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New Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad W. Allencharts a Future

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New Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad W. Allencharts a Future New Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad W. Allen charts a future focused on improved emergency response, tighter ties with the Navy and better equipment for missions far out to sea. By Katherine McIntire Peters Photograph by James Kegley ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GOVERNMENT EXECUTIVE 29 The Allen Doctrine The new Coast Guard commandant looks ahead. In December 2004, then-Coast Guard Chief of strophic events. If anybody missed the needs to accomplish to get there. He plans In a wide-ranging interview with Government Executive May 2, Staff Vice Adm. Thad W. Allen gave a speech clarion call of Sept. 11, surely they heard it to substantially realign the service’s special Adm. Thad W. Allen discussed his view of the Coast Guard's at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., in Aug. 29, Allen says. operations units that respond to security evolving security role and his plans for the service upon becoming In late May, with a fourth star on his and environmental emergencies so they can which he discussed the galvanizing effect the failed shoulder making him a full admiral, Allen work more effectively with other Homeland commandant at the end of the month. Excerpts follow: 1980 Iranian hostage rescue attempt had on the U.S. became commandant of the Coast Guard, Security agencies; move forward aggres- national security establishment. The doomed mission, the only agency with dual military-law sively on the Coast Guard’s long-term On reorganizing deployable that can be married up with the Coast enforcement status and one many believe recapitalization plan, known as Deepwater; Coast Guard units: Guard, it’s a very effective force if we along with other Defense Department world,” Allen says. “We did not have that provides a critical bridge spanning the and forge a closer relationship with the We have for different reasons over a just adapt it to the situation. If you look failures, propelled Congress to pass the same unity of command you see in mili- wide gap in capabilities between tradi- Defense Department, especially the Navy. number of years built teams and what [the Federal Emergency Manage- 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Department of tary operations,” a shortcoming he wor- tional national security agencies and the Allen clearly understands the chal- detachments that are deployable that ment Agency] brings to the fight in Defense Reorganization Act, a watershed ried would have substantial consequences fledgling Homeland Security Depart- lenges the Coast Guard and Homeland have always been stovepiped into dif- terms of resources that can come in law that substantially reoriented Defense during any future calamity. Eight months ment, of which the Coast Guard is a part. Security face. He played a pivotal role in ferent mission areas. My goal would be after an event, and I’m speaking specif- and forced the military services into later, Hurricane Katrina laid waste to Allen, whose father was so eager to join the response to both the Sept. 11 terrorist to take all of those and put them under ically about urban search-and-rescue greater cooperation. more than 90,000 square miles of Gulf the Coast Guard as a 16-year-old during attacks, which led to the creation of one force structure and use that force teams, the national disaster medical “It occurred to me after 9/11 that there Coast territory and shattered Americans’ World War II that he lied about his age to Homeland Security, and to Katrina. As structure to integrate with the Depart- system, deployable medical teams, and was that kind of clarion call for that type confidence in the federal government’s enlist, brings to the job a clear notion of Atlantic Area commander during 9/11, he ment of Homeland Security and create you think how you can hook those up of cohesiveness inside the [non-Defense] ability to respond effectively to cata- where the service is headed and what it oversaw the Coast Guard’s substantial a more agile, flexible force that could with say an agency that could provide response, which included shutting down deploy in advance of an event if you security—the Federal Protective Ser- New York Harbor and participating in knew it was coming, or after an event vice or Customs and Border Protec- what might be the largest boatlift in histo- to mitigate any threats or hazards. [It’s] tion—and then you have ways to get in ry—moving more than a million people a more efficient way to organize, a with Coast Guard small boats, for trapped in lower Manhattan to safe more effective way to deploy in a post- instance, that’s where everything ground. During Katrina, after a dismal ini- [Hurricane] Katrina environment and a becomes very valuable because you tial government response, Homeland better way to mesh with the other get synergies with all those capabilities Security Secretary Michael Chertoff