[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
ACHIEVING MISSION BALANCE: POSITIONING THE COAST GUARD FOR THE FUTURE
=======================================================================
(117-28)
REMOTE HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON
COAST GUARD AND MARITIME TRANSPORTATION
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON
TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
OCTOBER 20, 2021
__________
Printed for the use of the
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available online at: https://www.govinfo.gov/committee/house-
transportation?path=/browsecommittee/chamber/house/committee/
transportation
______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
46-987PDF WASHINGTON : 2022
COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
PETER A. DeFAZIO, Oregon, Chair
SAM GRAVES, Missouri ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON,
DON YOUNG, Alaska District of Columbia
ERIC A. ``RICK'' CRAWFORD, Arkansas EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas
BOB GIBBS, Ohio RICK LARSEN, Washington
DANIEL WEBSTER, Florida GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California
THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky STEVE COHEN, Tennessee
SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey
RODNEY DAVIS, Illinois JOHN GARAMENDI, California
JOHN KATKO, New York HENRY C. ``HANK'' JOHNSON, Jr.,
BRIAN BABIN, Texas Georgia
GARRET GRAVES, Louisiana ANDRE CARSON, Indiana
DAVID ROUZER, North Carolina DINA TITUS, Nevada
MIKE BOST, Illinois SEAN PATRICK MALONEY, New York
RANDY K. WEBER, Sr., Texas JARED HUFFMAN, California
DOUG LaMALFA, California JULIA BROWNLEY, California
BRUCE WESTERMAN, Arkansas FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida
BRIAN J. MAST, Florida DONALD M. PAYNE, Jr., New Jersey
MIKE GALLAGHER, Wisconsin ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California
BRIAN K. FITZPATRICK, Pennsylvania MARK DeSAULNIER, California
JENNIFFER GONZALEZ-COLON, STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts
Puerto Rico SALUD O. CARBAJAL, California
TROY BALDERSON, Ohio ANTHONY G. BROWN, Maryland
PETE STAUBER, Minnesota TOM MALINOWSKI, New Jersey
TIM BURCHETT, Tennessee GREG STANTON, Arizona
DUSTY JOHNSON, South Dakota COLIN Z. ALLRED, Texas
JEFFERSON VAN DREW, New Jersey SHARICE DAVIDS, Kansas, Vice Chair
MICHAEL GUEST, Mississippi JESUS G. ``CHUY'' GARCIA, Illinois
TROY E. NEHLS, Texas ANTONIO DELGADO, New York
NANCY MACE, South Carolina CHRIS PAPPAS, New Hampshire
NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS, New York CONOR LAMB, Pennsylvania
BETH VAN DUYNE, Texas SETH MOULTON, Massachusetts
CARLOS A. GIMENEZ, Florida JAKE AUCHINCLOSS, Massachusetts
MICHELLE STEEL, California CAROLYN BOURDEAUX, Georgia
KAIALI`I KAHELE, Hawaii
MARILYN STRICKLAND, Washington
NIKEMA WILLIAMS, Georgia
MARIE NEWMAN, Illinois
TROY A. CARTER, Louisiana
------
Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation
SALUD O. CARBAJAL, California, Chair
RICK LARSEN, Washington BOB GIBBS, Ohio
JAKE AUCHINCLOSS, Massachusetts, DON YOUNG, Alaska
Vice Chair RANDY K. WEBER, Sr., Texas
SEAN PATRICK MALONEY, New York MIKE GALLAGHER, Wisconsin
ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California JEFFERSON VAN DREW, New Jersey
ANTHONY G. BROWN, Maryland NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS, New York
CHRIS PAPPAS, New Hampshire SAM GRAVES, Missouri (Ex Officio)
PETER A. DeFAZIO, Oregon (Ex
Officio)
CONTENTS
Page
Summary of Subject Matter........................................ v
STATEMENTS OF MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE
Hon. Salud O. Carbajal, a Representative in Congress from the
State of California, and Chair, Subcommittee on Coast Guard and
Maritime Transportation, opening statement..................... 1
Prepared statement........................................... 3
Hon. Bob Gibbs, a Representative in Congress from the State of
Ohio, and Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Coast Guard and
Maritime Transportation, opening statement..................... 4
Prepared statement........................................... 5
Hon. Peter A. DeFazio, a Representative in Congress from the
State of Oregon, and Chair, Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure, prepared statement............................. 29
Hon. Sam Graves, a Representative in Congress from the State of
Missouri, and Ranking Member, Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure, prepared statement............................. 30
WITNESSES
Vice Admiral Scott A. Buschman, Deputy Commandant for Operations,
U.S. Coast Guard, oral statement............................... 6
Prepared statement........................................... 8
APPENDIX
Questions to Vice Admiral Scott A. Buschman, Deputy Commandant
for Operations, U.S. Coast Guard, from:
Hon. Alan S. Lowenthal....................................... 31
Hon. Michelle Steel.......................................... 31
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
October 15, 2021
SUMMARY OF SUBJECT MATTER
TO: LMembers, Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime
Transportation
FROM: LStaff, Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime
Transportation
RE: LHearing on ``Achieving Mission Balance:
Positioning the Coast Guard for the Future''
_______________________________________________________________________
PURPOSE
The Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation
will hold a hearing on Wednesday, October 20, 2021, at 10:00
a.m. EDT in 2167 Rayburn House Office Building and via Zoom to
examine how the U.S. Coast Guard (Coast Guard or Service)
allocates hours and resources among its multiple statutory
missions, as well as how the Service measures mission
performance. The Subcommittee will hear testimony from the U.S.
Coast Guard.
BACKGROUND
COAST GUARD
The Coast Guard was established on January 28, 1915,
through the consolidation of the Revenue Cutter Service
(established in 1790) and the Lifesaving Service (established
in 1848). The Coast Guard later assumed the duties of three
other agencies: the Lighthouse Service (established in 1789),
the Steamboat Inspection Service (established in 1838), and the
Bureau of Navigation (established in 1884).
Under Section 102 of Title 14, United States Code, the
Coast Guard has primary responsibility to enforce or assist in
the enforcement of all applicable federal laws on, under, and
over the high seas and waters subject to the jurisdiction of
the United States; to ensure the safety of life and property at
sea; to carry out domestic and international icebreaking
activities; and, as one of the six armed forces of the United
States, to maintain defense readiness to operate as a
specialized service in the Navy upon the declaration of war or
upon the president's direction.
The Coast Guard operates a fleet of diverse assets. Vessels
under 65 feet in length are classified as boats or small boats
and usually operate near shore and on inland waterways. The
Coast Guard operates roughly 1,602 boats, ranging from 12 to 64
feet in length.\1\ A ``cutter'' is any Coast Guard vessel 65
feet in length or greater. The Coast Guard has 259 cutters,
including harbor tugs, icebreakers, buoy tenders, construction
tenders, and patrol cutters.\2\ Additionally, the Coast Guard
maintains an inventory of roughly 200 fixed and rotary wing
aircraft.\3\ The Service includes over 40,000 active-duty
military members, 6,200 reservists, and 8,700 civilian
employees who support air/surface fleets and landside
operations.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ U.S. Coast Guard. Coast Guard Operational Assets. https://
www.uscg.mil/About/Assets/ Accessed on October 8, 2021.
\2\ Id.
\3\ Id.
\4\ U.S. Coast Guard. Workforce. https://www.uscg.mil/About/
Workforce/ Accessed October 13, 2021.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Coast Guard is organized geographically into districts
and sectors, and divided into two areas (i.e., Atlantic and
Pacific), each of which is commanded by a vice admiral. There
are a total of nine districts under these two areas. The Coast
Guard has 24 air stations and 37 sectors that operate under the
districts, each of which is typically commanded by a captain.
Attached to sectors are small boat stations, of which the Coast
Guard has 280.
MISSIONS
Pursuant to section 102 of title 14, United States Code,
the Coast Guard is responsible for carrying out seven primary
duties, which the Service divides into 11 missions:
1) LMarine Safety: Enforce laws that prevent death, injury,
and property loss in the marine environment.
2) LMarine Environmental Protection: Enforce laws which
deter the introduction of invasive species into the maritime
environment, stop unauthorized ocean dumping, and prevent oil
and chemical spills.
3) LSearch and Rescue: Search for, and provide aid to,
individuals in distress or imminent danger. In 2020, the Coast
Guard responded to over 16,845 search and rescue cases and
saved over 4,286 lives.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ U.S. Coast Guard. Posture Statement 2022 Budget Overview.
https://www.uscg.mil/Portals/0/documents/budget/2022/FY22-USCG-Posture-
Statement-and-Budget-Overview.pdf?ver=oJCAB
y5X54a2xhDoxM6UOg%3d%3d Accessed on October 8, 2021.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4) LAids to Navigation: Mitigate the risk to sea navigation
by providing and maintaining more than 45,288 buoys, beacons,
lights, and other aids to mark channels and denote hazards.\6\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\6\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
5) LLiving Marine Resources: Enforce laws governing the
conservation, management, and recovery of living marine
resources, marine protected species, and national marine
sanctuaries and monuments.
6) LIce Operations: The Coast Guard is the only Federal
agency directed to operate and maintain icebreaking resources
for the United States. This includes establishing and
maintaining tracks for critical waterways, assisting and
escorting vessels beset or stranded in ice, and removing
navigational hazards created by ice in navigable waterways.
7) LPorts, Waterway, and Coastal Security (PWCS): Ensure
the security of waters subject to the jurisdiction of the
United States and the waterways, ports, along with intermodal
landside connections that comprise the Marine Transportation
System (MTS) and protect those who live or work on the water,
or who use the maritime environment for recreation.
8) LDrug Interdiction: Stem the flow of illegal drugs into
the United States. In 2020, the Coast Guard interdicted over
318,340 pounds of cocaine and 70,371 pounds of marijuana, with
an approximate wholesale value of $5.6 billion.\7\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\7\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
9) LMigrant Interdiction: Stem the flow via maritime routes
of undocumented migration and human smuggling activities.
10) LDefense Readiness: The Coast Guard maintains the
training and capability necessary to immediately integrate with
Department of Defense forces in both peacetime operations and
during times of war.
11) LOther Law Enforcement: Enforcement of international
treaties, including the prevention of illegal fishing in
international waters and the dumping of plastics and other
marine debris.
Section 888 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C.
468) groups the Coast Guard's 11 missions into ``Non-Homeland
Security'' and ``Homeland Security'' missions and requires the
Service to maintain all of its authorities, functions, and
capabilities. It also prohibits the Secretary of Homeland
Security from reducing ``substantially or significantly . . .
the missions of the Coast Guard or the Coast Guard's capability
to perform these missions.''
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Non-Homeland Security Missions Homeland Security Missions
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marine Safety Ports, Waterways, and Coastal
Marine Environmental Protection Security
Search and Rescue Drug Interdiction
Aids-to-Navigation Migrant Interdiction
Living Marine Resources Defense Readiness
Ice Operations Other Law Enforcement
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 1: Non-Homeland Security Missions vs. Homeland Security Missions.
Taken from Section 888 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C.
468).
These missions are managed within six mission programs
comprising the Coast Guard's strategic mission management
construct, which is based on the prevention and response
architecture. The six Coast Guard mission programs and their
Homeland Security Act mission responsibilities are listed in
the table below.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homeland Security Act
U.S. Coast Guard Mission Programs Missions
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maritime Prevention....................... Ports, Waterways & Coastal
Security--Prevention
Activities (PWCS-P)
Marine Safety (MS)
Marine Environmental
Protection--Prevention
Activities (MEP)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marine Transportation System Management... Aids to Navigation (ATON)
Ice Operations (ICE)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maritime Security Operations.............. Ports, Waterways & Coastal
Security--Response
Activities (PWCS-R)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maritime Law Enforcement.................. Migrant Interdiction
(MIGRANT)
Drug Interdiction (DRUG)
Living Marine Resources
(LMR)
Other Law Enforcement (OLE)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maritime Response......................... Search and Rescue (SAR)
Marine Environmental
Protection--Response
Activities (MER)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Defense Operations........................ Defense Readiness (DR)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 2: Coast Guard Mission programs. https://www.uscg.mil/Portals/0/
documents/budget/FY_2020_USCG_APR_Final-V3-dtd-3-16-2021.pdf?ver=2021-
03-15-113137-970 page 1
TRACKING MISSION BALANCE AND PERFORMANCE
To track Coast Guard mission balance and performance in
each fiscal year (FY), three metrics are primarily used:
funding per mission, resource hours per mission, and a set of
performance measures developed by the Coast Guard pursuant to
Section 1115 of the title 31, United States Code, federal
government and agency performance plans.
FUNDING PER MISSION
The Coast Guard reports funds spent on each of its
statutory missions in its annual budget request to Congress. In
FY 2021, the Service spent approximately the same percentage of
its funding for non-homeland security missions (48.9 percent)
as homeland security missions (51.1 percent).\8\ From 2001 to
2011, the largest percentage of funding has been dedicated to
the ports, waterways, and coastal security (PWCS) mission but
in recent years, the funding for the drug interdiction mission
has garnered more funding. In FY 2021, 19.2 percent of funds
were spent on the drug interdiction mission.\9\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\8\ Id.
\9\ Id.
