we need these platforms
brought forward and as much as we need to close that aircraft
and patrol boat gap, there are a certain number of people in
the Coast Guard and we are limited by appropriations in how
many people we are able to put at this acquisition project.
So the ability to, for instance, build three classes of new
cutter at the same time, bringing on new aircraft and so forth,
does tax our personnel system in terms of the capacity and the
amount of people we have to put at the problem.
Mr. Boustany. Thank you. Are there any parts that could be
accelerated? Has there been any thought given to that approach?
Admiral Allen. Where there has already been a contract in
place or an order in place for platforms, or the requirements
have been locked down in their production, there is always an
opportunity to do that. The ones that are coming offline right
now in particular would be the CASA 235. We are looking at both
an MPA gap and a patrol boat gap.
Mr. Boustany. So you believe that if we were to take that
approach, we would probably save some money in the long run?
Admiral Allen. Well, I tend to look at this in terms of
requirements. There are always going to be funding issues out
there and competition for funding. My two priorities as a
commandant are to close the MPA gap and the patrol boat gap as
soon as possible. So I am more interested in how quickly we can
answer our requirements and close gaps as that relates to the
overall plan. So any opportunity to do that I would be
appreciative of.
Mr. Boustany. OK. With the recent exercise of the option
with ICGS, do you have any concerns about relying on a single
contractor at this stage, and the potential for lack of
competition in awarding contracts to subcontractors?
Admiral Allen. Your question is fair, sir and it relates
back to Mr. Filner's concern. One of the new criteria we will
use to evaluate ICGS in the first award term is competition. In
other words, for the award term following they will be
evaluated on how well they competed in the subordinate
contracts.
Mr. Boustany. OK. Has a baseline been made, or any
evaluation that would allow us to determine whether the use of
ICGS and a single package replacement program cost more to
taxpayers than using a more traditional approach of one-to-one
asset replacement?
Admiral Allen. That is a fair question, too, sir. We were
never looking for a one-for-one asset replacement. We were
looking for a system that would produce a certain level of
performance in an operating environment. The system that was
offered by ICGS is the one we are pursuing. The ability to do
this another way, you could go out and issue separate projects
and contracts separately and acquire vessels and aircraft and
sensors. They would have to be integrated at some point.
One of the challenges the Coast Guard faces, and was
instrumental in the strategy on how the Deepwater contract was
awarded is the fact that there is no equivalent in the Coast
Guard of the Naval Sea Systems Command, NAVAIR or SPAWARS. In
other words, we don't have those large systems commands and
integrators that can do that inside our organization. So there
is an issue with both capacity and competency right now to be
able to perform that type of integration.
Mr. Boustany. OK. On aircraft, could you update us on the
HH-65 re-engining project, and I guess you expect the fleet or,
give me a time line on the fleet and when it will be completed
re-engined and operational.
Admiral Allen. I can. We originally anticipated that the
re-engining would be completed around January of 2007. It now
looks like that will probably be June of 2007. At lot of that
has to do with the wear and tear we put on those airframes in
the extensive operations that took place in support of
Hurricane Katrina, that required more extensive maintenance due
to more hours being put on, saltwater corrosion and so forth.
But we are on track now to have the re-engining completed by
June 2007, and this will mean a significant, significant
upgrade to our forces out there.
Mr. Boustany. I am glad to hear that. I was concerned about
the wear and tear imposed by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and
the costs associated with it. So I am pleased to hear your
answer on that.
Admiral Allen. Sir, we actually noted that the performance
of the helicopters that had converted engines were superior
during Katrina. They carry 1,500 pounds of fuel versus 1,000
pounds of fuel, they can carry 7 survivors versus 3, and almost
double the time on scene. So these are sorely needed assets.
Mr. Boustany. Admiral, thank you very much. I yield back.
Mr. Coble. I thank the gentleman.
Admiral, let me revisit the question that Mr. Filner put to
you. Can you clarify that the new fast response cutters will in
fact be built in the United States?
Admiral Allen. Well, the original plans were to build a
composite FRC and that would be built within the Northrop
Grumman structure per the teaming arrangements that were
included in the ICGS. So, yes, sir.
Mr. Coble. Let me ask you another question, then I will
recognize Mr. Filner again.
Admiral, has the Coast Guard been forced to delay the
acquisition of new Deepwater assets because of the high costs
associated with maintaining and repairing legacy assets?
