Seventy-First Anniversary of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary

On June 23, 2010, the Coast Guard Auxiliary will celebrate seventy-one years of faithful and dedicated service. Our Auxiliary shipmates have once again given generously of themselves to support Coast Guard personnel and missions, and to make our nation’s waterways safer for the more than 83 million recreational boaters who sail them. Coast Guard Auxiliary volunteers have literally taught generations of boaters how to properly equip and operate their vessels. Through their dedication to boating safety and their lifesaving activities, thousands of mariners are saved or assisted every year. The Coast Guard Auxiliary has honored our profession and advanced the outstanding service we provide our nation.

Over the past year, the Auxiliary has set the standard for organizational resilience and continuous improvement. By modernizing its national organization, the Auxiliary positioned itself to parallel the Coast Guard in its conduct of operations, training, policy development, and mission support. At the same time, it broadened its capabilities through a major expansion of its Trident program to provide greater support for the Coast Guard’s marine safety mission, the innovative application of social media and language interpretation skills to support rescue operations following the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and the formalization of the Auxiliary’s chef program to better support Coast Guard food service personnel. More recently, Auxiliarists have served in a range of capacities in support of Deepwater Horizon Spill Response operations, including over 5,000 hours checking the readiness of vessels participating in clean-up operations, monitoring deployed booms, supporting the area command center, and assisting with public affairs.


Our shipmates, the Coast Guard Auxiliary, have performed superbly, always standing a taut watch and exemplifying our core values. Please join me in recognizing their superb dedication by celebrating their seventy-first anniversary with your local Auxiliarists.



Admiral Bob Papp
Commandant




















Admiral Robert J. Papp,

24th Commandant of the Coast Guard

(U.S. Coast Guard photo)

Setting The Watch

Shipmates,

I am honored to serve as the 24th Commandant of the Coast Guard. When I assumed the duties from Admiral Thad Allen at noon today, it concluded a series of key rotations and marked the setting of a new watch to lead our service.

Serving with me on this watch are Vice Admiral Sally Brice-O'Hara, Vice Commandant, Master Chief Michael Leavitt, Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard and Master Chief Mark Allen, Master Chief Petty Officer of Reserve Forces. Each assumed their duties over the past ten days. They are all very experienced professionals who have been tried and tested in the field. We are also joined by Vice Admiral Robert Parker, Commander, Atlantic Area, Vice Admiral Manson Brown, Commander Pacific Area, Vice Admiral John Currier, Chief-of-Staff and Future Deputy Commandant of Mission Support and Rear Admiral Brian Salerno, Deputy Commandant for Operations. I am proud to serve alongside this exceptionally talented group of leaders.

My watch will be guided by the following vision for our service:

We are defined by our missions, people and heritage. We will selflessly serve our country and perform our duties in a manner that secures the trust and confidence of mariners and citizens alike. We will set a course that steadies the service, honors our profession, strengthens our partnerships and respects our shipmates.

This vision will be achieved by the incoming watch through clear focus on select projects and initiatives currently under way in our service. Instead of creating new tasking, we intend to emphasize vital initiatives, leverage teams that are in place now and move these efforts forward to completion. I will provide more specifics in the coming weeks.

I often use the term Shipmate. You need to know that this is a team of endearment for me that represents a common bond across the entire Coast Guard family and all mission communities. There is no higher compliment in my opinion than being called a Shipmate and no better goal than being a good one.

Admiral Allen will continue his service as the National Incident Commander for the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill managing the overall federal response. I am glad he accepted this last assignment as it will enable me to focus on the Coast Guard's response, and serving you as Commandant of the Coast Guard. Admiral Allen is a true public servant and visionary, I thank him for his service.

I encourage all Coast Guard active duty, reserve, civilian, auxiliary, families and retirees to bookmark and initiate RSS feed from the senior leadership web page at WWW.USCG.MIL/SENIORLEADERSHIP. We intend to use this location during our watch to post information and address subjects that are important to our service.