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Figure 1: Funding Per Mission FY 2018-2021. Data from the Coast Guard
Posture Statement Budget Overview FY 2019, Coast Guard Posture
Statement Budget Overview FY 2020, Coast Guard Posture Statement Budget
Overview FY 2021, and Coast Guard Posture Statement Budget Overview FY
2022.
https://www.uscg.mil/Budget/Archive/
RESOURCE HOURS PER MISSION
Resource hours are the number of flight hours (for
aircraft) and underway hours (for boats and cutters) used to
carry out a specific mission. These resource hours are tracked
internally by the Coast Guard. In FY 2020, the Coast Guard
spent 51.5 percent of resource hours on homeland security
missions, versus 48.5 percent for non-homeland security
missions.\10\ Since FY 2011, the largest percentage of resource
hours has been dedicated to the drug interdiction mission.\11\
Numerical targets such as resource hours and funding for a
particular mission are not adequate tools to make conclusions
concerning mission balance given that multiple missions are
often performed during a single operation or use of an
asset.\12\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\10\ Data provided by the U.S. Government Accountability Office
that was obtained from the Coast Guard for use in the report ``Coast
Guard: Information on Defense Readiness Mission Deployments, Expenses,
and Funding''
\11\ U.S. Government Accountability Office. Coast Guard:
Information on Defense Readiness Mission Deployments, Expenses, and
Funding. https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-21-104741.pdf September 15,
2021
\12\ U.S. Government Accountability Office. Coast Guard: Actions
Needed to Improve Strategic Allocation of Assets and Determine
Workforce Requirements https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-16-379 May
2016.
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Figure 2: Coast Guard Vessel and Operations Hours Expended by Statutory
Mission, Fiscal Years 2011 through 2020. https://www.gao.gov/assets/
gao-21-104741.pdf
PERFORMANCE MEASURES
Each year, the Coast Guard undertakes a Standard
Operational Planning Process (SOPP). As part of the SOPP, Coast
Guard headquarters issues an annual Strategic Planning
Direction (SPD), which is the primary mechanism for allocating
resources and providing strategic direction to operational
commanders at the area, district, and sector levels. To
determine and plan for how assets are allocated, Coast Guard
headquarters relies on mission priorities, data on historical
and current-year mission performance, and operational and
intelligence assessments. As part of the planning process,
field commands are allocated resource hours by asset type to be
used for meeting strategic commitments and executing the 11
statutory missions.
The SPD is annually disseminated to the two Area Commands
that distribute their own Operational Planning Directions (OPD)
through their command levels, with each district command
developing its own plan to cover its area of responsibility
(AOR). Area commanders develop a plan known as the Area
Operational Planning Direction and district commanders develop
a districtlevel OPD. After assets are deployed, personnel at
the field units enter the assets' actual resource hours used by
mission into data systems. The asset resource hour data are
consolidated on a quarterly basis as part of Operational
Performance Assessment Reports. The historical and current-year
operational data from these reports, as well as Planning
Assessments, are communicated back to Coast Guard headquarters
as part of the information used to develop the SPD for the
following year.
The Coast Guard maintains the SPD, and the Performance
Measure Summary is the best method it currently has to properly
assign and balance resources by mission and measure mission
performance. In a 2016 Government Accountability Office (GAO)
report titled Coast Guard: Actions Needed to Improve Strategic
Allocation of Assets and Determine Workforce Requirements,\13\
GAO found the Coast Guard SPD often allocates more mission
hours to assets than are actually used. They also found that
the Coast Guard does not have a systematic process for
prioritizing the most important manpower requirements analyses,
which results in a lack of assurances that the highest priority
missions are fully supported with the appropriate number of
qualified personnel. As a result, the GAO provided three
recommendations to the Service with which DHS has agreed. As of
October 2021, the Coast Guard has failed to act on all three
recommendations.\14\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\13\ Id.
\14\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
These recommendations were:
LTo improve transparency in allocating its limited
resources, and to help ensure that its resource allocation
decisions are the most effective ones for fulfilling its
missions given existing risks, the Commandant of the Coast
Guard should document how the risk assessments conducted were
used to inform and support its annual asset allocation
decisions.
LTo ensure that high priority mission activities
are fully supported with the appropriate number of staff
possessing the requisite mix of skills and abilities, the
Commandant of the Coast Guard should develop a systematic
process that prioritizes manpower requirements analyses for
units that are the most critical for achieving mission needs.
LTo improve the strategic allocation of assets,
the Commandant of the Coast Guard should incorporate field unit
input, such as information on assets' actual performance from
Operational Performance Assessment Reports and Planning
Assessments, to inform more realistic asset allocation
decisions--in addition to asset performance capacities
currently used--in the annual Strategic Planning Directions to
more effectively communicate strategic intent to field units.
VARIABLES IMPACTING MISSION BALANCE AND PERFORMANCE
Beyond allocation of resources and strategic planning, many
variables can impact Coast Guard mission balance and
performance.
ASSET AVAILABILITY
The age of Coast Guard vessels and aircraft coupled with an
increased tempo of operations has led to increased rates of
failure among the assets' parts and major systems. These
factors, in turn, led to increased scheduled and unscheduled
maintenance costs and reduced patrol hours which have
negatively impacted operational readiness and mission
performance. In 2004, the Coast Guard began its current fleet
recapitalization.\15\ As of October 2021, the Coast Guard is
set to deliver the 45th Fast Response Cutter; deliver the ninth
National Security Cutter, continue construction of the first
Offshore Patrol Cutter and the first Polar Security Cutter; and
set up the acquisition program office for the Great Lakes
Icebreaker.\16\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\15\ Congressional Research Service. Coast Guard Cutter
Procurement: Background and Issues for Congress. https://sgp.fas.org/
crs/weapons/R42567.pdf Updated September 15, 2021.
\16\ Department of Homeland Security. Coast Guard Fiscal Year 2022
Congressional Justification. https://www.uscg.mil/Portals/0/documents/
budget/2022/FY2022_Congressional_
Justification.pdf?ver=YXeBcfwpAIAE7RuU94zRJg%3d%3d
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Despite this recapitalization, the Service operates a fleet
of aging aircraft and vessels of which the oldest is the U.S.
Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) Smilax at 77 years old.\17\ The GAO
reported that the total number of resource hours in FY 2020
dropped to 623,557 from 771,821 hours in FY 2012, a decline of
approximately eight percent.\18\ The Coast Guard attributes
some of this decline to the decreased availability of cutters
and aircraft due to increased rates of asset failures, an
example of which being an engine fire onboard the USCGC Healy,
the only medium icebreaker the Coast Guard operates in the
Arctic, which took the vessel out of commission for much of
2020.\19\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\17\ Coast Guard News. Coast Guard holds commemoration ceremony for
Queen of the Fleet. https://coastguardnews.com/coast-guard-holds-
commemoration-ceremony-for-queen-of-the-fleet/2019/11/01/ November 1,
2019.
\18\ Data provided by GAO that was obtained from the Coast Guard
for use in the report ``Coast Guard: Information on Defense Readiness
Mission Deployments, Expenses, and Funding''
\19\ U.S. Coast Guard. Heavy metal: It took a crane, a barge and a
23-year-old motor, but Healy will return to the Arctic. https://
www.mycg.uscg.mil/News/Article/2437415/heavy-metal-it-took-a-crane-a-
barge-and-a-23-year-old-motor-but-healy-will-retu/ December 7, 2020.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
EMERGENCIES
The Coast Guard responds to a wide range of natural and
man-made disasters in the United States and abroad. On several
occasions over the last decade, the Service surged its
personnel and assets from locations all over the United States
to respond to national and international emergencies. From
2007-2020, the U.S. Coast Guard conducted 23 major surge
operations--high-intensity, short-notice emergency responses to
catastrophic events, like hurricanes or oil spills. During
these surges, the Coast Guard deployed varying numbers and
types of personnel, aircraft, and vessels based on event
severity and duration.\20\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\20\ GAO. Coast Guard: A More Systematic Process to Resolve
Recommended Actions Could Enhance Future Surge Operations. https://
www.gao.gov/assets/gao-21-584.pdf September 2021.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Each time the Coast Guard surges assets and personnel to
respond to an emergency, it takes those resources away from a
programmed mission. As a result, funding and resource hours are
potentially reduced and performance suffers for certain
missions. In September of 2021, the GAO completed a study on
Coast Guard surge operation's impacts to mission
performance.\21\ Overall the GAO was not able to determine
impacts to mission performance as a result of surge operations
due to multiple factors beyond surge operations, such as
personnel transfers, that can also affect mission activities
but recommended the Coast Guard establish a more systematic
process for ensuring that recommended actions are tracked,
updated, and resolved in line with Coast Guard goals to assist
in monitoring mission performance and effects of surge
operations.\22\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\21\ Id.
\22\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
WORKFORCE NEEDS
The Coast Guard relies on its service members, reservists,
and civilian workforce to carry out each of its 11 missions. In
April 2018, the Coast Guard reported to Congress that it was
operating below the workforce necessary to meet its mission
needs.\23\ In a follow up report to these findings, the GAO
found that the Service does not have a complete picture of the
workforce needed for meeting its mission demands and lacks
proper analyses capabilities for most of its unit types.\24\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\23\ U.S. Coast Guard. A Coast Guard for the Twenty-First Century:
The Past, Present, and Future of Coast Guard Modernization. September
18, 2018.
\24\ GAO. Coast Guard: Actions Needed to Evaluate the Effectiveness
of Organizational Changes and Determine Workforce Needs. https://
www.gao.gov/assets/gao-20-223.pdf February 2020.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Although the Coast Guard has informed Congress that it
needs to increase its workforce, it has only assessed a small
portion of its workforce needs. Its preferred tool for
assessing workforce needs is its manpower requirements
determination process, which includes manpower requirements
analyses (MRA) and is completed with a manpower requirements
determination (MRD). Coast Guard guidance states that MRAs are
to be updated every five years, and according to its April 2018
Manpower Requirements Plan, the Coast Guard's goal is to
complete MRDs for all of its 58,000 personnel and 158 unit
types. However, the Coast Guard had completed MRAs for 13
percent of its workforce and MRDs for two percent over the past
five calendar years.\25\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\25\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Coast Guard is dependent upon its workforce and assets
to complete its duties and missions. As a small service, the
Coast Guard stretches its available resources in order to
perform the responsibilities given to them by Congress and keep
the waterways and nation secure. Without proper strategic
planning and analysis, true mission balance cannot be achieved.
WITNESS LIST
LVice Admiral Scott A. Buschman, Deputy Commandant
for Operations, United States Coast Guard
ACHIEVING MISSION BALANCE: POSITIONING THE COAST GUARD FOR THE FUTURE
----------
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2021
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Coast Guard and
Maritime Transportation,
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:01 a.m., in
room 2167 Rayburn House Office Building and via Zoom, Hon.
Salud O. Carbajal (Chair of the subcommittee) presiding.
Members present in person: Mr. Carbajal, Mr. Larsen, Mr.
Auchincloss, and Mr. Gibbs.
Members present remotely: Mr. Lowenthal, Mr. Brown, Dr. Van
Drew, and Mrs. Steel.
Mr. Carbajal. The subcommittee will come to order.
I ask unanimous consent that the chair be authorized to
declare a recess at any time during today's hearing.
Without objection, so ordered.
I also ask unanimous consent that Members not on the
subcommittee be permitted to sit with the subcommittee at
today's hearing and ask questions.
Without objection, so ordered.
As a reminder, please keep your microphones muted unless
speaking. Should I hear any inadvertent background noise, I
will request that the Members please mute their microphones.
And to insert a document into the record, please have your
staff email it to DocumentsT&I@mail.house.gov.
I will proceed with my opening statement.
Good morning, and welcome to today's Coast Guard and
Maritime Transportation Subcommittee hearing on ``Achieving
Mission Balance: Positioning the Coast Guard for the Future.''
Today, we will hear directly from the Coast Guard Deputy
Commandant for Operations, Vice Admiral Scott Buschman, who
will enlighten us on the Coast Guard's 11 mission sets and its
remarkable talent for persevering under adverse conditions,
with limited resources, to achieve mission objectives.
As a regulatory agency, a law enforcement organization, a
military service, a first responder, and a member of the
intelligence community, the Coast Guard wears many hats. It
relies on roughly 40,700 Active Duty servicemembers, 6,200
reservists, 8,700 civilian employees, and 26,000 auxiliarists
to perform its missions, which include ports, waterways, and
coastal security; drug and migrant interdiction; marine
environmental protection; marine safety; aids to navigation;
and search and rescue, amongst others.
The Coast Guard plays a critical role in preserving our
national security as the sole law enforcement agency with the
authority and capability to enforce national and international
law in the United States Territorial waters and high seas.
Yet, the world's best Coast Guard is chronically
underfunded and overextended. The Coast Guard is known to
``punch above its weight.'' Talk to any Coastie, and he or she
will proudly boast, ``We do a lot with very little.'' It is a
small, resourceful, and resilient service, but we can do
better, and the Coast Guard deserves our support.
I am keenly interested in the Coast Guard's marine safety
program. Today, I would like to hear the Coast Guard's plan to
fully staff its marine inspection program with experienced and
appropriately qualified personnel. Those inspectors must be
capable of inspecting vessels to ensure they meet Federal
safety standards, and the Service must properly allocate the
resources to carry out this important mission.
Having just recognized the 2-year anniversary of the
Conception casualty and tragedy last month, we are reminded
that vessel safety inspections are vital to safety and cannot
be brushed aside in favor of more, oftentimes, exciting
missions.
