S. HRG. 108–786 COAST GUARD AND ITS TRANSITION TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON OCEANS, FISHERIES, AND COAST GUARD OF THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION FEBRUARY 12, 2003 Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 97–272 PDF WASHINGTON : 2005 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:16 May 18, 2005 Jkt 097272 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\97272.TXT JACK PsN: JACKF SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona, Chairman TED STEVENS, Alaska ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, South Carolina CONRAD BURNS, Montana DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii TRENT LOTT, Mississippi JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, Maine JOHN B. BREAUX, Louisiana SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota GORDON SMITH, Oregon RON WYDEN, Oregon PETER G. FITZGERALD, Illinois BARBARA BOXER, California JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada BILL NELSON, Florida GEORGE ALLEN, Virginia MARIA CANTWELL, Washington JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire FRANK LAUTENBERG, New Jersey JEANNE BUMPUS, Republican Staff Director and General Counsel ROBERT W. CHAMBERLIN, Republican Chief Counsel KEVIN D. KAYES, Democratic Staff Director and Chief Counsel GREGG ELIAS, Democratic General Counsel SUBCOMMITTEE ON OCEANS, FISHERIES, AND COAST GUARD OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, Maine, Chairwoman TED STEVENS, Alaska ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, South Carolina TRENT LOTT, Mississippi JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii GORDON SMITH, Oregon JOHN B. BREAUX, Louisiana JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire MARIA CANTWELL, Washington (II) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:16 May 18, 2005 Jkt 097272 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\97272.TXT JACK PsN: JACKF C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on February 12, 2003 ....................................................................... 1 Statement of Senator Breaux ................................................................................. 27 Statement of Senator Hollings ............................................................................... 3 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 3 Statement of Senator Lautenberg .......................................................................... 29 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 29 Statement of Senator Lott ...................................................................................... 24 Statement of Senator Snowe ................................................................................... 1 WITNESSES Collins, Admiral Thomas H., Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard ........................... 5 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 6 Hecker, JayEtta Z., Director, Physical Infrastructure, GAO ............................... 8 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 11 APPENDIX Inouye, Hon. Daniel K., U.S. Senator from Hawaii, prepared statement ........... 39 Response to written questions submitted to Admiral Thomas H. Collins by: Hon. Maria Cantwell ........................................................................................ 57 Hon. Ernest F. Hollings ................................................................................... 44 Hon. Kay Bailey Hutchison ............................................................................. 43 Hon. Daniel K. Inouye ...................................................................................... 53 Hon. Frank Lautenberg ................................................................................... 54 Hon. Trent Lott ................................................................................................. 41 Hon. Olympia J. Snowe .................................................................................... 39 Response to written questions submitted by Hon. Ernest F. Hollings to JayEtta Z. Hecker ................................................................................................ 58 (III) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:16 May 18, 2005 Jkt 097272 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\97272.TXT JACK PsN: JACKF VerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:16 May 18, 2005 Jkt 097272 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\97272.TXT JACK PsN: JACKF COAST GUARD AND ITS TRANSITION TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2003 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON OCEANS, FISHERIES, AND COAST GUARD, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, Washington, DC. The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:30 p.m. in room SR–253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Olympia J. Snowe, Chairwoman of the Subcommittee, presiding. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, U.S. SENATOR FROM MAINE Senator SNOWE. The hearing will come to order. Before I begin, I want to express on behalf of the Committee our colleague and the Ranking Member of this Committee, Senator Kerry is undergoing surgery today, and we want to wish him a very speedy and full re- covery. We are certainly looking forward to having him come back very soon. Admiral Collins and Ms. Hecker, I certainly want to thank you for being here today and for testifying at this critical hearing on the Coast Guard and its upcoming transition to the new Depart- ment of Homeland Security. This hearing could not come at a more appropriate time. Just last week, the Attorney General and Gov- ernor Ridge raised the Nation’s terrorism threat level to orange, the second-highest level of threat, for only the second time since September 11, 2001, and the first time since the creation of the Homeland Security Department. Raising the threat level brings with it a dramatic increase in readiness across our Government and across the spectrum in terms of homeland security issues. As a member of the Select Committee on Intelligence, yesterday I attended an open session in which the Director of Central Intelligence, George Tenet, and the Director of the FBI, Robert Mueller, testified. According to Director Mueller the Al Qaeda threat is the most serious and immediate threat fac- ing our country. According to Director Tenet, Al Qaeda is actively seeking chemical, biological weapons, as well as a radiological dis- persion device commonly referred to as a dirty bomb. These individuals stated that these threats are based on specific intelligence and not just idle chatter. Just yesterday, a tape attrib- uted to Osama bin Laden revealed he is exhorting his followers to rise up and support Saddam Hussein’s fight against the United States. It is within this context that we are holding this Coast (1) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:16 May 18, 2005 Jkt 097272 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\WPSHR\GPO\DOCS\97272.TXT JACK PsN: JACKF 2 Guard hearing today. The Coast Guard is the Federal agency re- sponsibility for protecting our ports and coastline. The Coast Guard’s homeland security mission is ever so critical for our Na- tion’s security. Last November, we passed the Homeland Security Act of 2002, which transfers the Coast Guard to the new Depart- ment on March 1, a date that is rapidly approaching. The legisla- tion positions the Coast Guard as the cornerstone in the homeland defense, while also recognizing the multifaceted nature of the serv- ice. On that note, I want to thank Senator Stevens as well. He worked with me closely in ensuring the Coast Guard will remain a distinct entity, because they perform so many non-homeland se- curity missions. Obviously we wanted to make sure the Coast Guard maintains the appropriate mission balance, and how we strike that balance will be the focus of a hearing that I will be con- vening next month. Today we are here to ascertain how a momentous and historic a transition for the Coast Guard will actually work, and to assess the challenges inherent in the Coast Guard’s evolving maritime home- land security strategy. The fact is, the threats that we faced on September 11 have only increased in magnitude and, given that only 1 or 2 percent of the 6 million shipping containers from over- seas are inspected each year, and 95 percent of trade from outside North America comes to us through our 361 commercial seaports, can there be any question that securing our ports is a national im- perative? As the most recent Hart-Rudman report stated, if an explosive device was loaded in a container and set off in a port, it would al- most automatically raise concerns about the integrity of the 21,000 containers that arrive in U.S. ports each day. A 3- to 4-week clo- sure of U.S. ports would bring the global container industry to its knees. Fortunately, we have made progress since we learned in a hear- ing back in October 2001 that a freighter could arrive at a U.S. port unannounced, and one of its containers could then travel by rail or truck clear across this country to its destination, before it was ever scrutinized. That is the reason that I had pressed for the 96-hour pre-arrival