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Allen: State of the Coast Guard is strong

In his third State of the Coast Guard speech Tuesday, Commandant Adm. Thad Allen assured fellow Guardians that the service is strong, but not without challenges.

“The good news is, there has never been a bigger demand for our services. The bad news is, there has never been a bigger demand for our services,” Allen said.

During his 30-minute speech, Allen referenced the strength of the service five times while discussing its broad responsibilities. He praised service members for accomplishing a record number of drug seizures and the deterrence of “mass migrations.” He talked about the service’s global efforts, specifically mentioning its involvement in anti-piracy efforts off the Horn of Africa; the cutter Dallas’ extended deployment to the Black Sea, where it delivered humanitarian supplies to the Republic of Georgia following the South Ossetia conflict; and the cutter Boutwell’s around-the-globe deployment, during which it will work under four Navy combatant commanders and with numerous world navies and coast guards.

He talked about the standup of the service’s five new logistical support units, referencing a comment left on his own blog from a petty officer at Coast Guard Station Curtis Bay, Md., that not only highlighted the success of the new logistics centers but the benefits of a service that has taken the lead in social networking and Web 2.0 initiatives.

“‘I love it,’” Allen quoted the petty officer. “‘Now, with a quick click of the mouse I can find out what maintenance was done on my boat, what maintenance needs to be done, what my scheduled missions are and the status of the other folks at the unit. Where I used to have to spend 15 minutes, now it is done in less than two minutes.’”

As for acquisitions, he talked about the first national security cutter Bertholf, which just completed successful combat system qualifications with the Navy, and said the service is working closely with the Navy’s Space and Warfare Systems Command on information security so the Coast Guard can take final delivery of the ship. In addition to Bertholf, Allen said, the cutters Waesche and Stratton are “next in line, and Hamilton is in the cue.”

The sixth new Ocean Sentry maritime patrol aircraft arrived at Elizabeth City, N.C., in February, and Rescue 21 — the advanced new command, control and communications system — now covers 24,000 miles of coastline.

Most importantly though, he said the Sentinel-class patrol boat, which has withstood a Government Accountability Office review and tests in the court system, probably best demonstrates the success of the newly transformed acquisitions directorate.

“This did not happen by accident; it is the result of the hard work done by our Office of Acquisition and the entire service. Let me be clear on this — any discussion of our acquisition organization and its effectiveness should begin with where we are today and what has been accomplished in the last two and half years,” Allen said. “We must always learn from the past and make corrections where needed, but today we are at a new place and it needs to be recognized.”

Though he did not release details of the service’s budget, he did stress the pressure it likely will place on the service.

“I said last year, and I’m not going to retract it, that we are capable of growing by 2,000 a year without making an additional investment. Now, having that capacity begs the issue of whether that will be possible in the current fiscal environment,” Allen said. “The decision on how big the Coast Guard should be working toward, especially in our current environment, is something we have to be working on with the new administration, but this notion of doing more with less needs to leave the lexicon. You only do what you can with what you’ve got.”