Marine environmental protection is especially important for
today's hearing, as we monitor the ongoing cleanup efforts of
the oil spill that occurred earlier this month in southern
California. The Coast Guard has a leading role in the unified
command in those cleanup efforts and will pursue an
investigation into the cause of the spill, which is sure to be
lengthy and will require additional resources.
I also look forward to learning more about the resources
the Coast Guard applies to its drug and migrant interdiction
operations. Last year, the Coast Guard prevented 318,340 pounds
of cocaine and 70,371 pounds of marijuana from making its way
onto the streets of our country. Successful interdiction in
these areas requires a multifaceted, multilayered approach.
Capitalizing on its interagency partnerships, like those with
JIATF South, and leveraging over 25 bilateral agreements, the
Coast Guard is uniquely postured in its law enforcement
authorities to conduct the counternarcotics mission and stem
the flow of human smuggling and trafficking.
However, in my conversations with members of the Coast
Guard, I was disappointed to learn of the problems facing the
men and women defending our Nation, incurring sacrifice after
sacrifice to upset the plans of drug trafficking organizations
and transnational criminal organizations, and rescue victims
from capsized boats. Many Coast Guard members return home at
the end of the workday to military housing containing asbestos
and lead-based paint. They have to wait weeks or even months to
receive specialty medical care; have a hard time finding
quality, affordable childcare; or face limited job
opportunities for their spouses.
Today, I would be interested to learn more about the Coast
Guard's plans to support its most valuable resource of all--its
people--because without them, mission success is not
achievable.
Lastly, I would like to turn to an important issue.
Recently, news emerged of a disturbing incident that happened
to a U.S. Merchant Marine Academy cadet. This cadet was
sexually assaulted onboard a vessel during her sea-year
experience in 2019. It is my understanding that the Coast Guard
Investigative Service is conducting an investigation. Hearing
the cadet's story broke my heart and the hearts of many.
As the chair of this subcommittee, member of the House
Armed Services Committee, and appointee to the U.S. Merchant
Marine Academy Board of Visitors, I have come to learn of the
terrible culture within the maritime community, where women are
not safe in learning and work environments. I am appalled that
I was not notified of this investigation or of these
circumstances at the Academy. In fact, despite my appointment
in April, neither the Superintendent nor anyone at the Academy
has engaged my office. This must change.
I raise this issue today to highlight the Coast Guard's
important role as law enforcement upon the high seas. I also
expect the Coast Guard to set an example for industry, to work
within its own ranks and within the maritime industry to ensure
women feel safe and stop this culture.
We have a lot to cover today, so let's get after it. I look
forward to our witness' testimony and discovering more about
how the Coast Guard balances so many competing priorities to
preserve our great Nation.
I also don't want to suggest that the Coast Guard did not
make me aware of the incident I just mentioned. The Commandant,
who I was with a week ago, mentioned this to me as it was
hitting the news. So I don't want to include him in the lack of
information that I received from the Academy.
With that, I now call on the ranking member of the
subcommittee, Mr. Gibbs, for an opening statement.
[Mr. Carbajal's prepared statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Salud O. Carbajal, a Representative in
Congress from the State of California, and Chair, Subcommittee on Coast
Guard and Maritime Transportation
Good morning, and welcome to today's Coast Guard and Maritime
Transportation subcommittee hearing on ``Achieving Mission Balance:
Positioning the Coast Guard for the Future.'' Today, we will hear
directly from the Coast Guard Deputy Commandant for Operations, Vice
Admiral Scott Buschman, who will enlighten us on the Coast Guard's 11
mission sets and its remarkable talent for persevering under adverse
conditions with limited resources to achieve mission objectives.
As a regulatory agency, a law enforcement organization, a military
service, a first responder, and a member of the intelligence community,
the Coast Guard wears many hats. It relies on roughly 40,700 Active
Duty service members, 6,200 reservists, 8,700 civilian employees, and
26,000 Auxiliarists to perform its missions, which include Ports,
Waterway, and Coastal Security, Drug and Migrant Interdiction, Marine
Environmental Protection, Marine Safety, Aids to Navigation, and Search
and Rescue, among others. The Coast Guard plays a critical role in
preserving our national security as the sole law enforcement agency
with the authority and capability to enforce national and international
law in the United States territorial waters and the high seas.
Yet, the world's best Coast Guard is chronically underfunded and
overextended. The Coast Guard is known to ``punch above its weight,''
talk to any Coastie and he or she will proudly boast ``we do a lot with
a little.'' It's a small, resourceful, and resilient service but we can
do better, and the Coast Guard deserves our support.
I am keenly interested in the Coast Guard's marine safety program.
Today, I would like to hear the Coast Guard's plan to fully staff its
marine inspection program with experienced and appropriately qualified
personnel. Those inspectors must be capable of inspecting vessels to
ensure they meet federal safety standards, and the service must
properly allocate the resources to carry out this important mission.
Having just recognized the two-year anniversary of the CONCEPTION
casualty last month, we are reminded that vessel safety inspections are
vital to safety and cannot be brushed aside in favor of more
``exciting'' missions.
Marine environmental protection is especially important for today's
hearing as we monitor the ongoing cleanup efforts of the oil spill that
occurred earlier this month in Southern California. The Coast Guard has
a leading role in the unified command in those cleanup efforts and will
pursue an investigation into the cause of the spill, which is sure to
be lengthy and will require additional resources.
I also look forward to learning more about the resources the Coast
Guard applies to its Drug and Migrant Interdiction Operations. Last
year, the Coast Guard prevented 318,340 pounds of cocaine and 70,371
pounds of marijuana from making its way onto the streets of our
country. Successful interdiction in these areas requires a multi-
faceted, multi-layered approach. Capitalizing on its interagency
partnerships, like those with JIATF-South, and leveraging over 25
bilateral agreements, the Coast Guard is uniquely postured in its law
enforcement authorities to conduct the counter narcotics mission and
stem the flow of human smuggling and trafficking.
However, in my conversations with members of the Coast Guard, I was
disappointed to learn of the problems facing the men and women
defending our nation, incurring sacrifice after sacrifice to upset the
plans of drug trafficking organizations and transnational criminal
organizations, and rescue victims from capsized boats. Many Coast Guard
members return home at the end of a workday to military housing
containing asbestos and lead-based paint, have to wait weeks or even
months to receive specialty medical care, have a hard time finding
quality, affordable child care, or face limited job opportunities for
their spouses. Today, I'd be interested to learn more about the Coast
Guard's plans to support its most valuable resource of all, its people,
because without them mission success is not achievable.
Lastly, I'd like to turn to an important issue. Recently, news
emerged of a disturbing incident that happened to a U.S. Merchant
Marine Academy cadet. This cadet was sexually assaulted on board a
vessel during her sea year experience in 2019. It is my understanding
that the Coast Guard investigative service is conducting an
investigation. Hearing of the cadet's story broke my heart. As Chair of
this subcommittee, member of the House Armed Services Committee, and
appointee to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Board of Visitors, I've
come to learn the terrible culture within the maritime community where
women are not safe in learning and work environments. I am appalled
that I was not notified of this investigation or of these circumstances
at the academy. In fact, despite my appointment in April, the
Superintendent nor anyone at the Academy has engaged my office. This
must change. I raise this issue today to highlight the Coast Guard's
important role as law-enforcement upon the high seas. I also expect to
Coast Guard set an example for industry, to work within its own ranks
and within the maritime industry to ensure women feel safe and stop
this culture.
We have a lot to cover today so let's get after it. I look forward
to our witness' testimony and discovering more about how the Coast
Guard balances so many competing priorities to preserve our great
nation.
Mr. Gibbs. Thank you, Chair Carbajal.
And thank you to our witness for being here today.
The Coast Guard has three strategic priorities: maritime
safety, security, and stewardship. It also has duties and
missions laid out in at least two sections of law and
performance goals under a separate statute. I look forward to
hearing from Vice Admiral Buschman how all these missions and
duties are balanced against one another when making decisions
about allocating time and resources.
The committee has long been concerned that the functions
related to the maritime transportation system carried out by
the Coast Guard should not be starved to feed the Service's
maritime security functions. The Service has recently increased
national defense activities. This heightens those concerns,
especially at a time when current port congestion and supply-
chain disruptions show how important the Coast Guard's maritime
transportation system role is in the U.S. economy.
An example of the Coast Guard's important maritime
transportation work is the credentialing of mariners.
Subcommittee members have recently been contacted by U.S.
maritime unions concerned about credentialing delays. I expect
the vice admiral will have answers about those delays and let
us know what is needed to get the program back on track.
I also look forward to hearing how the Coast Guard intends
to complete its very long delayed manpower planning analyses
and subsequent manpower requirements. The structural portions
of the Coast Guard's modernization have been in place since
2010, more than a decade, but only 13 percent of the manpower
planning analyses that were to build out the modernization
workforce have been completed. Only 2 percent of the manpower
requirements that derive from those analyses have been
implemented. How much longer before the Coast Guard's workforce
catches up with its structure?
Finally, in 2016, GAO made three recommendations on
tracking mission performance, which the Department of Homeland
Security concurred with. To date, none have been implemented.
According to the GAO, the Coast Guard needs to, one, better
document risk assessments that support its annual assessment
allocation decisions; two, develop a process to prioritize
manpower requirements analyses to units that are most critical
for achieving mission needs; and three, better incorporate
field unit input. I would like to know when these
recommendations will be implemented.
I thank you, Chairman Carbajal, for holding this hearing,
and I yield back.
[Mr. Gibbs' prepared statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Bob Gibbs, a Representative in Congress from
the State of Ohio, and Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Coast Guard and
Maritime Transportation
Thank you, Chair Carbajal, and thank you to our witness for being
here today.
The Coast Guard has three strategic priorities--maritime safety,
security, and stewardship. It also has duties and missions laid out in
at least two sections of law and performance goals under a separate
statute. I look forward to hearing from Vice Admiral Buschman how all
these missions and duties are balanced against one another when making
decisions about allocating time and resources.
The Committee has long been concerned that the functions related to
the maritime transportation system carried out by the Coast Guard
should not be starved to feed the Service's maritime security
functions. The Service has recently increased national defense
activities.
This heightens those concerns, especially at a time when current
port congestion and supply chain disruptions show how important the
Coast Guard's maritime transportation system role is to the U.S.
economy.
An example of the Coast Guard's important maritime transportation
work is the credentialing of mariners. Subcommittee Members have
recently been contacted by U.S. maritime unions concerned about
credentialing delays. I expect the Vice Admiral will have answers about
those delays, and let us know what is needed to get that program back
on track.
I also look forward to hearing how the Coast Guard intends to
complete its very long delayed manpower planning analyses and
subsequent manpower requirements. The structural portions of the Coast
Guard's modernization have been in place since 2010, more than a
decade, but only 13 percent of the manpower planning analyses that were
to build out the modernization workforce have been completed. Only 2
percent of the manpower requirements that derive from those analyses
have been implemented. How much longer before the Coast Guard's
workforce catches up with its structure?
Finally, in 2016, GAO made three recommendations on tracking
mission performance, which the Department of Homeland Security
concurred with. To date, none have been implemented.
According to GAO, the Coast Guard needs to better document risk
assessments that support its annual asset allocation decisions; develop
a process to prioritize manpower requirements analyses to units that
are most critical for achieving mission needs; and better incorporate
field unit input.
I'd like to know when these recommendations will be implemented.
Thank you, Chair Carbajal for holding this hearing today. I yield
back.
Mr. Carbajal. Thank you, Mr. Gibbs.
I would now like to welcome the witness. We have Vice
Admiral Scott Buschman, Deputy Commandant for Operations of the
United States Coast Guard.
Thank you for being here today, and I look forward to your
testimony.
Without objection, our witness' full statement will be
included in the record.
Since your written testimony has been made a part of the
record, the subcommittee requests that you limit your oral
testimony to 5 minutes.
Admiral Buschman, you may proceed.
TESTIMONY OF VICE ADMIRAL SCOTT A. BUSCHMAN, DEPUTY COMMANDANT
FOR OPERATIONS, U.S. COAST GUARD
Admiral Buschman. Good morning, Chairman Carbajal, Ranking
Member Gibbs, distinguished members of the subcommittee. It is
my honor to be here today to represent the Coast Guard on this
important topic and the various subjects you just raised.
I want to thank you for the outstanding support and trust
Congress and this subcommittee has provided and continues to
provide to our Coast Guard. Together with your support and the
Coast Guard's dedicated servicemembers--the Service's position
as a trusted maritime Armed Force, law enforcement agency,
regulator, humanitarian service, and first responder.
From internal waters to the edges of our 200-mile exclusive
economic zone and beyond, the Coast Guard has provided security
and safety on our Nation's waters for a combination of
prevention and response operations for over 230 years. Our
unique authorities and the exceptional skill with which Coast
Guard women and men carry out their missions provide the
foundation for not only carrying out our 11 statutory missions
but to be globally impactful and relevant. As a result, the
demand for our Coast Guard, both at home and abroad, has never
been higher.
The Coast Guard impacts the lives of nearly every American
by ensuring the continued safety, security, stewardship, and
prosperity of the Nation's borders. And despite the impacts of
COVID-19, 2021 has been no exception.
We protect and support the Marine Transportation System to
ensure $5.4 trillion in U.S. commerce and safeguard our
maritime borders from terrorist threats, illegal drugs, and
other contraband; irregular migration; and illegal,
unregulated, and unreported fishing.
