Coast Guard Lieutenant Junior Grade Shane Gunderson and Investigative Service agent Bobby Brisby deliver relief supplies to victims of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)
The concept that it takes a network to defeat a network has become a maxim that drives defense strategy in irregular conflicts. Far less emphasis is placed on the value of a network-centric strategy in preparing for and responding to natural and manmade disasters.
The 2017 hurricane season reaffirmed the Coast Guard’s expertise in coordinating with other responding agencies, and with leaders and citizens in affected communities. Due to the strategic location of its units and personnel throughout the country, the breadth of its mission set, and the daily interaction with military, law enforcement, local government, and private sector constituencies, the service is ideally suited to this vital and complex role. Harnessing the power of networks to further enhance the Coast Guard’s liaison capability and surge capacity should be a priority for the nation’s disaster resilience strategy.
Location, Location, Location
Coastal areas are uniquely vulnerable to natural disasters—and increasingly where Americans live. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 2010 Coastal Population Report, 52 percent of the population lives in coastal areas, which represent less than 20 percent of the nation’s territory.[1]From 1970 to 2010, while the United States as a whole added 36 persons per square mile, coastal areas added 125.[2]This trend will likely continue. Coast Guard assets and personnel are dispersed throughout these coastal zones and arterial waterways. As a result, the service is often embedded in nearby communities or prepositioned as first responder. This gives the federal government three advantages in times of disaster: proximity, speed, and local knowledge. The day-to-day integration of law enforcement and search and rescue efforts with local agencies, as well as interactions with port authorities and marine transportation entities, cement partnerships critical in times of need.
The Coast Guard’s peacetime organizational location within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is also a strategic advantage. The National Response Framework, which covers major domestic incidents, is coordinated, managed, and maintained by DHS.[3]The Coast Guard trains active duty and reserve personnel in the Incident Command System (ICS), the standardized process for managing disaster response, providing key interoperability with other civilian agencies. As the sole armed service within DHS, the Coast Guard should also serve as a natural interface between the Department of Defense (DoD) and larger response efforts.
Center of Gravity for Interagency Coordination
The Coast Guard is a multimission armed service that carries a broad range of national, homeland, and economic security tasks, from search and rescue, law enforcement and national defense, to maintenance of the nation’s critical maritime transportation infrastructure. The breadth and scope of these daily missions and the varied constituencies involved have made the Coast Guard an agency adept at coordinating with federal, state, local, and external partners. On any given day, members of the same unit may interact with other military services, law enforcement agencies, port authorities, state transportation agencies, private maritime entities, environmental groups, first responders, and the general public. These constituencies all have vital roles in any response, and the integration and management of their interests is critical. The Coast Guard’s organizational skill set is ideally suited for interacting and coordinating with these disparate communities.
The Crucible of 2017
The year 2017 was the first on record when three Category 4 storms made landfall in the United States.[4]It also was the most destructive year recorded in terms of property damage, and it displaced more U.S. citizens than any season to date. The impacts of Harvey, Irma, and Maria created a vast need for robust response from a multitude of federal, state, and local agencies, as well as NGOs and private actors.
In Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, fully 40 percent of aids to navigation—the buoys, lights, and markers that serve as the traffic management system for maritime transport—sustained damage, along with 696 aids in Florida.[5]Critical ports vital to the efficient provision of assistance after Irma and Maria reopened in a matter of days, with all ports in affected areas open within 15 days of landfall. The Coast Guard has the authority to open ports, but verifying waterways safe for navigation and clearing debris is a multiagency effort that includes the Army Corps of Engineers and port authorities. Reopening ports, often largely unnoticed in press coverage of post-disaster efforts, relieves a far less efficient air bridge from having to supply all necessary supplies to an area.
In one example of how it leveraged its interagency savvy and agility, in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Maria the Coast Guard sent bilingual officers to serve as liaisons with local mayors and community leaders in Puerto Rico. This capitalized on the organizational benefits of an armed force that regularly interacts with communities and their leaders. It also helped improve communication, coordination, and response in the aftermath of Maria.
Improving Interoperability
Some recommendations to help the Coast Guard be even better at interoperability include:
- Vastly expand ICS training: The Coast Guard’s familiarity with the Incident Command System increases interoperability and plug-and-play capability with a panoply of partners. However, the current training availability is woefully inadequate for the recent demand for ICS-trained personnel. Reserve members, needed in the vast majority of crises, receive an average of two seats in most ICS training sessions. This is not nearly enough to ensure continuity in integrating and sustaining qualified personnel.
- Invest in the Coast Guard Reserve: Due to the service’s daily steady-state missions, in national disasters the Reserve often provides most of the manpower. Many reservists also can draw on their civilian professions to make crucial liaisons with partners. The 2017 hurricane season stretched the Coast Guard Reserve bench strength to the limit. With the reasonable expectation that the frequency of natural disasters will at least stay constant, an expansion of the Reserve is a prudent investment for national resilience.
- Invest in Coast Guard infrastructure: Coast Guard geographic distribution is not without risk despite its advantages, as units embedded in coastal communities are exposed to the same threats as everyone else. While cutters and aircraft sortie to safety, Coast Guard shore infrastructure remains vulnerable. Sector San Juan, responsible for all Coast Guard operations and safe port operations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, had entire departments relocated because of catastrophic damage to the headquarters building. Air Station Borinquen, on the west coast of Puerto Rico, supplies the organic aviation support for that area and suffered damage that substantially affected communications and the facility’s water supply for weeks. Greater investment is required to make Coast Guard infrastructure more resilient.
- Highlight interoperability: The diverse mix of Coast Guard missions creates challenges when discussing the service with policymakers, other agencies, and the general public. Currently the Coast Guard frames its value in terms of national security, to include border security, and economic security. Even though interoperability and disaster response pertain to these areas, the service should expressly highlight its expertise at operating with other agencies as being essential for the rescue and recovery of communities in the wake of disasters.
The need for interoperability is widespread throughout any disaster response and is an inherent advantage that stems from steady-state Coast Guard operations. The service is singularly positioned to harness the benevolent power of networks in efforts to rescue and reconstitute affected communities. This interconnectedness is more than an integral part of the Coast Guard’s culture; it is an undervalued, yet indispensable component of national disaster resilience.
[1]NOAA’s National Coastal Population Report, 2010, 3.
[2]Ibid.
[3]Joint Publication 3-28, “Defense Support of Civil Authorities,” viii.
[4]National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “Extremely Active 2017 Atlantic Hurricane Season Finally Ends.”
[5]Coast Guard 7th District Prevention Department.
Lieutenant Commander Driggs currently serves at the Coast Guard Reserve Unit at U.S. Southern Command in Miami, Florida. He previously served at Sector Miami in the Vessel Boarding Security Team as a law enforcement officer.