INTRODUCTION
Madame Chairwoman and distinguished members of the Senate Subcommittee on Fisheries and the Coast Guard,on behalf of ROA’s 75,000 members, the Reserve Officers Association thanks the committee for the honor, privilege, and opportunity to submit testimony on issues relating to the Coast Guard budget.
The U.S. Coast Guard and its Selected Reserve are a valuable, unique and increasingly visible service within the armed forces structure of this nation. ROA would like to thank this sub-committee for the on-going stewardship it has demonstrated on issues of homeland security, as the Coast Guard is a non-DOD uniformed service. The USCG needs and capabilities do not always receive the public attention ROA believes they should. Since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the nation has come to expect even more from this proud service and has levied additional consequence management missions upon it, while retaining the lead Federal agency mission for maritime homeland security.
ROA’s two overall legislative priorities are:
- Fully fund equipment and training requirements of the National Guard and Reserve.
- Provide adequate resources and authorizations to support current recruiting and retention requirements of the National Guard and Reserves.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Our Coast Guard’s plate is overflowing with workload demands for homeland security. That our men and women in the Coast Guard and its Selected Reserve have kept their heads above water is a testimony to exemplary leadership and selfless personal motivation and dedication.
ROA asks the Committee to respond to the unselfish service of U.S. Coast Guard’s men and women and recognize the need for funding assistance in order for the Coast Guard and its Reserve to continue this outstanding work.
This high level of performance can only be sustained by supporting the Total Force. The USCG Reserve component cost-effectively provides flexibility to respond to changing demands and threats. Its Selected Reserve augments the active Coast Guard and reinforces all 11 of the Coast Guard’s mission goals. Yet like the active Coast Guard, its Reserve has more missions than people to perform them. While the CG Reserve is authorized at 10,000 serving members, it has been only funded at a level of 8,100 Reservists.
ROA’s testimony recommends an increase in funding to an interim end-strength level of 9,300 for FY 2007, which will create a more robust Coast Guard Selected Reserve by enhancing its capabilities toward mission accomplishment.
DISCUSSION
Resetting the Force:
In 1995 the Coast Guard Selected Reserve was fully integrated into the Active duty Coast Guard to be trained and employed as a part-time work force doing the same jobs as Active duty members. The Congress indicated, in 1995, that the minimum size of the Coast Guard Selected Reserve be 8,000 serving members. Over the past several years, the Active duty Coast Guard budget and mission scope has expanded to meet the service’s increased responsibilities for maritime homeland security.
A 2004 GAO report noted that resource hours for many of the Coast Guard’s traditional missions have decreased as demands for its critical port security mission have increased. Coast Guard legacy vessels are experiencing increased unscheduled maintenance and personnel stress issues are arising as a result of higher operational demands across its 11 missions.
ROA believes additional emphasis should be given to the personnel resources required to meet these new missions, which are in addition to the Coast Guard’s traditional missions. This mission burden has clearly had an effect on the overall readiness of the Coast Guard. In FY 2006 the Coast Guard was able to satisfactorily meet only eight of its present 11 mission goals. Of particular note was the failure to meet its Defense Readiness combat rating standard (69 percent achieved versus 100 percent target).
Sources within the Coast Guard have indicated to ROA that they have recruiting and training resources that would permit them to expand beyond an end-strength level of 8,100 to 9,300 in FY 2007.
ROA urges that Congress to increase the funded size of the Coast Guard Selected Reserve from the FY 2006 level of 8,100 to 9,300 in FY 2007.
ROA Resolution No. 04-12 recommends increasing the authorized end-strength of the Coast Guard Selected Reserve to at least 15,000. The USCG has come up with similar results. In a recent study the Coast Guard identified through its Contingency Personnel Requirements List (CPRL) an end-strength of 14,000 officers and enlisted by FY 2011.
The Coast Guard has the ability and infrastructure to immediately begin recruiting to, and training of, a Selected Reserve funded to a level of 9,300 serving members. As for the future, the Coast Guard can ramp up to attain an authorized end-strength of 14,000 Selected Reservists by FY 2011.
ROA suggests an increased authorization and funding to 10,475 in FY 2008, with further sequential end-strength authorization increases and funding of 1,175 personnel each fiscal year from FY 2009 to FY 2011. This increased end-strength will permit a highly cost effective way for the Coast Guard to match the Contingency Personnel Requirements List (CPRL) developed from the 11 mission performance goals presently assigned to the service.
ROA recommends hearings by the U.S. Senate to determine FY 2008 authorization and funding levels for the USCGR and the development of annual incremental increases to obtain an end-strength level of 14,000 by FY 2011.
Currently, the USCG Reserve does not have aviation assets. Aviation skills, acquired on Active duty, atrophy in the Reserve component as they are not maintained through regular use. These skill sets tend to migrate to other services’ Reserve components, reducing USCG capabilities.
ROA suggests that the establishment of a Coast Guard Selected Reserve aviation structure be studied. It would help retain and maintain these valuable proficiencies and provide the USCG with a surge capability when needed for the missions of maritime domain awareness and disaster response.
