This year’s Coast Guard issue comes at what feels like a pivotal year for the red-striped fleet. So many of the challenges that face our nation have a direct impact—and put significant demands—on the Coast Guard. Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, border security, severe weather, sea level rise, receding Arctic ice, and cyber threats to the Maritime Transportation System (MTS) are but a few.
The entire U.S. Coast Guard is about the size of the New York City Police Department—yet stretched across the globe, carrying out 11 statutory missions. A number of those missions are highlighted in this issue, beginning with the winners of this year’s Coast Guard Essay Contest, sponsored in part by Susan Curtin. First-prize winner Coast Guard Commander Kelsey Barrion highlights the need for greater expertise among cutter engineering officers in “The Elephant in the Engine Room.” Second-prize winners Navy Commander Chris O’Connor and Lieutenant Kyle Cregge propose to “Build a Coalition for Northern Sea Route Security.” And Coast Guard Lieutenant Andrew Niedbala and Ensign Ryan Berry took third prize with “The Coast Guard Should Lead to Protect Undersea Cables.”
Regulations enacted after 9/11 require security threats or incidents related to the MTS be reported to the Coast Guard, but more than 20 years later, cyberattacks on and vulnerabilities of the nation’s ports and other maritime infrastructure are not reported promptly or handled efficiently and effectively. Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander Emily Miletello offers several remedies in “Improve Cyber Incident Reporting to the Coast Guard.”
Denis Clift’s “Semper Paratus” highlights Coast Guard coverage in Proceedings history. Readers might be surprised that the first article in our pages written by a Coastie appeared in April 1917, just two years after passage of the 1915 Coast Guard Act. Since then, articles on intercepting rum runners, fighting alongside the Navy, responding to disasters, manning lighthouses, operating flying boats, and many more have been featured.
The Maritime COIN Project is back this month with an excellent piece by retired Philippine Navy Rear Admiral Rommel Ong. In “Maritime COIN is a Team Sport,” Admiral Ong argues, “The desired end-state must be a condition in which the nations of Southeast Asia can unshackle themselves from China, breaking free of the tributary-state mindset, and instead act to secure their own interests.”
On the lighter side, don’t miss “Deploy with Dogs,” by retired Navy Captain John Cordle and Commander Bob Alpigini. Both had canine crewmembers on their destroyers during their command tours. Combined with recent news of Labrador retriever “Sage” joining the crew of the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), this commentary points to renewed interest in an old Navy tradition of having sea dogs on ships. I for one had a few rough days at sea during my career when scratching the ears of a ship’s dog would have cheered me up.
Last month’s Asked & Answered asked naval aviators about the one shipboard landing they would never forget. This month, we asked Coastguardsmen about their most memorable missions, and their answers are equally colorful—including a cutter crew intercepting a fully amphibious 1959 Cadillac transporting illegal migrants across the Florida Strait!
Until next month, keep the water out, the people in, and the world as safe as possible.