We also continue to be the world's premier life-saving and
maritime crisis response organization, tested repeatedly by yet
another active hurricane season, with 20 named storms to date,
as well other natural and human-caused disasters.
Today's Coast Guard operates in an increasingly complex and
interdependent world. Our deliberate planning and force
allocation process continues to evaluate the threats and
opportunities to U.S. maritime interests and develop plans to
achieve mission success in this dynamic environment.
National, departmental, and service strategies focus our
efforts and guide us in weighing operational risks and
competing demands for resources and to allocate assets
optimally across our missions. We then delegate the tactical
control of assets to operational commanders, who leverage the
intelligence community and our other partners to address
maritime threats and safeguard our national strategic,
environmental, and economic interests. The entire process
allows risk-informed decisions that direct limited resources
where they are most needed.
To help guide our operational planning process, we conduct
annual strategic reviews to identify operational gaps, assess
performance, and outline initiatives needed to improve mission
execution across our 11 statutory missions.
Surge operations during national regional emergencies,
including the ongoing pandemic, hurricane response, and the
recent oil spill in southern California, all demonstrate the
value of this nimble planning process.
Though our planning system is responsive, transparent, and
repeatable, additional and more capable resources are required
to meet increasing demand across the Service's broad mission
spectrum. Our legacy fleet of cutters and aircraft have served
admirably for decades but are becoming far more difficult and
expensive to maintain, and we continue to see degradation in
their operational capability.
We greatly appreciate the administration's and Congress'
support of our recapitalization efforts. Funding provided in
fiscal year 2021 allowed us to sustain momentum on our most
critical acquisition priorities, including the Offshore Patrol
Cutter, the Polar Security Cutter, and the Waterways Commerce
Cutter.
However, these cutting-edge assets, designed to bring the
best our Nation has to bear on today's maritime challenges,
cannot be supported on budgets that were developed for assets
built in the 1960s and 1970s. We appreciate the congressional
support that has enabled us to continue modernizing our fleet
while we position the Coast Guard for the future.
In closing, history has proven that a responsive, capable,
and agile Coast Guard, using a deliberative planning process,
is indispensable to the American people. We also seek to invest
in improving capabilities and recruiting, developing, and
retaining an exceptional workforce reflective of the Nation we
serve to succeed in an increasingly complex and dynamic
environment.
As our Commandant has stated, predictable budget growth of
3 to 5 percent in operational funding, in conjunction with
these strategic investments, is needed to fully meet the
growing demand for your 21st-century Coast Guard.
The true value of the Coast Guard to the Nation is not its
ability to perform any single mission but in its versatile,
highly adaptive, multimission character. The interrelated
nature of the Coast Guard's missions and our culture of
ingenuity provides the Service with the ability to rapidly
shift from one mission to another as national priorities
demand.
On behalf of the women and men of the Coast Guard, thank
you again for your support and the opportunity to testify
before you today. I look forward to your questions.
[Admiral Buschman's prepared statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Vice Admiral Scott A. Buschman, Deputy Commandant
for Operations, U.S. Coast Guard
Good morning, Chairman Carbajal, Ranking Member Gibbs, and
distinguished members of the subcommittee. I appreciate the opportunity
to testify today. On behalf of the men and women of the United States
Coast Guard, I thank you for your oversight, support, and advocacy. It
is my pleasure to appear before you today to discuss the Service's
continuing efforts to provide the Nation with adaptive, responsive, and
balanced mission performance across its eleven legislatively mandated
mission programs.
Since 1790, the Coast Guard has been responsible for safeguarding
the American people and promoting national interests in a complex and
evolving maritime environment. As the only Armed Force \1\ within the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS), a Federal law enforcement
agency, a humanitarian organization, a member of the Intelligence
Community, and a Federal regulator, the Coast Guard simultaneously
defends America's sovereign interests, enforces U.S. law, promotes
respect for international law, acts as a first responder for natural
and man-made disasters, and facilitates the safe flow of legitimate
maritime commerce.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ 14 U.S.C. Sec. 101; 10 U.S.C. Sec. 101
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the execution of its duties within DHS, the Coast Guard serves
on the front lines for a nation whose economic prosperity and national
security are inextricably linked to its maritime interests. In this
capacity, the Coast Guard protects and defends more than 95,000 miles
of U.S. coastline and inland waterways, saves thousands of lives per
year, and safeguards America's sovereign rights and jurisdiction in its
3.4 million square nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)--the
world's largest.
The Coast Guard supports national priorities and every mission area
within DHS including: responding to disasters and significant weather
events; facilitating the flow of maritime commerce; protecting U.S.
national and environmental interests in the Polar Regions; stopping the
devastating impact of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU)
fishing; countering Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs);
safeguarding the Marine Transportation System (MTS) against all
threats, including those emerging in the cyber domain; and securing our
Nation's maritime borders.
Every day, for more than 230 years, the U.S. Coast Guard has
performed complex, life-saving missions in the most challenging
environments. In Fiscal Year 2021 alone, the Coast Guard saved 4,724
lives, serving as the lead federal agency responsible for maritime
search and rescue coordination. The Coast Guard's multi-mission
capabilities, broad authorities, organizational flexibility, and
incident response expertise uniquely position it to lead in many types
of crisis. To do this, the Coast Guard applies military, regulatory,
incident management, and law enforcement expertise to ensure safety,
security, stewardship, and resiliency across the Nation. The Service
stands ready to respond to natural and man-made disasters and can surge
personnel and assets at a moment's notice to respond to fires, floods,
hurricanes, earthquakes, oil spills, and other catastrophic events.
On top of day-to-day operations across its mission portfolio, the
Coast Guard is increasingly called upon to respond to significant
incidents, accidents, contingency events, and new mission demands
created by climate change that have a major impact on the Nation.
Environmental and geopolitical changes have increased the frequency and
magnitude of contingency operations. Between 2015 and 2020, the Coast
Guard surged personnel and assets to 12 major hurricanes and numerous
other tropical cyclones, assisted with wildfires in Oregon and
California, deployed personnel in response to record flooding in the
heartland, and provided medical and logistical support to the Southwest
Border.
Furthermore, as one of the six members of the Armed Forces, the
Coast Guard serves as a force multiplier for the Department of Defense
(DoD), supporting Combatant Commanders in meeting the objectives of the
National Defense and National Security Strategies. This support
includes conducting a varied set of defense readiness missions such as
counterterrorism operations, air defense, maritime threat response, and
theater security cooperation. Due to a unique blend of capabilities and
authorities, the Coast Guard serves an increasingly important role in
the Nation's defense, specifically in the critical space between peace
and armed conflict.
Additionally, the Service leverages over 60 multilateral and
bilateral agreements and works with a host of U.S. and foreign
government organizations to battle the destructive impacts of TCOs. Our
long-term counter-TCO efforts promote stability and strengthen the rule
of law throughout the Western Hemisphere, improve governance and
regional stability, decrease TCO-driven violent crime, and increase
economic opportunities--factors that influence irregular maritime
migration and the flow of illegal narcotics into our nation.
As globalization continues to drive increased interdependence
between nations, regional instability can cause major impacts on a
world-wide scale. The Coast Guard protects the U.S. maritime border
domain and U.S. commerce--not just by operating in U.S. territorial
waters, but by conducting operations on the high seas. Employing a
layered interdiction package consisting of air and surface assets,
specialized personnel, and broad authorities, the Coast Guard is
positioned to disrupt illicit drug smuggling and human trafficking
ventures and threats to our Nation far from our shores, and where they
are most vulnerable--at sea.
Last year, working with interagency and international partners, the
Coast Guard seized over 165 metric tons of cocaine and detained and
transferred 619 drug smugglers for criminal prosecution. Beyond the
important task of disrupting the illicit trafficking system that
delivers drugs to U.S. communities, prosecuting drug smugglers and
human traffickers facilitates a better understanding of TCOs and
bolsters a unified, whole-of-government approach to dismantle these
networks. Despite the past year's challenges related to COVID-19, the
Coast Guard sustained a formidable operational persistence in the
transit zone.
This required Coast Guard crews to be mission focused, while
confronting individual difficulties with being deployed, away from
their families and loved ones, during the pandemic.
Illicit drug and human trafficking are not the only threats to
regional security and stability. IUU fishing undermines the
international rules-based order, through practices that include the
systematic use of illegal fishing gear, the unreported transshipment of
illegal catch, and the deployment of unregulated distant water fishing
fleets which can destabilize the economies of smaller coastal states by
conducting industrial-scale IUU fishing activities that erode vital
food supply chains without regard to states' sovereign rights. IUU
fishing occurs around the globe. The Coast Guard partners with allies
to combat IUU fishing in the Gulf of Guinea off of western Africa, in
South America, and in the South Pacific and Southeast Asia, areas
identified as priority regions by the Interagency Working Group on IUU
Fishing, established under the Maritime Security and Fisheries
Enforcement (SAFE) Act.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Fisheries
Directorate. Priority Regions At Risk of IUU Fishing Activities. U.S.
Interagency Working Group on IUU Fishing. Retrieved October 15, 2021,
from https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/us-interagency-working-
group-iuu-fishing.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Illegal fishing practices, especially when coordinated by malign
state actors, can destabilize legitimate governments and destroy the
economic viability of coastal nations. IUU fishing is estimated to
result in tens of billions of dollars of lost revenue for legal
operators every year, significantly disadvantaging the U.S. fishing
fleet.\3\ Additionally, those engaged in IUU fishing practices are
prone to other nefarious activities, including drug smuggling, forced
labor, and human trafficking.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ The Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime,
IUU Fishing Index, January 2019.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Combatting the IUU fishing threat requires a whole-of-government
effort to improve data and intelligence sharing; enhance coordination
within regional partners; increase the traceability of seafood across
the global seafood supply chain; improve global enforcement operations
and related IUU fishing investigations; and prevent TCOs from
benefiting from IUU fishing. To achieve these goals, the Coast Guard is
actively collaborating with interagency partners through venues such as
the Interagency Working Group on IUU Fishing, established under the
Maritime SAFE Act, comprised of 21 federal agencies, which the Service
co-chairs with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and
Department of State.
The Coast Guard's unique blend of authorities and capabilities also
make it an ideal instrument to address the Nation's needs in the modern
era of rapid Arctic change. Further, the Service's continued
international engagement and cooperation is critical to American
strategic success and leadership in the Polar Regions. For more than
150 years, the Coast Guard has upheld sovereign rights, advanced
national security interests, promoted environmental stewardship, and
supported economic prosperity in the Arctic. As an Arctic Nation, the
Coast Guard must adapt its missions, including search and rescue,
vessel safety, fisheries enforcement, and pollution response, to meet
the challenges presented in this dynamic environment.
The Service remains committed to providing year-round surface
coverage in the Bering Sea, upholding U.S. sovereign rights and
protecting natural resources as part of Operation BERING SHIELD and
Operation BERING SAFEGUARD. Surges of surface, air, and shore activity
into the Alaskan Arctic during Operation ARCTIC SHIELD are just one way
the Coast Guard looks to address increased human activity in the
region. The Coast Guard also has an enduring commitment to Operation
DEEP FREEZE, which advances U.S. interests in Antarctica.
The Service accomplishes all of this work in close cooperation with
federal, state, local, tribal, academic, and industry partners.
In collaboration with DHS, the Service is also proactive in
building and expanding strategic opportunities through leadership in
international fora such as the Arctic Council and the International
Maritime Organization; negotiating, drafting, and updating bi-lateral
and multi-lateral agreements; exercising those agreements and
furthering relationships through the Arctic Coast Guard Forum; and
participating other multi-lateral international exercises throughout
the Arctic. The Service's strategic value to the Nation is in our
ability to set the model of behavior for governance and to maintain the
Arctic as a safe, cooperative, and prosperous domain. As the region
continues to open and more actors look to the Arctic for economic and
geopolitical advantages, the demand for DHS and Coast Guard resources
will continue to grow.
The Arctic is just one part of an MTS that has undergone major
changes while seeing significantly increased demand due to shifts in
economic activity and increased trade. In total, the Nation's MTS
sustains over 30.8 million jobs, enables $5.4 trillion in economic
activity, and is vital to the health of the U.S. economy. The Coast
Guard's authorities hold the Service responsible for the safety and
security of the MTS' multi-modal transportation hubs, as well as
developing, maintaining, establishing, and operating maritime aids to
navigation to promote safety, prevent disasters and collisions, and
serve the needs of the Armed Forces and U.S. commerce.
Currently, about 99% of international trade enters or leaves the
U.S. by ship,\4\ and the International Trade Commission predicts that
global freight demand will triple by 2050.\5\ Similarly, growth in the
domestic energy market, including petroleum, liquefied natural gas, and
other petro-chemicals has dramatically increased overall U.S. energy
exports. This growth is juxtaposed against aging infrastructure,
including bridges, locks, dams, and other port systems, which are
struggling to meet increasing demand.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration
Division Improving the U.S. Marine Transportation System, retrieved
October 6, 2021 from https://www.maritime.dot.gov/outreach/maritime-
transportation-system-mts/maritime-transportation-system-mts
\5\ U.S. International Trade Commission (2019) Recent Trends in
U.S. Services Trade: 2019 Annual Report, https://www.usitc.gov/
publications/332/pub4975.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
With a significant portion of the country's gross domestic product
coming through our ports, our MTS is already very busy. In order to
meet the demand of the additional users such as commercial space
operators and offshore development like renewable energy, fossil fuels,
and aquaculture, while still providing for traditional waterway users,
the Coast Guard is codifying historical shipping routes into shipping
safety fairways. This ensures safe navigation corridors are available
to the mariner while providing locations outside the fairway system for
development. As the lead federal agency for waterway management, the
Coast Guard must balance the potential impacts of innovation and
development with the safety of navigation and our ability to conduct
required missions.
