Commentary
In World War II, the U.S. Coast Guard greatly expanded and assumed control of much of the small watercraft fleet that contributed to victory. Landing after landing in Europe and the Pacific was done by Coast Guard owned, operated, and maintained landing craft and support vessels to enable decisive operational maneuver for Big Navy, Big Army, and Big Marine Corps.
This worked magnificently and the inter-service spirit continued through the Cold War for the most part. But since the 1990s, the Coast Guard started to evaporate, while the small watercraft mission set was something that Navy, Army, or Marine Corps cared little about, until recently, then started fighting over.
The compelling need for a more robust Coast Guard
For full transparency – my “Jointness” in national security included a detail at Coast Guard Headquarters where I learned to appreciate the incredible contribution of an egregiously underfunded Coast Guard to American national security.
It has been said about the Coast Guard,
“Coasties joked that since they were constantly being asked to do more and more with less and less, eventually someone would ask them to do everything with nothing. Only it never was entirely a joke. Given their prideful, earnestly do-good work ethic, Coasties would try to do everything with nothing before doing what any other Washington agency in their situation would do – fail”
This Coast Guard “can do” spirit continued until it succumbed to wokeness and couldn’t make recruiting and retention goals in even its emaciated, shriveled state. The once mighty Coast Guard had to lay up dozens of critical vessels because they didn’t have enough Coasties to man – a direct outcome of wokeness and DEI. President Trump took immediate corrective action and fired the Coast Guard Commandant.
The Coast Guard has been handed around over the years since World War II to the Department of Transportation, then to the Department of Homeland Security, with the understanding that in time of War, they would be re-assigned to the U.S. Navy. Keeping the Coast Guard in civil Departments was in some ways appropriate – they could maintain a Law Enforcement legal status to respect Posse Comitatus – the long-standing Federal Law keeping the U.S. Military out of the Law Enforcement Role.
The annual budget of the U.S. Coast Guard budget is now just under $14 Billion – or about six Arleigh Burke Destroyers for the Navy. For that $14 Billion – an undersized, underfunded Coast Guard protects thousands of miles of U.S. borders, coastlines, rivers, and supports worldwide operations – as best it can. It is time to put the Coast Guard on steroids.
Big Navy, Big Army, and Big Marine Corps ignored smaller watercraft, until it was a crisis
For decades, Big Navy, Big Army, and Big Marine Corps seemed uninterested in watercraft. The Marines had none and were focused on Iraq and Afghanistan. The state of the watercraft in the Navy and Army was poor at best. The Navy had the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), which is at the top end of “watercraft”, but equivalent in size to large Coast Guard Cutters. The Navy never seemed to passionately embrace and utilize the LCS, they just complained and marginalized it for decades until it was a disaster. In the Navy, the perception was that better promotion opportunities existed for those who aligned with the bigger ship types such as the Arleigh Burke Destroyer. Being assigned to an LCS, Minehunter, Patrol Craft, or Expeditionary Craft was a one-way ticket to Palookaville.
The Army’s deployment of Joint Logistics Over The Shore (JLOTS) ships, craft, and equipment to Gaza in 2024 was an embarrassing part of Army history and revealed the very poor material condition of these platforms as well as a grossly under exercised and dated operational art form. The Marine Corps awakened to shortfalls and started acquiring an “commercial off the shelf” Landing Ship Medium (LSM) behind the Navy’s back. When Navy work up, they tried to wrestle the LSM away and then the Navy and Marines partnered for this requirement but have added so many changes to the “commercial off the shelf” LSM that it is unrecognizable, over budget, and behind schedule.
A commonsense solution – consolidate the DoD watercraft mission into a new Department of the Coast Guard
None of the “Big” Services really wanted the watercraft mission until it became a crisis and then they decided to do the normal Pentagon thing, fight over it and make the programs overly complex and unaffordable. The answer lies with Coast Guard. Give the mission set, funding, and authority to the Service with the greatest core expertise. The Coast Guard has the critical mission to defend the maritime approaches to the homeland, small vessel and watercraft focus, and a solid heritage in this arena. One might ask – what about Navy Special Warfare Craft? The answer is that those stay with Navy Special Warfare – away from the clutches of Big Navy that only knows Arleigh Burke, Naval Aviation, Submarines, Big Amphibious vessels, and Carriers. Allow Big Navy to focus on what it is best at.
After being forced to migrate from Department to Department for years, the commonsense approach is to make the Coast Guard its own Department. This could be either a totally independent Department, or part of the Department of Defense, but with a Law Enforcement authority dotted line to Department of Homeland Security. The Department of the Coast Guard would have a civilian, political leader like the Departments of the Army and Navy, and a four-star Commandant who would also be part of the Chairman’s Joint Staff. Both the Civilian Political and Uniformed Commandant would have a solid line to DOD and a dotted line to DHS. Then the unwanted LCS, ice breakers, watercraft, landing craft, JLOTS, and certain support vessels (salvage and sea-going tugs) could be consolidated into the Department of the Coast Guard. The $14 Billion dollar Coast Guard Budget would be more like $40 to $50 Billion for the Department of the Coast Guard – a much more realistic number for a super-sized Coast Guard.
All viewpoints are personal and do not reflect the viewpoints of any organization.