Admiral Allen. I don't believe so. If I could maybe just
provide a contextual comment. When this program first started,
and the original plan anticipated that it would be funded at a
level of $500 million a year, this program is now approaching
$1 billion a year. It is hard for me to sit here and say that
it hasn't received funding support by the Administration or the
Congress. What we have is a set of circumstances that have been
superimposed on it on increased use of these assets and more
maintenance problems that are coming about.
So there are resources being put out, both new
acquisitions, supporting the legacy assets. But there is also a
third category where we are taking legacy assets and upgrading
the equipment on them to make them part of the Deepwater system
to make them more effective. This is taking the older cutters
that are operating out there and for instance, giving them SIPR
net chat rooms, so when we are doing drug interdiction, we have
the tactical officers actually talking to each other, and we
can trade radar pictures between ships, which we could never do
before.
So it is three phases. It is the new stuff, it is putting
new capability on the old stuff and it is maintaining the old
stuff. But we are very pleased that we have been able to move
from $500 million a year up to a billion dollar a year program.
Mr. Coble. Thank you, Admiral. The distinguished gentleman
from California, Mr. Filner.
Mr. Filner. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I just wondered if I talk as fast as you if I might get a
brain aneurysm there.
Admiral Allen. Tell me to slow down if I am talking too
fast.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Filner. No, I like your style, Admiral.
It looks to us up here that Deepwater has changed from a
program to modernize the Coast Guard with new equipment to a
program because of forced resource squeezing to a program that
buys too few new ships and keeps the old aircraft. I think OMB
has been saying that you can't increase the program costs.
So it looks like you are not getting the support that you
need to be the Coast Guard of the 21st century, where we ask
you to not only do your traditional mission, but the post-9/11
homeland security mission. It doesn't seem like you are getting
the support. I don't know if you can answer this, Admiral, I
mean, if you weren't getting the support that you needed to do
the job that you need to do, would we know about it in
Congress?
Admiral Allen. You would from me, sir. Let me restate
something I said earlier, because I think it is really------
Mr. Filner. That is your reputation. I was hoping so.
Admiral Allen. When this program started, the envisioned
funding level annually was supposed to be $500 million a year.
The fact that we are up to a billion dollars is indicative that
we have had support, both inside the Administration and on the
Hill. I can't deny that as a sitting commandant, speaking to
you about it today.
Can any Federal agency in town use more money? Sure. Would
we spend it wisely? Yes, we would, sir. But I cannot say that
we have not been supported and we are not moving this project
forward. The problem is there is a convergence of events with
the operational tempo the Coast Guard has encountered, not only
after 9/11, but as you saw with our response to Hurricane
Katrina. Over the next few months, as I formulate the fiscal
year 2008 budget with the Department and OMB, we are going to
have to craft a strategy coming forward where we are credibly
demonstrating to you that we are moving this project along,
sir.
Mr. Filner. I want you to save your original memos, because
I am going to ask you how much you asked for versus how much
you got.
Admiral Allen. I will acknowledge receipt of those
questions, sir.
Mr. Filner. Just one last point of concern of mine, and
that is the drug interdiction. Your predecessor, Admiral
Collins, testified, and I am not sure how exactly you know
this, but he estimated 15 percent of the drugs entering the
U.S. were interdicted. Are we going to do better and how are we
going to do that? You said, I think, in your opening statement,
at least in your written one, that Deepwater does result in a
modest, near-term operational hour shortfall, followed by long-
term gains. Does that mean we can expect, say, more drugs in
this short-term situation? How are we going to deal with all
those issues in your view?
Admiral Allen. Yes, sir. The drug problem is fairly
complex. We have had three straight years of record cocaine
seizures, as you may know. We have done that, in some cases,
with fewer assets out there. The reason we have been able to
achieve that level of performance is through intelligence, and
mostly human intelligence.
Mr. Filner. I want you to clarify. You said you have had
record cocaine seizures. You are not talking about personally,
now, are you sir?
Admiral Allen. I am talking about------
Mr. Filner. Just my humor, just ignore me. I thought you
shifted off the cocaine.
Admiral Allen. We have had three very successful years in
counter-drug operations. We may not come to that level this
year, as we are looking at the current operations down south.
