Coast Guard Mission Needs Statement January 8, 2016 Fiscal Year 2015 Report to Congress United States Coast Guard This page was intentionally left blank January 8, 2016 Executive Summary As a maritime nation, America’s economic prosperity and national interests are inextricably linked to the sea. In an age of increasing globalization, rapid technological advancements, and growing threats, the Coast Guard remains an indispensable instrument of national security and prosperity. As a military service and branch of the armed forces, federal law enforcement agency, maritime first responder, regulatory agency, humanitarian organization, and member of the intelligence community, the Coast Guard brings a unique blend of authorities, capabilities, and competencies to the defense of the Nation. Over the past 225 years, the Coast Guard’s missions have evolved along with the United States and the world. Today, the Coast Guard ensures the safety, security, and stewardship of our Nation’s maritime domain, protecting more than 100,000 miles of U.S. coastline and inland waterways – and its supporting infrastructure, saving thousands of lives per year, and safeguarding the world’s largest Exclusive Economic Zone. The Service’s 11 missions are both broad and complex, and range from Search and Rescue and Counter Drug Enforcement to Icebreaking and Marine Environmental Protection. While Coast Guard responsibilities are diverse, its multi-mission nature and culture of adaptability provide the Service with the ability to shift rapidly from one mission to another as conditions or national priorities change, ensuring its enduring value to the Nation. To understand the mission needs of the Coast Guard, one must first understand its missions. As such, this document begins by providing an overview of each mission, describing its elements, goals and objectives, and the stakeholders who carry out and benefit from the associated activities. The mission sections also discuss the trends and strategic environment affecting each mission both now and in the future – from the rise of transnational organized crime and cyber threats to resource competition and climate change. These global forces impact all of our activities – driving demand for an increased Coast Guard presence both within the United States and internationally. Finally, the document discusses the Coast Guard’s broad statutory authorities, the enduring capabilities necessary to best use those authorities to carry out its missions, and the robust partnerships leading to greater unity of effort. Importantly, the Mission Needs Statement does not attempt to identify specific assets to meet mission requirements. The pace of technological development is too rapid and fluid to predict the tools that will be available to the Service in the coming decades. Rather, this document focuses on the enduring capabilities that the Coast Guard requires, regardless of the ultimate materiel solution. ii Coast Guard Mission Needs Statement Table of Contents I. Legislative Language................................................................................................ 1 II. Introduction and Strategic Context ........................................................................... 3 III. Coast Guard Missions ............................................................................................... 6 IV. Link to DHS Strategic Priorities ............................................................................... 8 V. Operating Area ......................................................................................................... 9 VI. Missions in Depth ................................................................................................... 11 1. Ports, Waterways, and Coastal Security ............................................................. 11 2. Drug Interdiction ................................................................................................ 17 3. Alien Migrant Interdiction Operations ............................................................... 22 4. Defense Readiness .............................................................................................. 26 5. Other Law Enforcement ..................................................................................... 30 6. Marine Safety ..................................................................................................... 34 7. Search and Rescue .............................................................................................. 44 8. Aids to Navigation and Maritime Transportation System Management ............ 48 9. Living Marine Resources ................................................................................... 52 10. Marine Environmental Protection .................................................................... 55 11. Ice Operations ................................................................................................... 62 VII. Mission Needs ........................................................................................................ 66 VIII. Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 70 iii Appendix A: Capability Requirements by Mission.......................................................... 71 Appendix B: Stakeholders................................................................................................ 82 Appendix C: Authorities................................................................................................... 93 Appendix D: Glossary .................................................................................................... 107 iv I. Legislative Language This report responds to the language set forth in the Joint Explanatory Statement, House Report 113­ 481, and Senate Report 113-198, which accompany the Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations Act (P.L. 114-4) and Section 215 of the Howard Coble Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2014 (P.L. 113-281). The Joint Explanatory Statement includes the following: Mission Needs Statement Not later than July 1, 2015, the Commandant shall submit to the Committees a new Mission Needs Statement (MNS), which will be used to inform the out-year CIP. The MNS should assume that the Coast Guard requires the capability to continue to carry out all of its eleven statutory missions. House Report 113-481 includes the following: Mission Needs Statement The Committee directs the Commandant to conduct a new mission needs statement (MNS), to be submitted with the fiscal year 2016 budget, which takes into account the funding proposed in the five-year Capital Investment Plan (CIP) submitted for that fiscal year. The MNS shall describe which missions the Coast Guard will not be able to achieve for any year in which a gap exists between the mission hour targets and projected mission hours for new and legacy assets based on the proposed CIP. Senate Report 113-198 includes the following: Analysis of Mission Requirements To ensure the out-year CIP adequately meets Coast Guard operational needs, the Coast Guard shall conduct an analysis of mission requirements. This analysis should assume that the Coast Guard needs the capability to continue to carry out all of its 11 statutory missions. In this analysis, the Coast Guard should also outline options for acquisition plans that consider reasonable combinations of alternative capabilities of surface assets (including an icebreaker) and air assets to determine the most cost effective method of executing mission needs as determined in the analysis described above. The Howard Coble Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2014 includes the following: SEC. 215. MISSION NEED STATEMENT (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 569 of title 14, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 1 § 569. Mission need statement (a) IN GENERAL.—On the date on which the President submits to Congress a budget for fiscal year 2016 under section 1105 of title 31, on the date on which the President submits to Congress a budget for fiscal year 2019 under such section, and every 4 years thereafter, the Commandant shall submit to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate an integrated major acquisition mission need statement. (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following definitions apply: (1) INTEGRATED MAJOR ACQUISITION MISSION NEED STATEMENT.—The term ‘integrated major acquisition mission need statement’ means a document that— (A) identifies current and projected gaps in Coast Guard mission capabilities using mission hour targets; (B) explains how each major acquisition program addresses gaps identified under subparagraph (A) if funded at the levels provided for such program in the most recently submitted capital investment plan; and (C) describes the missions the Coast Guard will not be able to achieve, by fiscal year, for each gap identified under subparagraph (A). (2) MAJOR ACQUISITION PROGRAM.—The term ‘major acquisition program’ has the meaning given that term in section 569a(e). (3) CAPITAL INVESTMENT PLAN.—The term ‘capital investment plan’ means the plan required under section 663(a)(1).’’ 2 II. Introduction and Strategic Context The Coast Guard last updated its MNS in 2004, less than a year and a half after the formation of DHS. The 2004 MNS discussed the role of the Coast Guard and its missions in the post-9/11