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A 54,000-strong Coast Guard?

Although Coast Guard officials have declined to say publicly how many more Coast Guardsmen they’d like, information from the Coast Guard led the Navy League to set upon a figure of about 54,000, a plus-up of about 13,000 from the service’s current listed end strength, according to its policy statements. A top Coast Guard spokesman said that wasn’t an official number.

Navy League spokeswoman Janet Mescus said that Coast Guard officials briefed the Navy League to help it form its policy statements, and their information led the Navy League to arrive at the 54,000 recommendation. Capt. James McPherson, a Coast Guard spokesman, said he had never heard of growing the Coast Guard that much, and reiterated that while the Coast Guard does need to expand, it doesn’t have a set goal for how many personnel to add.

The figure appeared under the policy recommendations in the Navy League’s 2008 maritime policy statement, along with similar items for the Navy and Marine Corps. Specifically, the Navy League policy statement says it supports funding the Coast Guard’s Deepwater program and growing the Coast Guard by 2,000 people per year over the next five years, as well as adding additional active-duty personnel, civilians and reservists in the out years.

Navy Times on Friday reported that the Navy League got its number from the Coast Guard after service officials briefed the organization on the service’s requirements. The article paraphrased an interview with Mescus, who clarified on Tuesday that the Coast Guard hadn’t used that exact number in its briefings, but rather that its presentation led one of the Navy League’s committees to come up with that specific number.

The key points in the Navy League’s other recommendations — a Marine Corps force of 202,000 and a 313-ship Navy — jibe with the official positions of the other sea services.

Mescus said the Navy League “used a combination of things,” including the services’ presentations and the advice of its members, to form its policy suggestions.

Lawmakers and reporters have asked top Coast Guardsmen before about an ideal end-strength, but each time the leaders demurred from giving specifics. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen called for additional Coast Guardsmen in his State of the Coast Guard address in February; and lawmakers asked Coast Guard Chief of Staff Vice Adm. Robert Papp for a hard number at a House budget hearing Feb. 26.

In that hearing, when Papp said he didn’t know how big the Coast Guard should be, Rep. James Oberstar, a Minnesota Democrat and chairman of the House Transportation Committee, told Papp he thought the Coast Guard knew exactly what it wanted, but that Oberstart believed there was pressure from the White House to withhold those details at budget time.

Top Coast Guardsmen began calling for additional personnel earlier this year, starting with a request in the fiscal 2009 budget request for more than 250 new district-level watch-standers and additional billets for the acquisitions directorate.

DISCUSS: Growing the Coast Guard