We are hitting some challenges where, in spite of good
intelligence, we are not able to take cocaine we know is moving
north off the sea routes out there. It is due to a couple of
issues. One of them has to do with the shift of traffickers to
different flag states that make it difficult for us to get on
board and board them. We are going to have to take a look at
new strategies and how to deal with that.
But heretofore, in the last three years, we have been
extremely successful in drug interdiction. We will attempt to
sustain that. But we are having some problems to the shifting
of the routes to flags other than what we have bilateral
agreements with, sir.
Mr. Filner. You have some of your patrol boats in Iraq
right now, right?
Admiral Allen. Six, sir.
Mr. Filner. I assume that if you had them you could do
better with your drug interdictions?
Admiral Allen. We could always use more resources, sir. But
those six patrol boats are currently supporting the one single
remaining offshore platform for Iraq, sir.
Mr. Filner. Well, I am glad one member of the
Administration knows why we are in Iraq, to protect the oil.
Admiral Allen. Sir, I know why we are there.
Mr. Filner. Thank you, Admiral.
Mr. Boustany [Presiding]. Admiral, we have been joined by
the distinguished gentleman from Puerto Rico, Mr. Fortuno, and
I yield to him for questions.
Mr. Fortuno. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I truly appreciate
it.
Welcome, Admiral Allen. First of all, I want to say, and I
have said it in the past and I will say it again, we are really
thankful for the work that your men and women are doing in the
San Juan sector. It is a large area. It covers essentially
everything from the DR, the Dominican Republic, to Venezuela,
way out there. Your men and women do a great job and I am very
thankful. Our office works very closely with you over there.
Mr. Filner. Have you flown in any HH-65s lately?
[Laughter.]
Mr. Fortuno. My first question was going to be, you do
recall as to the status of the re-engining of the HH-65s right
now and not just in the San Juan sector, but overall?
Admiral Allen. Yes, sir. Let me say at the start I am a
Puerto Rican at heart, having served in San Juan when I was a
Lieutenant JG down at La Punta, it is a place that holds a
great affection for me.
Mr. Fortuno. Beautiful property.
Admiral Allen. As I stated earlier, we anticipate that the
re-engining will be completed in June of 2007. We originally
thought that that would be done by January. We have encountered
some additional wear and tear on the aircraft, associated with
a concentrated response to Hurricane Katrina, that has required
us to do some more work regarding some of the mechanical
overhauls that need to be done and look at some of the
corrosion associated with that.
But we are very happy with the way this is proceeding.
These re-engined helicopters are extremely, extremely effective
in what they are doing, and we hope to get them online by June
of next year, sir.
Mr. Fortuno. Excellent. My other question is San Juan
specific. As I am sure you know, there is a resurgence in the
trafficking, illegal trafficking of arms, drugs and people
through the Caribbean area. And Puerto Rico is directly
affected by it. We are seeing something quite interesting. When
the traffickers know that there is an area where they feel not
all the resources that are needed are deployed there, they move
in from all over. We are getting a lot of Chinese nationals
coming in through the Caribbean, specifically through Puerto
Rico. So that tells you that as far away as the Orient, they
already know that we have a need for resources.
Our Committee last year put out some language, report
language specifically requesting that you all do an analysis of
the resources that are needed to adequately address the needs
of the San Juan sector. I would like to know if you have any
feedback that you can give us today.
Admiral Allen. Sir, if I could offer to provide you a more
detailed response for the record. I will give you an assessment
right now. I would add that I was down in the Gulf Coast for
almost six months. So as I move back into it, I am reassessing
some of the strategies and everything that is going on inside
the Coast Guard.
But I can tell you most recently, there has been an
increase in the amount of traffic across Mona Pass between the
Dominican Republic and the west coast of Puerto Rico. We are
seeing more frequent incidents that does not involve just
Dominican nationals, it involves other nationalities and also
Cubans, who, once they land on Mona Island become feet-dry and
we have that issue to deal with, too.
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Mr. Fortuno. If I may, I am sorry to interrupt you,
actually we welcome the Cubans. We have a very large Cuban
community in Puerto Rico. However, it is interesting, there are
more Cubans getting to the U.S. through Puerto Rico than
through Florida. That should tell you something as well. Go
ahead.
Admiral Allen. I was just going to make the point, as you
have, sir, that we have detected the trend that there is a new
line or a new way that Cubans are arriving in the United
States, and it is via Mona Pass, sir. We are looking at that.