BACKGROUND
Readiness & Capabilities:
Readiness is the product of many factors, including the quality of personnel, full manning, extensive training and exercises, well-maintained weapons and equipment, efficient procedures, and the capacity to operate at a fast tempo. The pace of operations dictated by the Global War on Terror (GWOT) and the Coast Guard’s major responsibility as the lead Federal agency for maritime homeland security has a major impact on Reserve Component member’s ability to continually contribute to mission accomplishment across the spectrum of Coast Guard operations. More than 1,000 members of the Coast Guard’s 8,100 Selected Reserve were activated during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. These activations were in addition to those Reserve activations that are on-going and in support of the Global War on Terror (GWOT).
As an armed force, multimission and maritime service, the Coast Guard and its Selected Reserve operates in a unique domain of oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, bays, sounds, harbors and waterways. This maritime domain represents the last global commons and is a fundamental vehicle to today’s global interconnectivity. Maritime safety and security are not just issues of U.S. national interest and security, but of global stability. It is essential to both domestic and international economic prosperity. The purpose of the U.S. Coast Guard and its Reserve is to exercise authority and deploy capabilities to guarantee the safety and security of the U.S. maritime domain. The ability to adapt to the ever changing maritime domain is a constant requirement, one enabled by awareness and adequate equipment.
To safeguard the flow of global maritime commerce, the United States needs to expand Coast Guard capabilities in ways that can enhance international cooperation and do so in a cost-effective manner. Expansion of the Coast Guard’s International Port Assistance Program is one way to accomplish this strategic objective. Support of these strategic objectives must include an expanded Coast Guard Selected Reserve force that is able to augment and reinforce the Active component to attain and sustain higher mission performance standards in Safety, Waterways Management, Security and Defense goals.
With 361 U.S. ports, and 95,000 miles of shoreline, the US Coast Guard’s capability must be expanded. Its Reserve component is a cost- effective method.
Improving Maritime Awareness:
Securing our vast maritime borders depends on our ability to enhance maritime domain awareness (MDA). This is one of three key priorities that compose the foundation of a relevant maritime strategy. The remaining key priorities are establishing and leading a maritime security regime, and deploying adequate, effective and relevant integrated operational capability. The Coast Guard Reserve should play a key role in each.
Homeland Security is considered by many the most important issue facing the United States today. Maritime Transportation Security is a major element of an adequate national defense. The 2002 Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA) levied requirements that included Port Security Vulnerability Assessments in 55 strategic ports and the development and implementation of Area Maritime Security Plans. These are time - and manpower-intensive tasks. In an attempt to address these mission assignments the Coast Guard has identified the need to set up 13 Maritime Safety and Security Teams (MSST). A significant slice of the team’s 100 members are programmed to come from the Selected Reserve. Insufficient Selected Reserve end-strength has allowed only the partial staffing of just four teams for this strategically and operationally important mission.
In addition, the National Guard Bureau has asked the Coast Guard to assume the state-level MTSA port and waterway responsibilities which requires the assignment of senior Coast Guard Reserve officers to each State Guard Headquarters as liaison officers. To date, insufficient Selected Reserve end-strength has allowed only three officers to be assigned to this important Homeland Security duty.
Port Security units (PSUs) are identified in Coast Guard and Combatant Commander contingency plans that call for 11 Port Security Units. Presently only eight PSUs, with a staffing of 115 Reserve and five Active duty billets are operational. PSUs perform maritime interception operations (MIO), coastal security patrols, and port security missions for military and humanitarian missions worldwide, including the protection of national assets.
PSUs are units that are being frequently deployed. Meanwhile the USCGR is having a difficult time recruiting to these units from other billets within the Coast Guard Reserve. Conversely this program has the highest frequency of individual repeat mobilizations for Coast Guard Reservists, which has resulted in retention problems. Funding authorized at a higher end-strength level would help reduce the stress to these units.
CONCLUSION
Since 9/11 the Coast Guard has added 7,000 Active personnel and 5,000 civilian members, an expensive approach in a resource-constrained environment. Still it has yet to satisfy mission requirements in the Homeland Defense and Maritime Security areas.
With only 8,100 funded billets, the USCG is playing musical chairs with its Reserve personnel. Insufficient Reserve end-strength requires the Coast Guard Selected Reserve to transfer personnel among vital Reserve missions, an attempt that only partially addresses these legislated national security requirements. Adding to Active structure is an expensive solution, and hiring civilians cannot realistically solve these operational shortfalls. With the present size of the CG Reserve, these missions have no realistic chance of being fully accomplished. Neither can technology, in the near-term, address constraints on the Coast Guard’s operational capabilities and reach within the maritime domain.
Using FY 2007 Coast Guard budget data, the Coast Guard Reserve, as presently structured, only comprises about 2.25 percent of the Coast Guard’s budget. The tasks that Congress has mandated in current homeland defense legislation could actually be accomplished by the CG Reserve at a cost of about one-fifth of what an active duty personnel solution would cost. An increase in authorized and funded end-strength of the Coast Guard Selected Reserve to 9,300 billets is a cost-effective solution to attain higher and more sustainable levels of mission performance and accomplishment.
An under-strength Coast Guard Reserve was able to perform in a true national disaster, but how long can this performance be sustained? The right for increased funding has been earned. ROA does not wish to take funds away from the active Coast Guard and its projects; we feel that the CG Reserve is a good investment for additional funding.
The Reserve Officers Association respectfully asks the Committee to support this requested funding in FY 2007 and review a programmatic and sequenced increase in the authorized and fully funded end-strength for the Selected Reserve of the U.S. Coast Guard.
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