The U.S. Coast Guard: Opportunities and Challenges to Enhancing Maritime Security

The U.S. Coast Guard is a vital and unique instrument of national power, protecting American lives and interests in the maritime domain. It is responsible for a wide range of missions, from peacetime activities like search and rescue and policing our waters against illegal fishing to enforcing U.S. laws and supporting the Navy during wartime. This versatility makes it a key tool in America’s national security apparatus, whether in competition with China, protecting U.S. interests in the Arctic, or targeting illegal narcotics shipments off the coast. The Coast Guard is in high demand.

The Coast Guard has always been famous for rising to the occasion, but with the growth in global challenges increasing the demand for the Service both domestically and abroad, it is long past the days of its old tagline of being able to “do less with more.” Although it is in the midst of the Service’s largest recapitalization effort since World War II, the Coast Guard fleet still consists of many ships commissioned decades ago. Covering over three million nautical square miles of U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone territory and around 13,000 miles of coastline, responding to increasing mission demands abroad is no easy task. Add to that a tough recruiting environment, aging equipment and infrastructure, and increasing mission demands, and one can see how the Coast Guard must consistently adapt to remain Semper Paratus – Always Ready.

Hear more about both the opportunities and challenges facing the Service and how it can effectively protect America’s maritime interests and promote maritime governance across the globe as Admiral Steven D. Poulin, Vice Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, joins Heritage’s James Di Pane.

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