All standing orders remain in effect, set the watch and carry out the routine of the day.

Semper Paratus,

Admiral Bob Papp

A video message from Admiral Papp

Coast Guard Commandant's Change of Command

Guardians,

Later today, I will be relieved as Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard by Admiral Robert Papp. It has been an honor to serve as your Commandant for the past four years and I am confident in Admiral Papp's ability to lead the Service during a period of tremendous changes, challenges, and opportunities. The value of the U.S. Coast Guard has never been greater than it is today and it is the men and women of our great Service who truly make it all possible.

After the Change of Command ceremony, I will continue to serve as the National Incident Commander for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill for some period of time but I wanted to take this final opportunity to thank you for your tremendous commitment, dedication, and courage over the past four years.

When I became the Commandant in 2006, I issued a number of orders that I thought were necessary to meet the challenges we faced then and set the conditions for future success. With your help we have accomplished a great deal. We transformed our acquisition process, enhanced our marine safety capability and capacity, created a new and more effective support structure for our Reserve Forces, stood up the Force Readiness Command and Deployable Operations Group, created the Maritime Enforcement Rating, and transformed our maintenance and logistics processes. At the same time we met operational challenges in piracy off the Horn of Africa, the tsunami in America Samoa, the earthquake in Haiti, and more recently the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. We accomplished all of that without losing focus on our broader mission set. We continued to interdict drugs and made major strides to eliminate the use of self propelled semi-submersibles. We deployed wireless biometric capability to significantly reduce illegal alien migration. At the same time we saved countless lives.

In the last six years, we have also strengthened our relationships within the Department of Homeland Security. Through the completion of the first Quadrennial Homeland Security Review, we helped mature the Department and build the Nation's homeland security enterprise.

In the process we enhanced our ties to the Department of Defense. We held unprecedented staff talks with the Navy, Air Force, Marines, Army Corps of Engineers and the National Guard Bureau. The Chief of Naval Operations, the Commandant of the Marine Corps and I cosigned "A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower" and Naval Operating Concepts. We forged stronger bonds with our interagency partners in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, Maritime Administration, Drug Enforcement Administration, National Transportation Safety Board, and the Department of the Interior. Finally, we strengthened our international ties with our hemispheric partners and through the North Pacific Coast Guard Forum and North Atlantic Coast Guard Forum. Together, we raised the visibility of Coast Guard missions to our external stakeholders and our international partners.

The common thread connecting each of these of initiatives and actions, and my overarching goal as Commandant, was for the Coast Guard to become more change-centric - to sense changes in our operational environment and have the courage to make course corrections before problems overwhelm us or we have terms dictated to us externally. To do that we must become more diverse, adapt to new technologies, and embrace social media as well. I believe we have become more change-centric and a learning organization that capitalizes on lessons learned. Nowhere has this been more evident than in our responses to the devastating earthquake in Haiti and in our leading role to the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The world has seen the value of the U.S. Coast Guard in action. We protect, defend, and save America's maritime interests wherever they are at stake - that is the legacy you have left for our future Guardians to embrace.

In spite of our operational successes, challenges remain. Our operations are not risk free and we have known the pain at the loss of shipmates from USCGC HEALY, MSST Anchorage, CG 6505, and CG 1705. Our promise to them is to prevent future accidents and insure we create the safest possible environment for our personnel. The Coast Guard will meet future challenges because of our multi-mission nature, bias for action, and the incredible talent and dedication of our people. As we look to the future, I encourage each of you to be insatiably curious, to be life-long learners, to look after your shipmates, and, finally, to seize every chance to apply your leadership skills, talent, and competencies when the opportunity presents itself.

I am incredibly proud of all our active duty members, reservists, civilians and auxiliarists. No matter how fiercely the winds of change swirl around us, our people stabilize the Service. You are America's Maritime Guardians and your country needs you now more than ever. It has been my extraordinary honor to have been your Commandant and I am excited to see where you will take the organization in the future. Fair winds.