Further complicating the MTS are changes in the shipping industry
itself, which has seen dramatic growth in cargo vessel size, draft, and
tonnage. Larger vessels and increased demands on the MTS have escalated
the risk of collisions, allisions, groundings, security threats, and
environmental damage. These risks pose the threat of exacerbating port
congestion, delays, and supply chain uncertainties witnessed during the
COVID-19 pandemic and the obstruction of the Suez Canal by the M/V EVER
GIVEN.
As vessels and ports increasingly rely on new technologies to
improve their effectiveness, they also introduce vulnerability to
cyber-attacks on critical MTS infrastructure. Automated navigation
systems, vessel sequencing, and inland cargo transportation are all
targets for malicious actors who seek to infiltrate networked systems.
This includes profit-driven criminal activity, such as ransomware, as
well as threats from state-sponsored and nation-state actors.
As both a military service and a regulator of the maritime sector,
the Coast Guard must continue to adapt to an increasingly digital
world. To that end, the Service must simultaneously defend and operate
the enterprise mission platform to thwart adversary interference and
posture our forces to achieve mission success, protect the MTS, and
operate in and through cyberspace.\6\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\6\ U.S. Coast Guard, Cyber Strategic Outlook, 2021, https://
www.uscg.mil/Portals/0/Images/cyber/2021-Cyber-Strategic-Outlook.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cybersecurity is linked with all aspects of Coast Guard mission
performance. Increasing digitalization simultaneously presents
opportunities for greater efficiency and effectiveness while fueling
new threats and challenges. To protect the Nation's most vital and
enduring interests in the maritime environment, the Coast Guard must be
able to operate in the cyber domain, and will continue to adapt to the
challenges and opportunities that accompany technological advancement
while protecting vulnerable systems from cyber threats.
Coast Guard mission readiness relies on the ability to
simultaneously execute our full suite of missions, while also being
ready to respond to contingencies. The Coast Guard prides itself on
being Semper Paratus--Always Ready--and predictable and sufficient
resources are necessary to maintain Service readiness in the future. We
must continue to invest in a modernized Coast Guard and current
recapitalization remains a top priority. Today's efforts will shape the
Coast Guard and impact national safety and security for decades. Your
support has helped us make tremendous progress, but it is critical we
build upon our successes.
Strategic allocation of resources, including specific asset
capabilities and capacities, is central to the Coast Guard's ability to
operate in dynamic, vast, and diverse areas of responsibility. Through
the support of the Administration and Congress, the Coast Guard is
making important strides toward recapitalizing integrated, multifaceted
air and surface capability and capacity essential to safeguarding U.S.
security and prosperity. New assets, including Polar Security Cutters,
Offshore Patrol Cutters, Waterways Commerce Cutters, HC-130J maritime
patrol aircraft, MH-60T medium range recovery aircraft, and Cyber
Mission Teams, are replacing legacy assets and enhancing the Coast
Guard's ability to operate in the offshore, coastal, inland, and cyber
domains with improved speed, coverage, reliability, and safety.
While readiness and modernization investments improve current
mission performance, our Service's greatest strength is undoubtedly our
people. We are incredibly proud of our 54,000 Active Duty, Reserve, and
civilian members, and over 22,000 volunteer members of the Coast Guard
Auxiliary. Coast Guard operations require a resilient, capable
workforce that draws upon the broad range of skills, talents, and
experiences found in the American population. Together with modern
platforms, our proficient, diverse, and adaptable workforce maximizes
the Coast Guard's capacity to respond effectively to an increasingly
complex operating environment.
Mission balance is not an end state in and of itself. It emerges
from a strategy that leverages Coast Guard authorities, capabilities,
and competencies to safeguard national security, economic growth, and
the environment.
Internally, the Coast Guard weighs competing demands through an
iterative operational planning process, which provides enterprise
guidance on priorities and resource distribution based on national
strategic imperatives, while preserving the autonomy of units to
conduct operations, as events require. The Coast Guard's longstanding
multi-mission approach delivers the most responsive, cost-effective
services to the American public.
History has proven that a ready, relevant, and responsive Coast
Guard is an indispensable instrument of national safety and security.
With the continued support of the Administration and Congress, we will
continue to employ risk-based decisions to balance readiness,
modernization, and force structure with the evolving demands of the
21st century. Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today
and for all that you do for the men and women of the Coast Guard. I
look forward to your questions.
Mr. Carbajal. Thank you, Admiral Buschman.
We will now move on to Member questions. Each Member will
be recognized for 5 minutes. And I will start by recognizing
myself.
Vice Admiral Buschman, this past week, I got a chance to
visit some Coast Guard sectors and see the Service's most
important resource, its people. The men and women who serve in
the Coast Guard are remarkable and make do with so little. I
had a chance to meet and chat with many of them. As chairman, I
want them to know I am their biggest advocate.
What resources does the Coast Guard need to help their
servicemembers outside the mission, such as healthcare,
childcare, and housing?
[Pause.]
Mr. Carbajal. Admiral?
Admiral Buschman. Chairman Carbajal, thank you very much
for the question. And thank you for highlighting our
extraordinary women and men of the Coast Guard, who give so
much to our great Service and to our Nation.
Sir, I will tell you that our Commandant talks about his
priorities being readiness, and that really impacts our people.
It really gets at the heart of our people. While we are focused
on recapitalization, I can tell you that the Coast Guard
leadership team, certainly our Commandant, is focused on the
support to our people.
There are a number of things in our budget request that
directly relate to support to our people, some of which you
highlighted in your opening statement, getting after things
like childcare, medical care, housing. And there are a number
of things in our budget, as well as our unfunded priorities
list.
And I will also tell you, sir, that our Commandant talks
about the need for 3- to 5-percent operations budget growth. We
address some of these issues that I just mentioned, certainly
our large shore facilities backlog, a backlog on our IT
infrastructure to give folks the tools they need to do their
jobs.
And those are the kind of things that are highlighted in
our budget, as well as our unfunded priorities list request.
And really getting after them and then that kind of sustained
3- to 5-percent budget growth is really what would support this
great Armed Force of the U.S. Coast Guard.
But thank you for your support, and all the members of the
committee, for really being laser-focused on our workforce.
Mr. Carbajal. Thank you.
As the Coast Guard is bringing new cutters online, it is
importance that an updated fleet mix analysis be completed to
ensure proper staffing and investments be done to outfit and
maintain these assets. The last fleet mix analysis was
conducted in 2011. Let me say that again just in case we missed
it: 2011.
When can we expect an update? And how can the Coast Guard
effectively procure and allocate assets without having done an
analysis?
Admiral Buschman. Yes, Mr. Chairman. We know there is a
congressional report required. We had 90 days to do a report.
We are late on that report. We strive to be on time with our
reports. I can tell you, that report is drafted. It is in the
final clearance here within the Coast Guard. I expect it to be
within the administration in the very near future and us to be
able to deliver that report by the end of the fall here.
And I will tell you that we are trying to be as responsive
as possible. We did get an additional request from the
committee for some amplifying information to be included in the
report. So, we took a little bit longer than expected in order
to be as responsive as possible, but expect that to be up there
by the end of the fall.
Mr. Carbajal. Thank you.
Moving on, as you may know, marine safety is a big concern
of mine. From fiscal year 2013 to fiscal year 2019, the Coast
Guard requested zero additional billets for inspectors in the
marine safety program. This is despite internal Coast Guard
reports stating that approximately 400 additional billets are
needed.
Why has the Coast Guard not requested any additional
billets? And, currently, the marine safety program uses 1.5
percent of all Coast Guard personnel billets. How can the Coast
Guard claim it is fulfilling its marine safety mission when it
is so severely understaffed?
Admiral Buschman. Yes, sir. Again, thank you for the
question. I will tell you, sir, we are focused in on this, and
I think this is part of our readiness challenges that we are
really trying to get after.
And maybe to explain to you our commitment to this mission,
in 2018, our Commandant, shortly after he became the
Commandant, published a Maritime Commerce Strategic Outlook,
kind of a 10-year outlook, recognizing the critical importance
of our Marine Transportation System to our Nation, to our
economy. Certainly, $5 trillion-plus is tied to our economy.
This strategy kind of gets at looking at facilitating
lawful trade and commerce. It looks at modernizing our aids to
navigation and marine information. It looks at transforming our
capacity and partnerships.
And within the past year, as part of implementing that
strategy, I, along with my mission support counterpart,
published a prevention readiness initiative that really gets
after the workforce that you talked about and talks about
building the capacity of our workforce, risk management, and
talks about knowledge of management and partnerships. We are
really trying to get after that.
The 2021 and 2022 budget requests do have some additional
marine inspectors and other parts of our prevention workforce,
including cyber, this very, very critical part of our
workforce. I think, unfortunately, sequestration put us in a
little bit of arrears there. We are trying to play catchup. We
are trying to get after this. And I think, when our Commandant
talks about his laser-focus on addressing Coast Guard readiness
needs, this falls right within that. This is the readiness of
our, as you pointed out, Mr. Chairman, this absolutely critical
part of our workforce that does such important work.
And then a few other things are looked at. We are not just
looking at the numbers of people; we are looking at the tools
in their hand. We have revamped our training process through a
rigorous, multiyear analysis to really get after lifelong
learning for them, as technology and the industry is changing
so quickly. And also gets after putting tools in their hands,
mobile applications while they are out in the field to do the
job and make them more efficient.
So, a lot of different pieces to it. But I will tell you,
thank you so much for your support and your interest in this
very, very important part of our workforce.
Mr. Carbajal. Thank you.
We will now move on to Ranking Member Representative Gibbs.
Mr. Gibbs. Thank you, Chairman.
Thank you, Vice Admiral, for your testimony.
Also, I wanted to concur that--my appreciation for all the
great work the Coast Guard does, and their servicemembers. And
they have many missions, and some come in the national
spotlight here and there, in drug interdiction, hurricane
relief support, rescue, and all that.
And, especially after 9/11, a great deal of attention was
paid to our maritime security and there was significant growth
in the Coast Guard's ports, waterways, and coastal security
program. And this committee has tracked that and attempted to
ensure that increased maritime security didn't mean decreased
maritime safety.
And now that it appears the United States is taking a more
active role in the Pacific, specifically the Coast Guard, due
to concerns about China in international relations, there could
be more pressure on the Coast Guard and more resources.
Admiral, is the Coast Guard continuing to ensure that
sufficient resources are being made available for maritime
safety programs? And, also, as the Coast Guard expands its
operations in the Pacific in conjunction with the Department of
Defense, is the Service working to ensure the Department of
Defense helps offset the additional costs of the Service's
support of Department of Defense operations?
Admiral Buschman. Ranking Member Gibbs, thank you for the
question.
As it relates to the marine safety workforce, we are
absolutely focused on our marine safety workforce and getting
the resources, not just resources in terms of number of people
but the tools they need to do their job as a very, very
important part of our workforce. There are funds provided in
the 2021 budget and also in our 2022 budget to further enhance
that.
Your second question on DoD funding, I will tell you that
there are a couple different aspects to this. One aspect is
that defense readiness is a Coast Guard mission, 1 of our 11
statutory missions. So, it is appropriate that a portion of
this is funded within our Coast Guard and DHS top line.
There are other parts of our budget that are kind of scored
against Function 050, the defense funding. There are some that
have historically been funded and have not been updated in a
few years. And then also, last year, the overseas contingency
operations funding was also brought into our base budget. So,
if you add those two up, it is a little more than $500 million
that is scored against Function 050.
And then there are some other specific things that the
Coast Guard does. For example, we have two Maritime Force
Protection Units that [inaudible] the coast to protect Navy's
ballistic missile submarines. And that is a direct
reimbursement from DoD to the Coast Guard.
Mr. Gibbs. Thank you.
In 2016, the Government Accountability Office made three
recommendations to improve the allocation of assets and
determine workforce requirements: Document how risk assessments
are used to inform annual asset allocations; develop a
systematic process that prioritizes manpower requirements
analyses; and better incorporate field unit input in asset
allocation decisions. The Department of Homeland Security has
agreed with these recommendations, but they have not yet been
implemented.
Does the Coast Guard intend for the GAO's 2016
recommendations to improve allocation of the assets and better
determine the workforce requirements? And if so, when do you
think that will happen?
Admiral Buschman. Again, thanks for the question there,
Ranking Member Gibbs.
I will tell you, I think we are actually--we are proud of
our force allocation process, but we are always looking for
ways to do better. So, when the GAO, an external voice, comes
in and takes a look at it and gives us some constructive
feedback, we welcome that feedback.
A number of those recommendations have already been
incorporated, have already been implemented. And one of the
audits, it talked about allocating resources. The GAO came back
to us and didn't 100 percent agree with how we implemented
this, so we are going back and taking a look at it.
I think you also asked about the workforce assessments. We
have a couple things at work to address those. One of them is a
manual that is drafted and in clearance and hopefully will be
done in the near future, and a few more that are in progress
and I think will be completed in fiscal year 2022, sir.