des- operating agencies in DHS. and competencies. ignated Allen the principal federal official I don’t intend to move them, but put in charge and assigned him to coordinate them under the same command. The The failure of the federal operations on the ground. In fact, the working title is Deployable Operations response to Katrina: Coast Guard was one of the few agencies Group. These forces will still be owned The problem with Katrina was that to emerge from Katrina with its reputation by the field commanders, but [the new [the National Response Plan] was a intact, if not enhanced. Within hours of command] will build a common doctrine nascent strategy that just didn’t Katrina’s landfall, while many other feder- between them and create deployable deliver. There was insufficient train- al and state officials waited for someone to logistics support for them. We would ing with the state and local levels to take charge, Coast Guard helicopters had create packages that are capable of understand it and [Homeland Security begun rescuing survivors. Applying 40 being airlifted in C-130s. The new com- was] in the process of reorganizing percent of Coast Guard aircraft to the chal- mand would train, equip and provide under Secretary [Michael] Chertoff’s lenge, air and boat crews rescued nearly those forces to whoever needs them. second stage review when the hurri- 34,000 people. cane hit. So there was never any ben- The Coast Guard’s new home efit from the work that had been Expanding Mission within Homeland Security: done, starting with the creation of the The Coast Guard has one of the broadest Contrary to what may be believed by department, to bring to bear when we missions in government. As a maritime law the public, the media and some other had the most catastrophic natural enforcement agency, it conducts search- folks, I think our presence in the disaster that we’ve encountered. and-rescue missions, is the lead agency for Department of Homeland Security The flooding of New Orleans was port security and a key player in coun- significantly enhanced our ability to the equivalent of a weapon of mass ternarcotics and anti-smuggling opera- respond [during Katrina] and signifi- effect without criminality. We were tions, and administers safety regulations. cantly enhanced the department’s pulling forces into [New Orleans], but As a military service, it has participated in ability to respond. there basically was not a capable every major war. Coast Guard boats now LOOKING GOOD The Coast Guard’s reputation was enhanced by its post-Katrina performance, guarding and rescuing civilians. When you start thinking about the authority—in terms of having radios U.S. COAST GUARD conduct boarding and interdiction opera- capabilities resident in the department that worked, a command center, etc. ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 30 JUNE 1, 2006 GOVERNMENT EXECUTIVE 31 tions in the Persian Gulf in support of mil- patrol, or a large cutter operating in the Those were the things I addressed itary operations in Iraq, for example. Bering Sea on the boundary line between when I got to New Orleans. Those are “We’ve been doing this kind of work the United States and Russia, our com- the things that are being addressed since 1790,” says Allen, referring to then- manders are deployed out there to do a before this hurricane season. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton’s mission and they’re provided the creation of the Revenue Marine, to which resources and the authority to execute the If terrorists had blown up the the Coast Guard traces its roots. “I would mission,” says Allen. levees, the response would have say the modern counterterrorism mission To be able to perform all these missions, been different: When the city was flooded you really had a different event tac- tically. Had that been a terrorist attack, you would have seen a criminal investigative agency in charge of the response, most likely Department of Justice, directing the on-scene response, but at the same time you would have had the recovery-and-relief resource come to bear. The dif- ference is if you had a terrorist attack and everybody knew that, you would have somebody on the ground there supervising the response, and FEMA’s role would have been a supporting role to deal with the consequences. In this hurricane, we kind of did it in reverse. Based on the hurricane model, we put FEMA resources in to be responsive pursuant to an emergency or disaster decla- FLEXIBLE Coast Guard units didn’t have to wait for authorization to rescue hurricane victims. ration at the request of the gov- ernor, and we backed into the probably started with the passage of the the Coast Guard has developed specialized second event. Espionage Act in 1917, and that is basically units that can deploy on short notice to deal the genesis of a lot of our captain of the port with everything from hazardous materials Preparations for the 2006 authority we have right now to protect spills to maritime accidents to terrorist hurricane season: waterfront facilities, vessels, [and] the infra- threats at ports.
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