Sincerely,

Admiral Thad W. Allen

70TH Anniversary of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary

Admiral Thad Allen
Coast Guard Commandant
(U.S. Coast Guard Photo)

June 23, 2009, is a significant date for the Coast Guard as it will mark our Auxiliary’s 70th year of dedicated service to the nation. We take tremendous pride in calling these volunteer guardians our shipmates, knowing that their selfless devotion to duty and unwavering pride have given us invaluable support throughout our daily routines and greatest challenges.

For seven decades, Auxilarists have nobly offered their time, efforts and resources to support the Coast Guard. Specifically during the past ten years, a period of unprecedented challenge to our national safety, security and spirit, Auxiliary contributions have been staggering in their breadth and scope. These undaunted volunteers have performed over 1.2 million recreational and commercial fishing vessel safety checks, over 980 thousand hours of boating safety course instruction, and more than 7.7 million hours of operational support and patrol missions. The costs of such performance have also been overwhelmingly borne by Auxilarists as they have logged over 23.7 million hours of staff work, travel, preparation, training, and self-administration. This has all been unselfishly delivered as Auxilarists have stood side by side with their Coast Guard counterparts to confront and overcome a roll call of challenges: Y2K, 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and many other natural and man-made disasters.

The Auxiliary continues to align itself with the Coast Guard, modernizing its organization across all Sectors, Districts, and Headquarters Directorates to shape optimal support of Coast Guard missions today and into the future. Moreover, the Auxiliary has gained even greater headway as it has progressively broadened its ability to comprehensively address more and more non-traditional mission areas such as interpreter, vessel documentation, legal, and health services support. I greatly admire the organizational courage and determination of all Auxilarists as we make our final approach on achieving a fully modernized and integrated Coast Guard.

Auxiliary performance has been nothing short of stellar, and its greatest impacts are readily reflected by Auxilarists spirit of patriotism and dedication to the Coast Guard men and women with whom they service. I therefore intend to duly recognize the Auxiliary with an award of the Coast Guard Unit Commendation as part of its 70th Anniversary Celebration at Coast Guard Headquarters on June 23. Please join me in setting aside time to recognize the exceptional honor, respect, and devotion to duty so consistently displayed by our Coast Guard Auxilarists, and thank them for their service.

Admiral Thad Allen
Commandant

ALCOAST

Coast Guard Support to Civil Authorities

From Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen:

Coast Guard Supports Local RespondersOriginally uploaded by uscgpressIn light of our current support to flood rescue operations in North Dakota we have received queries that prompted me to share some insights on the Coast Guard's roles and authorities in civil support.

The Coast Guard's core roles are to protect the public, the environment, and U.S. economic and security interests in any maritime region in which those interests may be at risk, including international waters and America's coasts, ports, and inland waterways.

The Coast Guard provides unique benefits to the nation because of its distinctive blend of military, humanitarian, and civilian law enforcement capabilities. Most recently, you have seen this in play as the Coast Guard has worked so closely and effectively with local and state first responders to protect the citizens of North Dakota, accounting for 93 rescues so far. What the Coast Guard is able to do and what it does in support of civil authorities will always be based on our legal authorities, capabilities, and mission requirements as determined by the needs of the specific event or scenario, always based on consultation with local, state and Federal agencies.

Using the North Dakota floods as an example, the legal authority for these operations stems both from the Coast Guard's authority to conduct search and rescue and our ability provide assistance to other federal, state and local agencies when our personnel are especially qualified to do so.

14 U.S.C. 88 provides, in relevant part:

In order to render aid to distressed persons, vessels, and aircraft on and under the high seas and on and under the waters over which the United States has jurisdiction and in order to render aid to persons and property imperiled by flood, the Coast Guard may: (1) perform any and all acts necessary to rescue and aid persons and protect and save property...

