The Essence of the Coast Guard: America’s Maritime Guardians

Who We Are
The U.S. Coast Guard is a military, multi-mission, maritime service. Operating within the Department of Homeland Security during peacetime, the Service falls under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy upon declaration of war or when the President directs. The Coast Guard is a unique federal agency. In addition to its non-redundant yet compelling national defense role as one of the five U.S. Armed Services, the Coast Guard is charged with a broad scope of regulatory, law-enforcement, humanitarian, and emergency-response duties. The Coast Guard operates in a complex and dangerous maritime environment characterized by rapidly changing security threats at home and abroad.

Where We Came From
Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton envisioned a unique maritime service in 1787, when he proclaimed, "A few armed vessels, judiciously stationed at the entrances of our ports, might at a small expense be made useful sentinels of our laws." On August 4, 1790, the new Congress authorized President George Washington to build and deploy up to ten Revenue-Cutters to serve on the front lines of the new nation’s maritime sovereignty and enforce tariffs and customs duties on inbound trade. Soon after its inception, however, the scope of responsibility of the Revenue Marine - later called the Revenue-Cutter Service - began to grow. Clearly, more than just a few armed vessels stationed at the entrances of our ports would be required to ensure America’s security.

With time the Revenue Cutter Service fulfilled an ever-lengthening list of maritime roles. The Revenue Cutter Service ultimately joined with the Life-Saving Service to form the United States Coast Guard in 1915. The new Armed Service also absorbed several other agencies in the ensuing years to counter a wide range of national security threats. The Service’s expanded duties included the enforcement of laws against the smuggling of alcohol during Prohibition, the smuggling of illegal drugs and migrants, and the protection of America’s marine environment and fisheries, among other regulatory functions such as inspecting and regulating the steamship industry and licensing professional mariners.

What We Do
At the start of a new century, the Coast Guard continues to perform myriad tasks and operations in direct support of numerous critical maritime security and safety roles: maritime safety, maritime law enforcement, protection of natural resources, maritime mobility, national defense, and homeland security. Under the mandates of numerous laws, the Service’s missions include: maritime search and rescue, International Ice Patrol operations, polar and domestic waterway icebreaking, bridge administration, aids to navigation, recreational boating safety, vessel traffic management, at-sea enforcement of living marine resource laws and treaty obligations, at-sea drug and illegal migrant interdiction, and port security and safety.

The United States confronts numerous maritime challenges that pose or will pose increasingly significant demands on the Coast Guard and threats to U.S. National Security. These include: illegal migration and contraband smuggling; resource protection threats involving both living and inorganic marine resources; asymmetric threats from weapons of mass destruction and terrorist activities; continued U.S. support of United Nations-sponsored sanctions and security operations; and security, defense, and resource protection implications of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.

How We Do It
The complexity of its missions – and the size of its area of responsibility – require a Coast Guard with capable people, aircraft, cutters, and boats. The Service is responsible for the safety and security of America’s inland waterways, ports, and harbors; more than 95,000 miles of U.S. coastlines; U.S. territorial seas; 3.4 million square miles of ocean defining our Exclusive Economic Zones; and international waters or other maritime regions of importance to the United States.

The Coast Guard’s greatest asset is its highly trained and motivated workforce, serving in active-duty, reserve, auxiliary, and civilian capacities. To carry out its diverse and demanding tasks, the Coast Guard operates an aging fleet of fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, small boats, buoy tenders, ice breakers, and a fleet of "deepwater" cutters capable of protecting America’s maritime security interests wherever they might be at risk or the President so requires. The Coast Guard is pursuing replacing its current inventory of obsolescent ships and aircraft.

Shaping the Future – The Deepwater Project
The Deepwater Capability Replacement Project (Deepwater, for short) is the largest acquisition project in USCG history and has been designate a Reinvention Lab under the Vice President’s National Partnership for Reinventing Government. It is a true performance-based acquisition and will consist of surface, air, and sensor assets that will replace current aging and obsolescent capital assets. This modern force structure will ensure that the Service lives up to its motto – Semper Paratus, Always Ready – well into the twenty-first century.

 

Additional information may be obtained by contacting your local recruiter:

	USCG Recruiting Office Baltimore Forty West Plaza 6499 Baltimore National Pike Catonsville, MD 21228-3904 Phone: 1-877-NOW-USCG Fax: (410) 747-9264
	USCG Recruiting Office D.C. USCG Recruiting Office Washington 3204A Pennsylvania Avenue, SE Washington, D.C. 20020 Phone: 1-877-NOW-USCG Fax: (202) 583-3645

Website: www.gocoastguard.com