Mr. Gibbs. All right. Thank you.
I also understand there have been issues in the inland
waterway cutters in recent weeks. The industry has informed us
that, of the five cutters the Coast Guard has, only one is
operational on the lower Mississippi. What is the Coast Guard
doing to address that issue?
Admiral Buschman. Yes, sir. In my opening comments, I
talked about our recapitalization efforts, our priorities being
the Offshore Patrol Cutter, the Polar Security Cutter, and the
Waterways Commerce Cutter.
And this is really, really an important issue, that we have
35 Waterways Commerce Cutters, our old ``inland river fleet''
we call them. They are somewhere between 50 and 70 years old.
But I am very pleased to report that we have a recapitalization
in progress. We are very excited about this project to
recapitalize this part of our fleet, like I said, that is very,
very old.
We are going to have 30 of these Waterways Commerce Cutters
replace 35 of the older cutters. And they are not only going to
provide us more capability but things like berthing and allow
us to put mixed-gender crews on.
So, we are very excited about this. And the funds that we
have requested in the fiscal year 2022 budget are going to
allow us to complete the detail design and award a contract for
that new Waterways Commerce Cutter. We are greatly looking
forward to that. There is going to be a small-business set-
aside. Expected to be awarded in the spring of 2022 and the
first cutter to be delivered in 2024.
Mr. Gibbs. Thank you.
I yield back my time, Chairman.
Mr. Carbajal. Thank you, Ranking Member Gibbs.
Next, we will move on to Representative Larsen.
Mr. Larsen. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Admiral, for testifying.
Can you speak to how the Polar Security Cutter program and
Polar Security Cutters themselves will be incorporated into
operations? Do you guys have a concept of operations yet?
Admiral Buschman. Sir, again, we are very excited about our
Polar Security Cutter project acquisition. It is going to
replace--you know, the Nation has two icebreakers----
Mr. Larsen. Yes, I know that. Can you jump to my question,
please?
Admiral Buschman. Yes. So, the concept of operations, the
Polar Security Cutter, they are going to both deploy to the
Antarctic to support Operation Deep Freeze as well as treaty
verifications, and then they will also be able to deploy to the
Arctic to protect U.S. sovereignty, to work with our allies and
partners. And so both Arctic--and the ability to operate it in
the Antarctic and the Arctic.
Mr. Larsen. Will any one cutter be able to operate
independently, or will they need any support ships to go with
them?
Admiral Buschman. So, our existing Polar Star, which is
well over 40 years old, operates independently. This is going
to--our Polar Security Cutters, again, it is going to be an
extraordinary new capability for us with a lot more capability
than it is replacing. And they absolutely will be able to
operate independently.
Mr. Larsen. Thanks.
So, I have a question, really, that is kind of focused on
the Pacific Northwest, as you might imagine. But we have been
working with the Coast Guard and the Navy to improve
coordination between the branches when it comes to legally
protected marine mammal species, like the Southern Resident
killer whale.
To date, what actions has the Coast Guard taken in terms of
coordination with the Navy in the Puget Sound and Salish Sea to
protect marine mammals?
Admiral Buschman. Well, I mean, there are a couple things
we are doing, not just with the Navy.
We have a vessel traffic system, as you know, sir, up there
in Puget Sound that receives whale sightings and disseminates
them out to the public. We are an active participant in
Operation Be Whale Wise, which is a multiagency effort to
really get the word out to educate folks, whether it is on the
water or on shore, about restricted zones and the buffer zones.
And then we also go out and actively enforce the buffer
enforcement zones. And any findings we report to NOAA and the
State of Washington.
As far as the Navy is concerned, we are working with the
Navy to establish a workgroup to really figure out how we can
collectively develop strategies to reduce the impacts to this
vulnerable species, sir.
Mr. Larsen. And what coordination are you doing with the
Canadians?
Admiral Buschman. We actively coordinate with our Canadian
partners through our sector and through our VTS, the past
sightings we have, as well as receive sightings they have,
Congressman Larsen.
Mr. Larsen. Are any of these operations being curtailed or
otherwise limited by resources? The theme of this hearing is
about balancing your missions. So, is anything being curtailed
or limited?
Admiral Buschman. Not that I am aware of, sir. I will check
and verify that and certainly get back to you as quickly as
possible.
Mr. Larsen. Yes. Thanks.
So, the Coast Guard's recent plans include an expansion of
the USCG Base Seattle. Can you help us understand how those
expansion plans will fit into enhancing operations in the
region?
Admiral Buschman. We are very excited about our plans for
Seattle. We have our Polar Star and Healy home-ported out of
there. Our first three Polar Security Cutters will be in
Seattle.
So, we are very much focused on getting the right, I would
say, footprint for folks in Seattle, in terms of--it is an area
where our folks like to be. It is a hub for the Coast Guard,
will continue to be a hub for the Coast Guard. And then making
sure we have the right support for our folks there, in terms of
facilities, whether they are medical facilities, whether they
are childcare facilities, whether the right peers for the
assets we are going to put there. Because it is a very
important hub for the Coast Guard and will continue to be a
very important hub for the Coast Guard moving forward.
Mr. Larsen. That is great. Thank you. And I am out of time,
but I will follow up with you on Offshore Patrol Cutters, as
well, in the future.
Thank you. I yield back.
Admiral Buschman. Yes, sir.
Mr. Carbajal. Thank you, Mr. Larsen.
Next, we will go to Representative Van Drew.
[Pause.]
Mr. Carbajal. Not hearing from Mr. Van Drew, we will go to
Representative Steel.
Mrs. Steel. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And thank you, Vice Admiral Buschman, for coming out today.
As you know, on Saturday, October 2, there was a reported
oil spill approximately 10 miles southwest of Newport Beach,
California--that is in my district--from a pipeline which
transports oil onshore from four offshore platforms in Federal
waters.
The cause has not yet been identified, although the
administration stated in a briefing on October 8, 2021, that
there is a high likelihood that the spill was caused by an
anchor striking and dragging the pipeline. The United States
Coast Guard is leading the investigation into the cause of the
incident, and I really appreciate that.
Cargo ships off the coast of my congressional district drop
massive anchors near undersea oil lines, shorelines, and cable
lines. There is a map. So, I called for a full Federal
investigation into the cause of the spill and demanded the
Coast Guard and NOAA immediately survey the nautical chart of
the coast of Orange County so they can ensure the exact
pipeline's placement.
As more facts emerge, ships' anchors, not the integrity of
the pipeline, appear to be the cause of the spill. The USCG has
stated the spill most likely happened due to multiple anchor
drags in a marked nonanchorage area, because we have over 100
right now, and tomorrow another 45 ships are coming in.
So, Vice Admiral Buschman, according to Lieutenant Kneen,
during a heavy storm in January, an anchor dragged for an
unknown distance before striking the 16-inch steel pipe. Impact
would have knocked an inch-thick concrete casing of the pipe
and pulled it more than 100 feet, bending but not breaking the
line. It has not been confirmed if the impact caused the
October leak or if the line was hit by something else at the
later date or failed due to a preexisting problem.
Any moment wasted is a moment too long if the existing
pipelines are mapped improperly or moved. NOAA might map this
out, but you use this information to approve ships that drop
anchors. How do we make sure this never happens again?
Admiral Buschman. Ma'am, thank you very much for the
question. You know, certainly an important issue here.
We do have an ongoing investigation of this very important
matter to your district and the State of California. We have
some of our most experienced folks conducting that marine
casualty investigation.
As you noted, they did go back through what we call AIS
tracks and look at the anchorages and determined there was a
storm that came through last January and a couple of ships
moved off of the anchor--they moved some distance. So, we are
taking a look at those.
I want to be a little bit careful of, if they move the
anchor off station, still don't know exactly why that happened
in January and in October why the oil spill happened. So, I
want to be careful we don't get ahead of the investigation. I
think we really need to get the facts there, get the
investigation.
We have looked at the charts here to make sure that the
pipeline there was on the charts. It is on the chart. But I
think there are a lot of different aspects to this. We are
looking at not only that area, we also are looking at
nationwide. We are looking at the port congestion, I think you
mentioned, and the various aspects of port congestion, so we
make sure we really understand what is happening with port
congestion offshore and have a complete picture of that and
understand the risks of that, and then take appropriate steps
going forward, ma'am.
Mrs. Steel. Just a second question, the followup question
is: We have about 60 locations they can put their anchor in the
water. Is the Coast Guard overwhelmed and not able to safely
monitor where these anchors are dropping? Since then, we have
actually doubled those ships that are waiting--cargo ships are
waiting out there.
So how do you manage that? And how are you going to tell
them where to drop their anchors? Because there are so many
cables and oil pipelines and shore pipelines. How are we going
to avoid these things, or are they going to happen again?
Admiral Buschman. Yes, ma'am. So, what we have is, when it
comes to approved anchorages, we have district commanders. In
this case, out in California, it is in Alameda, California, our
11th District. The district commander has regulatory authority
and ability to approve rules for approved anchorages.
And then the sector commander, in this case in L.A.-Long
Beach, as they start determining where they are going to put
anchorage sites, they will work with the local harbor safety
committee, they will work with all the many different
stakeholders--the industry, the State and locals, the various
users of the waterway, the commercial users, the recreational
users, fishing vessels, and other stakeholders--to determine
where those appropriate anchorage sites are. And that is how we
go about doing that.
I will tell you, I was asked earlier about our marine
safety workforce. We are also focused in on some of our
readiness challenges as our workforce that works in waterways
management, and making sure we have the appropriate number of
folks that are working in our waterways management, that they
have the right tools and the right training and the tools to do
their job. Because, as you pointed out, these are very, very
important issues here, and we are focused on getting them
right.
Mrs. Steel. Thank you very much.
My time is up. I have more questions, so I am going to ask
them in writing to the vice admiral.
And thank you very much for your answers.
Mr. Carbajal. Representative Steel, we are going to have a
second round in a while, so you can ask further questions then.
Mrs. Steel. Thank you.
Mr. Carbajal. Thank you.
Next, we will move on to Representative Auchincloss.
Mr. Auchincloss. Thank you, Chair, and Vice Admiral for
appearing before the subcommittee today.
I have been working closely with the Port of New Bedford to
help the south coast region of Massachusetts become a hub of
the new economy and the leader in commercial fishing, maritime
research, cargo port commerce, and offshore wind production.
For example, Vineyard Wind is constructing the Nation's
first industrial-scale offshore wind project at the New Bedford
Marine Commerce Terminal. This project will create at least 500
union jobs and enough green energy to power more than 400,000
Massachusetts homes and businesses, all while amplifying the
critical role of the Port of New Bedford.
My first question to you, Vice Admiral, has to do with the
Port of New Bedford. As the highest grossing commercial fishing
port in the United States and an economic value totaled at
almost $10 billion, the port supports more than $230 million in
shipping diverse bulk commodities and breakbulk cargo.
The Coast Guard is charged with securing these waters in
all U.S. ports that comprise the MTS. And New Bedford has
expressed their need for a vessel management system that will
address the increasingly complex navigation plans with more
offshore wind vessels. Do your manpower requirements analyses
account for the workforce needed to develop those plans?
Admiral Buschman. So, this is a vessel management system,
sir?
Mr. Auchincloss. Yes. And it is to help the Port of New
Bedford address navigation plans as offshore wind is
incorporated off their coast.
Admiral Buschman. Well, let me talk a little bit about our
role in offshore energy.
So, the Coast Guard, we are responsible for ensuring the
safety of navigation on all waterways. So, therefore, as it
comes to offshore energy, we are the lead agency for--as these
wind farms get put out there, how we balance competing
interests in order to maintain safe navigation, maintain
efficient navigation.
And there are a number of different things we are doing. It
also doesn't just impact safe navigation; it impacts our
operations. We need the ability to, if we have wind farms out
there, we need to be able to operate, our helicopters be able
to conduct search and rescue, our boats be able to get in and
out of these wind farms.
So, there are a number of different things we are doing. We
issued marine planning guidance to our Coast Guard forces that
are evaluating these offshore projects. We are currently
reviewing nine different construction plans.
And then we are working with BOEM, the Bureau of Ocean
Energy Management, and looking at where you have offshore wind
farms, where you have the [inaudible] we are looking at
historical sailing routes and codifying them through a
rulemaking process.
So, those are some of the things we are doing to look at
the offshore energy piece, sir.
Mr. Auchincloss. As you are doing the requirements
analyses, which I know are a major vein of effort for you right
now, are you looking at what kind of manpower requirements you
have for a workforce necessary for offshore wind and navigation
plans, regarding offshore wind in particular?
Admiral Buschman. As we work through our requirements, we
absolutely are looking at, you know, what are the increasing
demands on what we call our waterways management workforce--a
very critical part of our workforce, not only in the numbers of
people we need, sir, but I would also say the skills they need,
the training they need.
And some of what they are working with is not just offshore
energy. We are seeing commercial space in parts of the country
that has impacts in the maritime environment. And we are
looking at the numbers of people we need, and we are looking at
the skills they need and the training they need and the tools
they need to do the work we expect them to do.
And what you describe is really an already complex maritime
environment that is becoming increasingly more complex.
Mr. Auchincloss. And, Vice Admiral, do you consult with the
cities themselves that are the hosts to these ports?
I mean, for example, New Bedford has a vocational-technical
high school maritime technology certificate program. There is
the National Offshore Wind Institute, which will be partly
centered in New Bedford. These are programs that are creating a
new generation of young people with the technical skills to
work safely in the offshore wind environment and in the
maritime environment more broadly.