14 U.S.C. 141 provides:
The Coast Guard, upon request, may use its personnel and facilities to assist any Federal agency, state, territory, possession, or political subdivision to perform activities for which the Coast Guard is "especially qualified." This does not extend Coast Guard law enforcement authority (i.e. the Coast Guard does not gain the LE authority of any agency to which it is rendering assistance). Assistance meeting the "especially qualified" standard would include the employment of drug dogs, specialized equipment or techniques, use of vessels or aircraft, and other unique Coast Guard capabilities, but would not authorize Coast Guard personnel to engage in law enforcement activities ashore beyond the scope of organic Coast Guard law enforcement authority.In this case, the capabilities at play are the Coast Guard's expertise in and resources for search and rescue operations, particularly in maritime regions, including inland rivers. The mission requirements are met by continual coordination with local and state officials facilitated by representation at their county and state emergency operation centers.

Now, let's move beyond current events in North Dakota, and look at other ways in which the Coast Guard can provide support to civil authorities. To start, here are some of the keystone Coast Guard law enforcement authorities:--

14 U.S.C. 89:
Authorizes the Coast Guard to go onboard any vessel subject to the jurisdiction or operation of any law of the United States, whether on the high seas, or on waters over which the United States has jurisdiction, in order to make inquiries, examinations, inspections, searches, seizures, and arrests for the prevention, detection, and suppression of violations of laws of the U.S. -- 33

U.S.C. 1221 et seq.:
Under the Ports & Waters Safety Act, Coast Guard Captains of the Port have extensive authority to control the anchorage and movement of vessels, establish safety and security zones in U.S. ports and waters subject to U.S. jurisdiction; control the entrance and departure of vessels from U.S. ports, and take other actions with respect to vessels, ports and port facilities to prevent or respond to various types of threats and hazards from terrorist acts to environmental hazards. --

46 U.S.C. 70118:
Authorizes limited law enforcement activities for Coast Guard personnel ashore at maritime facilities. While at facilities, Coast Guard personnel may make arrests without a warrant, but only for offenses against the United States committed in the presence of the officer. This also authorizes Coast Guard personnel to carry a firearm in the performance of their official duties - wherever located.--

14 U.S.C. 95:
Grants law enforcement authority for Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS) special agents commensurate with special agents of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, in the enforcement of statutes under which the Coast Guard has law enforcement authority or under exigent circumstances. This authority is applicable to shoreside investigations & law enforcement activity.

When you take a look across the broad spectrum of Coast Guard authorities (the above being just a few of the more relevant), and then examine our capabilities, you are able to begin developing potential options for employment of Coast Guard support to civil authorities beyond our regular maritime safety and security operations. Examples include (these are neither definitive, nor all inclusive):

-- Command and Control (C2) - The Coast Guard could provide both qualified personnel and deployable and mobile equipment support to provide or enhance C2 capabilities.
-- Law enforcement technical support - This could include bomb and drug detection equipment, including canine teams.
-- Air operations - Coast Guard aircraft could augment and assist with surveillance, transportation, airlift, and other logistic support.
-- Intelligence - Coast Guard personnel, including CGIS Special Agents, could assist in intelligence collection and analysis.

It is important to understand that these operations are in addition to normal mission requirements and the Coast Guard is not staffed, equipped or appropriated to sustain these without additional support. In some cases, it may be necessary to call on our critical Coast Guard Reserve for additional capability and capacity. Attached is a table that describes who can call up Reservists, under what type and duration of recall, based on what events/declaration. /Reserve_Authorities.pdf

To summarize, our support to civil authorities will always be based on our legal authorities, capabilities, and the specific mission requirements as determined by consultation with other state, local and Federal partners and tailored to fit the situation at hand. Close adherence to this formula allows us to effectively and efficiently apply our broad authorities and unique capabilities for the best benefit of the American public, always consistent with Federal law and in close cooperation with local officials.