We are also looking at the trends on the migrant interdictions
that are happening on Mona Pass. As you know, occasionally we
are involved in an interdiction over in the U.S. Virgin Islands
from either the British Virgin Islands or further down, down-
island there. They do constitute threat vectors. We are taking
a look at it and if you would like, I can give you a detailed
answer for the record.
Mr. Fortuno. We would love to get that detailed information
if we may, Mr. Chairman. Again, I want to thank you for what
you are doing there. I urge you to look into the resources that
are needed to complete the job. The men and women you have down
there are doing an excellent job. But I believe, I have been
out there in cutters and planes. Any time I have a chairman of
any committee, I try to get them out there to join me with
members of the Coast Guard. That is how proud I am of the work
you are doing.
By the same token, I must tell you, I am doing that as well
just to get the resources needed to the San Juan sector. I will
be eagerly awaiting the information you provide to our office.
With that, I will yield back, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
Mr. Boustany. Admiral, we have a few other questions we
would like to ask. The Coast Guard received funding to acquire
the HC-130J aircraft in fiscal year 2004. It used these funds
to acquire six of these ships, but has not outfitted these
aircraft with specialized avionics required for long range
search and rescue missions.
This year, the Administration requested $4.95 million for
that work. Will this funding complete the work necessary to
make the existing six aircraft mission capable?
Admiral Allen. Sir, we have enough money in previously
appropriated funds to mission-ize or what I would say more
appropriately, appropriately sensorize those six aircraft. What
we are looking for in fiscal year 2007, first of all, in the
ACNI portion of our budget, is to establish a spare line and a
simulator as a follow-on support for the aircraft. And on the
operating side, it would be to increase the number of hours we
are flying those aircraft from 1,200 hours a year to 3,200
hours a year, sir.
Mr. Boustany. Thank you. The Coast Guard has $66 million in
fiscal year 2006 funds to purchase HC-235 maritime patrol
aircraft. What is the supplier quoting as the per plane price
as of today?
Admiral Allen. If I could, I would like to answer that for
the record. We are looking at the first initial products that
are being rolled out. I am not sure we have come to a final
price, once we level out the production line. And we are in the
process of integrating those aircraft into the fleet right now.
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Mr. Boustany. OK. The Coast Guard has repeatedly assured
the Committee that the assumption of the National Capital
Region Air Defense Mission will not reduce the Service's search
and rescue capability. How does the Coast Guard intend to
acquire the additional HH-65s necessary to carry out this new
mission?
Admiral Allen. The $62.4 million that are included in the
fiscal year 2007 request are there to fund five aircraft, the
personnel to support them and the operating funds. Those
aircraft will be placed at our air station in Atlantic City,
New Jersey, and they will be rotated down with a crew to
support them of about 40 here in Washington, D.C. In addition,
there were funds reprogrammed within the Department to the tune
of $4 million to help us get started in fiscal year 2006. We
look forward to standing that operation up in late September.
Mr. Boustany. Thank you, Admiral. And one final question
with regard to unfunded priorities. In conjunction with fiscal
year 2006, the fiscal year 2006 budget request, the Coast Guard
submitted a list of unfunded priorities for the next fiscal
year. The top priority on the list was an additional $639
million for the Deepwater program.
What Deepwater-related items would be on the fiscal year
2007 unfunded priority list?
Admiral Allen. Well, as I mentioned earlier, things that
might be suitable for funding would be those that are already
under production, what is not a requirements issue, we have
fixed all the technical issues associated with it. That would
be the CASA 235 line. Once we have made a selection on a
replacement patrol boat, to fill a patrol boat gap, that would
be a priority.
Also, we are pretty much stabilizing the national security
cutter design and that can move forward, too.
Mr. Boustany. Admiral, thank you.
Those are all the questions I have at this time. We may
have some additional questions that we will pose in writing to
you.
Mr. Filner, do you have anything, do you want to make any
closing statements? Mr. Filner. No, thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Boustany. Mr. Fortuno, do you have anything in addition
to add?
Mr. Fortuno. No, thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Boustany. Well, again, Admiral, we thank you again.
Congratulations on assuming your new post as Commandant. We
look forward to working with you. We have a lot of confidence
in what you will bring to the Coast Guard activities as we move
forward.
Thank you. The Committee stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 1:39 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
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