Admiral Buschman. Yes, sir. We consult with a whole bunch
of people. I am not familiar with those specific organizations,
but I will tell you, I will take that question back and get
back to you for the record on that specific organization. But
we certainly consult with many different people in the offshore
energy business.
Mr. Auchincloss. Vice Admiral, no need to respond
specifically to those two organizations. I would appreciate if
our office could work with you, if necessary, though, on vessel
management as offshore wind takes off.
Admiral Buschman. Sir.
Mr. Carbajal. Thank you, Representative Auchincloss.
Vice Admiral, go ahead and answer that real quick.
Mr. Auchincloss. Oh, sorry, Chairman. No need for him to
answer. I will yield my time.
Mr. Carbajal. OK. Thank you.
We will now move on to Representative Van Drew.
Dr. Van Drew. Thank you.
Good morning, Vice Admiral Buschman, and thank you for
appearing before the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and
Maritime Transportation to discuss the United States needs to
ensure that our Coast Guard is prepared for the challenges of
the 21st century.
The U.S. Coast Guard is expanding operations across the
country and across the world. Whether executing freedom-of-
navigation operations in the South China Sea or conducting
search-and-rescue operations off the coast, the Coast Guard has
a lot to do and plans on doing even more, as you well know, in
the coming decades.
We can build all the cutters in the world, but we need
personnel to operate these vessels. Most of the personnel come
through the Training Center Cape May, located in my district.
Eighty percent--eighty percent--of the Coast Guard's total
workforce is absorbed through the Training Center Cape May.
The facility's existing barracks were constructed in the
1960s and, as you know, are in serious need of modernization
for multiple reasons. I was pleased to work with Admiral
Schultz to get phase 1 of the Training Center Cape May
recapitalization project listed as the Coast Guard's number-one
shore infrastructure budget priority for this year. Congress
will be appropriating $65 million to enable phase 1 of this
four-phase project.
The barracks recapitalization will increase the training
center's capacity by 1,000 additional servicemembers a year.
This investment ensures that the Coast Guard will have the
workforce it needs to accomplish its mission at home and,
Admiral, also abroad.
The project will modernize classrooms with digital
infrastructure and create far greater opportunities for women
in the Coast Guard, which is one of our missions.
When the training center was last upgraded, the
appropriations cycle lapsed, and now the facility is short of
entire barracks. We cannot--we cannot--allow this to happen
again. It is imperative that the current project not fall
short.
The Congress is funding phase 1 in fiscal year 2022, and I
believe that we should move to fund phase 2, 3, and 4 over the
next 3 fiscal years so the entire project cycle is provided for
when phase 1 is initiated in 2024. This project is too
important for us to take half-measures.
So, I have two questions, and I would ask you to speak on
both. How will the Coast Guard's personnel needs evolve, how
will they change, over the next 50 years? And what role will
the recapitalization of the Training Center Cape May play in
meeting these needs?
Thank you very much, Admiral.
Mr. Carbajal. Thank you very much, Representative Van Drew.
Were you looking for an answer from the admiral?
Dr. Van Drew. Yes, I was. Should I repeat those questions?
Mr. Carbajal. Vice Admiral, did--yeah, I think he is
frozen. The vice admiral is frozen.
We are going to take a 5-minute recess, and we will come
back. We will find out what has happened with the communication
with the vice admiral. It looks like he is frozen.
Mr. Brown. Send out the icebreakers, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Carbajal. We are going to take a 5-minute recess.
[Recess.]
Mr. Carbajal. We will reconvene.
Vice Admiral, did you get those questions, or did you
freeze out before you could understand the questions being
asked?
Are you there?
Admiral Buschman. Can you hear me, Mr. Chairman?
Mr. Carbajal. Yes. Were you able to get Mr. Van Drew's
questions?
Admiral Buschman. I did hear the questions. I started to
answer them, so let me start all over.
And I certainly agree with everything you said,
Congressman, about the importance of Cape May. You mentioned 80
percent of our Coast Guard folks wearing the uniform go through
Cape May. It is absolutely our enlisted center of excellence.
It is absolutely critical to our Coast Guard operation, our
Coast Guard success.
We are excited about this first phase, the $65 million for
the first phase of the barracks. I think there is another $10
million on the unfunded priorities list for future planning for
future phases. Couldn't be more excited about it. Absolutely
critical to our success and operations.
I think you also asked about people and looking forward,
kind of people needs. And, as I mentioned earlier, our
Commandant and our Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast
Guard, they are laser-focused on supporting our workforce--our
most important resource.
And as you look at needs going forward there, you start
thinking about what the needs are of the workforce, the things
that come to mind are childcare, medical support, particularly
for an organization like the Coast Guard that has a lot of
small units dispersed.
Certainly, we have a large shore facilities backlog, and we
hear that from our folks about the status of their shore
facilities. And we are starting to get at that shore facilities
backlog, continue to make progress on that.
And I would also say IT. You are giving the tools to be
able to do their job, from an IT perspective, but also, it is
much broader than that. There are mobile tools, so they are out
doing inspection reporting and they have tools that they can
actually do the work in a mobile app like you should have in
the 21st century.
And those are the types of things, I think, supporting this
great workforce of ours going forward, that come to mind.
Mr. Carbajal. Thank you very much, Admiral.
Next, we will go to the distinguished Representative from
Maryland, Mr. Anthony Brown.
Mr. Brown. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And I want to thank the admiral for you and your
leadership, your service to our country.
I can't tell you how much of an honor it is for me to be
able to serve both on this Subcommittee on Coast Guard and
Maritime Transportation as well as on the House Armed Services
Committee. It gives me an opportunity to work with my
colleagues in Congress to make sure that all of our services
have the resources they need so that our servicemembers can do
their job, do it well, do it successfully, and return home
safely to their families.
So, I want to thank the chairman for holding this hearing.
And sort of following up a little bit on one of the
questions asked by the ranking member, last year I did secure
in the NDAA the requirement that the GAO study and report on
the Coast Guard defense readiness resource allocation, and the
GAO released the report last month. The report addressed, among
other things, the DoD's reimbursement to the Coast Guard for
specific activities related to the defense readiness mission.
While I support the Coast Guard's defense readiness
mission, I do have concerns that the Coast Guard is being asked
to support the DoD in ways that are outside of the scope and/or
that are just simply stretching the already thin resources
available to the Coast Guard.
Admiral, the GAO found that, between fiscal years 2011 and
2020, the DoD reimbursed the Coast Guard a little under $850
million. The report also showed that, during that same period,
the Coast Guard appropriations for defense-related activities
declined by 9 percent.
The report also indicated that the Coast Guard's position
on the reimbursement policy is that it is not intended to
replace or cover the cost of the Coast Guard's commitments to
DoD.
So, in your view, how does the reimbursement policy enable
the Coast Guard to carry out its defense-related--or, I should
say, defense readiness mission? And can you explain where the
line is drawn between what is considered a reimbursable action
and what is the Coast Guard fulfilling its statutory defense
readiness mission?
Admiral Buschman. Sir, so, as I mentioned earlier, defense
readiness is 1 of our 11 missions, so there is an appropriate
level of defense that should get funded within our Coast Guard,
within our DHS budget.
There are a number of different things where we do get
money either from DoD or scored against DoD or scored against
Function 050 money--that is both the Function 050 money that is
in there as the overseas contingency operations that fund a
whole bunch of things, including, like, we deploy a port
security unit to support foreign defense----
Mr. Brown. Admiral, if you could just--I mean, where do you
draw--what is the difference between a reimbursable action and
the Coast Guard fulfilling its statutory defense readiness
mission? Just, if you can give me an example or two.
Admiral Buschman. Yes, I will give you an example of a
direct or a reimbursement, I would say, payment from Department
of Defense.
We have two Maritime Force Protection Units--one in Bangor,
Washington, one in Kings Bay, Georgia. Their sole mission is to
protect Navy's nuclear submarines when they transit in and out.
That is what they are there for. Because of our authorities,
DoD asks us to be there. And that is an example of where that
mission is 100 percent funded by DoD, so we pay zero. They pay
for the cost of the ships----
Mr. Brown. That is a good example. Yes. And I appreciate
that.
Let me ask you this. The Coast Guard commitment to DoD's
Indo-Pacific Command increased in fiscal year 2019 and 2020.
And I am going to assume that it will continue on the rise, as
we focus more on the Indo-Pacific.
With a declining defense readiness appropriation and
increasing activities in INDOPACOM--which I recognize isn't
even the largest dedication of Coast Guard resources. I think
more of it goes to SOUTHCOM. But are you concerned that your
defense readiness budget is not going to keep pace with the
increasing demand by the DoD on the Coast Guard, particularly
in the Indo-Pacific?
Admiral Buschman. Congressman, I think what our Commandant
talks about is having a ready Coast Guard to do what the Nation
needs it to do. And that includes restoring our readiness and
then having the 3- to 5-percent annual budget growth in our
operations budget.
The budget that is currently before Congress is the first
time we have seen some operations budget growth. That is about
6 percent. That is the type of activity that gets you a ready
Coast Guard to really do what the Nation needs it to do. And
that is what I really think we are focused in on, is restoring
our readiness and having a sustained path of the correct budget
growth.
As it relates to INDOPACOM, I talked about the demand for
Coast Guard services has never been greater, and certainly
INDOPACOM is an example of that. That is an example of an area
where we are seeing an increasing demand signal for Coast Guard
services.
We have recently invested over there. We put three of our
new Fast Response Cutters over in Guam. We are already doing
extraordinary work in the Pacific there. There are our major
cutters that we have deployed. Most recently, one of our
National Security Cutters deployed and worked with the
Indonesian Maritime Security Agency, worked with Japan, Taiwan,
and Indonesia, and also in support of the combatant commander,
and, also, some our training teams to help build capacity.
And there are really a number reasons for this, and it has
do with the Coast Guard's role. And our Commandant signed out
last year, along with the Chief of Naval Operations and the
Commandant of the Marine Corps, a tri-service maritime strategy
to talk about how these three services work together and the
value they provide the Nation. And that strategy talks about
the Coast Guard's mission profile and how that makes us really
a preferred partner of choice for so many different nations
subject to coercion, some type of coercion here.
So, I think there is certainly an increasing demand signal
in the INDOPACOM and other places, and we are really focused on
restoring readiness and maintaining that readiness so that the
Coast Guard is able to do what the Nation asks it to do.
Mr. Brown. Thank you, Admiral.
And, Mr. Chairman, in yielding back, I will just say that
while we are looking at a fairly substantial increase in DoD
spending for components other than the Coast Guard, I would
hope that we can find ways to boost the spending for the Coast
Guard.
You have a maintenance backlog, an increase in demand
signals. You are doing fantastic work, you and your team at the
Coast Guard. We have to make sure you have the resources you
need to perform that mission and to come home safely to your
families and the country.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Carbajal. Thank you, Mr. Brown.
We will now move on to Mr. Lowenthal. I know he was on
earlier. I don't know if he is still on.
[Pause.]
Mr. Carbajal. Maybe he had to leave.
All right. With that, we will proceed to do another round
of additional questions. I will now recognize each Member who
wishes to speak for 5 minutes, and I will start with myself.
Admiral, the Coast Guard's fiscal year 2022 budget
requested about 1,200 new operations and sustainment positions.
What analysis has the Coast Guard conducted to support its
request for these additional personnel?
Admiral Buschman. Chairman, thank you for the question.
Thanks to the support of the administration and Congress,
we are in the midst of our largest recapitalization of our
fleet since World War II. So, many of those positions, as we
are bringing the new assets online, they are really to operate
those new assets, those great ships we are going to be getting
here through this great recapitalization effort.
I would say there are some other things in there as well.
We talked about some of the marine safety concerns with the
committee here and how we are trying to address those and
requesting some more marine inspectors, some other folks that
work in the marine safety field. And we are also increasing our
cyber capability as we see continued cyber threats.
So, there are a number of different things that constitute
those 1,200 people, sir.
Mr. Carbajal. Thank you.
Moving on, effective risk management and asset allocation
requires access to informative data. However, the GAO has
identified serious limitations to the MISLE system, a key data
system for multiple Coast Guard missions.
What is the status of the Coast Guard's effort to replace
those systems, and why have you not acted sooner?
Admiral Buschman. Mr. Chairman, MISLE is a repository of
information we do for many of our cases, whether in
inspections, law enforcement, search and rescue.
We are looking at what the MISLE needs to be of the future.
It is a system that we really are starting to get after,
looking at what the MISLE looks like of the future.
We are also looking at taking pieces of MISLE and breaking
it down in applications so they can use it in a mobile fashion.
So, the folks in the field, they are out there boarding a
vessel; maybe it is a commercial vessel. And, right now, they
have to drive back to their office--it may be several hours--to
enter data in a computer. We are trying to give mobile apps to
folks so they can be much more efficient.
So those are the kind of things we are looking at. I think
you asked, why were you not getting at this earlier? We talked
about the importance to restore Coast Guard readiness and
sustained budget growth. This is one of those things that
really falls in that category, to having the resources to be
able to fund these really, really important things for us to do
our jobs, these job enablers.
So, thanks for the question, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Carbajal. Admiral, earlier, you mentioned
sequestration. Could you provide more details on how this is
impacting the Service? And could you detail if this impacts
strategic planning long term? And you touched on the
shortcomings of that effort regarding the MISLE program, but
what else could you touch on?
Admiral Buschman. I think it really gets down, sir, to our
readiness concerns. Sequestration had an impact on things we
weren't able to fund, things we had to scale back a little bit,
whether it is maintenance, whether it is training shortfalls
and those types of things.
And that is what we are really trying to get after now. And
we really can't thank the committee enough, your support, Mr.
Chairman, for really addressing Coast Guard readiness concerns,
the various things we talked about. And that is how we are
really trying to get after them.
Mr. Carbajal. Thank you, Admiral.
Next, I will proceed to Ranking Member Gibbs.
Mr. Gibbs. Thank you, Chairman Carbajal.
Admiral, in your testimony, you discussed the polar
operations at length and the Coast Guard's vessels to conduct
missions in the Arctic and Antarctica. And you mentioned the
resources to uphold sovereign rights and advance our security
interests, promote environmental stewardship, and support
economic prosperity in the Arctic.
And we have our two major vessels, the Healy and the Polar
Star. Would you say they provide the most visible
representation of U.S. sovereignty in the Arctic Ocean and
waters surrounding Antarctica? That is, I guess, a simple
``yes'' or----
Admiral Buschman. Ranking Member Gibbs, that is an absolute
``yes.''
Mr. Gibbs. OK.
And, also, in your testimony, you state that the Service
remains committed to providing year-round surface coverage in
the Bering Sea. The Seattle Times reported that there was a 12-
week deployment this year of the Polar Star, and that it was
the first winter deployment of any U.S. Coast Guard vessel
since 1982. That is, like, 40 years ago.
Was the Seattle Times incorrect in its reporting? When is
the next winter deployment in the Bering Sea of a U.S. Coast
Guard surface vessel?
Admiral Buschman. Ranking Member Gibbs, so, as it relates
to Alaska, it is certainly a unique operating environment--huge
territory, tyranny of weather as well.
We have a major cutter in the Bering Sea at all times, a
minimum of 1.0 presence in the Bering Sea. That is the
commitment we have made there. In addition to that, our Coast
Guard cutter Healy you just talked about operates up there part
of the year, sometimes doing science in support of science
missions.
This year, the Polar Security Cutter normally would deploy
down to Antarctica to support the breakout of the McMurdo
Research Station there and do some other things. It was unable
to do so due to COVID, due to concerns of the unique
environment down there, introducing COVID. We had the great
opportunity to deploy it for the first time in many years up to
the north, the furthest north I think it had ever been in many,
many years--went up to 72 degrees north--in the wintertime.
But we always have at least a major cutter presence in the
Bering Sea as well.
Mr. Gibbs. OK. So, Seattle Times was incorrect in their
reporting, then?
Admiral Buschman. Sir, I am not familiar with that
reporting, but I can certainly look into that article and get
back to you, sir.
Mr. Gibbs. OK. Thank you.
Also, we talked about domestic icebreaking policy
prioritizing maritime deliveries of food and fuel over
industrial supplies. While that prioritization of tier 1
waterway commerce might be appropriate in the Northeastern
States, in the Great Lakes, the vast majority of food and fuel
is delivered by land transportation, not vessels. Instead, the
Great Lakes steel manufacturing industry depends on adequate
winter icebreaking to facilitate delivery of raw materials, and
this icebreaking is needed in more areas than just the four
Great Lakes connecting channels that the Coast Guard considers
tier 1.
In light of the creation of an office to look at
construction of a new Great Lakes icebreaker, will you revisit
the Coast Guard's domestic icebreaking policy with respect to
the Great Lakes so that it more appropriately considers the
maritime commerce needs of this important area?
Admiral Buschman. Ranking Member Gibbs, so let me just talk
about domestic icebreaking.
We have a number of domestic icebreakers, most of them 140
feet. They are on the Great Lakes. A few of them are in the
Northeast. And we have some smaller 65-foot cutters.
We are very much focused in on that mission and keeping the
shipping lanes open in the winter. One of the good news is, our
140-foot icebreakers just went through a service-life extension
program, and so they are going to be more cruising-reliable.
They won't be out of service, going through an extended dry
dock. There are more of them there. We shifted an additional
one in the Great Lakes to keep commerce moving.
So, we are very much focused in on that, as well as our
existing cutter Mackinaw.
And then I think you asked about some of the measures of
that. We certainly have measures, our performance measures,
keeping 95 percent of the major waterways up there open year-
round.
And I hope that answers your question, Ranking Member
Gibbs.
Mr. Gibbs. Yeah, I do appreciate that. Because I just want
to make sure the Coast Guard realizes how they prioritize stuff
for the economic commerce is very important. It is more than
just fuel and food. And so, thank you very much.
I yield back.
Admiral Buschman. Yes, sir, absolutely.
Mr. Carbajal. Thank you, Mr. Gibbs.
Representative Steel, I know you are online. I don't know
if you have additional questions.
[Pause.]
Mr. Carbajal. Not hearing any, I will move forward to close
our hearing.
This concludes our hearing for today.
I would like to thank the witness for your testimony.
I ask unanimous consent that the record of today's hearing
remain open until such time as our witness has provided answers
to any questions that may be submitted to him in writing.
I also ask unanimous consent that the record remain open
for 15 days for additional comments and information submitted
by Members or the witness to be included in the record of
today's hearing.
Without objection, so ordered.
The subcommittee stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:17 a.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
Submissions for the Record
----------
Prepared Statement of Hon. Peter A. DeFazio, a Representative in
Congress from the State of Oregon, and Chair, Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure
Thank you, Chairman Carbajal for calling this important hearing.
The Coast Guard is a vital service with increasing demands that test
the Service's ability to execute each of its missions. In recent years
we've seen an increased risk to recreational and commercial boating, a
rise in illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, an increased
Coast Guard presence in international missions, deteriorating
infrastructure and aging assets. Without proper resources, the Coast
Guard can only do so much.
The Coast Guard is a service that operates on a budget that pales
in comparison to the other uniformed services. It is imperative that
its core missions are not neglected, and Congress must ensure that the
Coast Guard is receiving the resources needed to support state of the
art technology, necessary acquisitions, and, most importantly, a
thriving workforce.
Today, the Coast Guard executes eleven missions. These are: port
and waterway security, drug interdiction, aids to navigation, search
and rescue, living marine resources, marine safety, defense readiness,
migrant interdiction, marine environmental protection, ice operations
and law enforcement. However, I cannot imagine how this agency is
supposed to execute these responsibilities with a $13 billion budget.
By comparison, the Navy spends around $160 billion per year.
While the Coast Guard is in the midst of the largest
recapitalization in its history, service members continue to operate an
aging fleet of aircrafts and vessels, and are forced to live, work, and
send their children to deteriorating facilities for childcare.
With natural disasters increasing tenfold over the past decade and
sea-level rise beckoning at their piers, the Service has been forced to
surge personnel and acquisitions from across the country to respond.
Understanding these operations is paramount to understanding the
constraints within the Coast Guard's budget, and I look forward to
hearing from the Vice Admiral on how the agency strives to achieve
mission balance through the context of funding, resource hours, and
strategic planning.
The Service's greatest asset is its workforce--the men and women
who choose to serve this country. I am keenly aware that the agency is
currently operating below its workforce needs, and this has impacted
its ability to meet mission demands. Even though the Coast Guard is the
smallest military service, it lacks a comprehensive understanding of
its manpower needs. According to a 2020 GAO report, the Coast Guard had
completed Manpower Requirements Determinations--its preferred workforce
assessment method--for only 6 percent of its workforce. Without full
consideration for workforce needs, I fear the service cannot
appropriately assign its resources to complete its missions.
Over the past decade we have seen the Coast Guard allocate its
largest percentage of resource hours and funding on drug interdiction
missions. Further, 51.5 percent of resources are dedicated to homeland
security missions. While those missions are certainly important, the
service must not lose sight of its non-homeland security missions,
including marine safety and marine environmental protection. Although,
these missions aren't the exciting ones we see on the news, they're
vital to safety at sea as well as our national and economic security
interests.
As the nation's primary maritime response and law enforcement
entity, I am committed to working hard to ensure that the Coast Guard
is equipped to surge assets and personnel to respond to hurricanes,
international emergencies, mandatory ice-breaking operations, and oil
spills.
This past month alone, we've seen the essential service the Coast
Guard gives our country as the California oil spill continues to ravage
our marine wildlife, physical environments, and maritime economy. I
will continue to work to ensure that the Coast Guard is fully funded
and that the workforce who keep the service operating is not neglected.
I thank Vice Admiral Buschman for appearing today and I look
forward to his testimony.
Prepared Statement of Hon. Sam Graves, a Representative in Congress
from the State of Missouri, and Ranking Member, Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure
Thank you, Chair Carbajal, and thanks to our witness for being here
today.
The Coast Guard conducts many missions, even as the national
spotlight on different Coast Guard issues fluctuates at different
times.
After 9/11, a great deal of attention was paid to maritime
security, and there was significant growth in the Coast Guard's ports,
waterways, and coastal security program.
This Committee tracked that growth closely and attempted to ensure
that increased maritime security didn't mean decreased maritime safety.
There was a recent incident off the coast of Southern California
where we witnessed the importance the Coast Guard's role not only in
ensuring maritime safety on the front end but also in responding to
emergency situations.
In addition, the United States is more active in the Pacific due to
concerns about China and it appears the Coast Guard is poised to take a
more active role in national defense and international relations
activities.
I look forward to hearing from Vice Admiral Buschman today about
how the Coast Guard plans to ensure that it can carry out its many
functions in the future.
I particularly look forward to hearing how the Coast Guard intends
to carry out its missions related to keeping maritime commerce
operating smoothly. This is an extremely pertinent and serious issue
given the current supply chain crisis which this Administration has
only made worse.
Thank you, Chair Carbajal. I yield back.
Appendix
----------
Questions from Hon. Alan S. Lowenthal to Vice Admiral Scott A.
Buschman, Deputy Commandant for Operations, U.S. Coast Guard
Question 1. For hundreds of years, maritime pilots have relied on
buoys as aids to navigation (AToNs) while at sea. Buoys and AToNs sit
in key navigational points where they can provide maritime pilots with
critical data, such as geolocation, wind speed and direction, and
current speed and direction. However, buoys and AToNs in the United
States lack ``smart'' technology to provide maritime pilots with
intelligent sensor data and aid in the recovery of these assets after
storms, speeding the reopening of ports and better utilizing U.S. Coast
Guard assets.
a. What is the U.S. Coast Guard's plan to pilot connected
technology on buoys and AToNs?
Answer. In September 2021, the Coast Guard contracted with SailPlan
Inc. to integrate ``Smart Buoy'' technologies on two buoys in
Chesapeake Bay for one year. The Coast Guard expects to deploy the
equipment early in calendar year 2022. Working in cooperation with the
Maryland Pilots Association, the Coast Guard will evaluate the
effectiveness of providing real-time environmental data including wind,
current, and wave height to area pilots. Furthermore, the Coast Guard
will also have access to buoy ``health'' data, including power
consumption and location information.
b. What is the Coast Guard's long-term plan to transition the
buoys and AToNs in U.S. waters to smart technology?
Answer. It is unlikely that this technology can be applied to all
of the 45,000 aids that make up the entire ATON constellation in the
U.S. due to harsh conditions endured by aids and their frequent loss
caused by allisions and natural disasters; however, the Coast Guard
will use the Chesapeake study to inform further internal discussion on
the application of this technology on a larger scale.
Questions from Hon. Michelle Steel to Vice Admiral Scott A. Buschman,
Deputy Commandant for Operations, U.S. Coast Guard
Question 1. Why haven't the Coast Guard and the Marine Exchange of
Southern California updated Anchorage Management Guidelines since
triple the number of vessels have anchored in South Foxtrot off the
coast of California's 48th Congressional District since January, 2021?
Answer. The Coast Guard works closely with Federal, State, and Port
partners, including the Marine Exchange, on the Ports of Los Angeles-
Long Beach (LA/LB) Harbor Safety Committee (HSC). The HSC periodically
reviews and updates the Ports of LA/LB Harbor Safety Plan (HSP) as
necessary to improve safety of navigation in the Ports of LA/LB. The
HSC most recently updated the Anchorage Chapter of the HSP in February
2021. Furthermore, following the Pipeline P00547 Incident in October
2021, the Coast Guard permanently discontinued the use of three South
Foxtrot anchorage circles, and is working to codify that change in
policy.
Question 2. The Marine Exchange Vessel Traffic Service of Los
Angeles-Long Beach is supposed to make the San Pedro Bay ports safer,
cleaner, and more efficient. Unfortunately, the overflow of vessels in
anchorage areas off the coast of California's 48th Congressional
District is threatening the safety, environment surrounding, and
efficiency of those ports. Will the Coast Guard commit to working with
the Marine Exchange to update the VTS and Anchorage Guidelines
applicable to the San Pedro Bay ports to assure the goals of safer,
cleaner, more efficient ports are met?
Answer. Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach works daily with
the Marine Exchange of Southern California and other Federal, State,
and Port partners to ensure the safety of vessels navigating,
anchoring, and transiting in and out of the Ports of Los Angeles-Long
Beach. The ongoing investigation into the Pipeline P00547 incident will
help to inform any changes necessary to local VTS and Anchorage
Guidelines to make the Port of Los Angeles-Long Beach safer and more
efficient.