The United States Coast Guard ( USCG ) is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of seven uniformed services. It is unique among the military branches in that it has a maritime law enforcement mission (with jurisdiction both domestically and in international waters) and a federal regulatory agency mission as part of its mission set. It operates under the Department of Homeland Security during peacetime, and can be transferred to the Department of the Navy by the President or Congress during a time of war.
The enduring roles of the Coast Guard are Maritime Safety, Maritime Security, and Maritime Stewardship. To carry out those roles the Coast Guard has 11 statutory missions.
The Coast Guard motto is " Semper Paratus ", Latin for "Always Ready" or "Always Prepared".
Overview
Description
The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security dedicated to protecting the safety and security of America.
In addition, the Coast Guard has separate legal authority than the other four armed services. The Coast Guard operates under Title 10 of the United States Code and its other organic authorities, e.g., Titles 6, 14, 19, 33, 46, etc., simultaneously. Because of its legal authority, the Coast Guard can conduct military operations under the Department of Defense or directly for the President in accordance with Title 14 USC 1-3.
Role
The United States Coast Guard has roles in maritime homeland security, maritime law enforcement (MLE), search and rescue (SAR), marine environmental protection (MEP), and the maintenance of river, intracoastal and offshore aids to navigation (ATON). Founded by Alexander Hamilton as the Revenue Cutter Service on 4 August 1790, it lays claim to being the United States' oldest continuous seagoing service. As of August 2009, the Coast Guard had approximately 42,000 men and women on active duty, 7,500 reservists, 29,000 auxiliarists, and 7,700 full-time civilian employees.
While most military services are either at war or training for war, the Coast Guard is deployed every day. With a decentralized organization and much responsibility placed on even the most junior personnel, the Coast Guard is frequently lauded for its quick responsiveness and adaptability in a broad range of emergencies. In a 2005 article in TIME magazine following Hurricane Katrina, the author wrote, "the Coast Guard's most valuable contribution to may be as a model of flexibility, and most of all, spirit." Wil Milam, a rescue swimmer from Alaska told the magazine, "In the Navy, it was all about the mission. Practicing for war, training for war. In the Coast Guard, it was, take care of our people and the mission will take care of itself."
The Coast Guard's motto is Semper Paratus , meaning "Always Ready". The service has participated in every U.S. conflict from 1790 through today, including landing US troops on D-Day and on the Pacific Islands in World War II, in extensive patrols and shore bombardment during the Vietnam War, and multiple roles in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Maritime interception operations, coastal security, transportation security, and law enforcement detachments are its major roles in Iraq.
The formal name for a uniformed member of the Coast Guard is "Coast Guardsman", irrespective of gender. Until 2008, "Coastie" was commonly used to refer to uniformed Coast Guard personnel. Because "Coastie" struck many as derogatory, it is being replaced by "Guardian". "Team Coast Guard" refers to the four components of the Coast Guard as a whole: Regular, Reserve, Auxiliary, and Coast Guard civilian employees.
Search and Rescue
While not the oldest, search and rescue is one of the Coast Guard's best known missions. The National Search and Rescue Plan designates the United States Coast Guard as the federal agency responsible for maritime SAR operations, and the United States Air Force as the federal agency responsible for inland SAR. Both agencies maintain rescue coordination centers to coordinate this effort, and have responsibility for both military and civilian search and rescue.
The U.S. Coast Guard utilizes the Search and Rescue Optimal Planning System (SAROPS) to most accurately model leeway divergence for many search and rescue objects as well as optimize planned search areas.
- USCG Rescue Coordination Centers
National Response Center
The primary function of the National Response Center (NRC) is to serve as the sole national point of contact for reporting all oil, chemical, radiological, biological, and etiological discharges into the environment anywhere in the United States and its territories. In addition to gathering and distributing spill data for Federal On Scene Coordinators and serving as the communications and operations center for the National Response Team, the NRC maintains agreements with a variety of federal entities to make additional notifications regarding incidents meeting established trigger criteria. The NRC also takes Terrorist/Suspicious Activity Reports and Maritime Security Breach Reports. Details on the NRC organization and specific responsibilities can be found in the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan .
- U.S. National Response Team
- Federal On Scene Coordinator
- National Response Framework
Authority as an armed service
The five uniformed services that make up the Armed Forces are defined in 10 U.S.C. § 101(a)(4) :
The term "armed forces" means the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard is further defined by 14 U.S.C. § 1 :
The Coast Guard as established 28 January 1915, shall be a military service and a branch of the armed forces of the United States at all times. The Coast Guard shall be a service in the Department of Homeland Security, except when operating as a service in the Navy.
Coast Guard organization and operation is as set forth in Title 33 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
On 25 February 2003, the Coast Guard was placed under the Department of Homeland Security. The Coast Guard reports directly to the Secretary of Homeland Security. However, under 14 U.S.C. § 3 as amended by section 211 of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2006, upon the declaration of war and when Congress so directs in the declaration, or when the President directs, the Coast Guard operates under the Department of Defense as a service in the Department of the Navy. 14 U.S.C. § 2 authorizes the Coast Guard to enforce federal law, which is further defined in 14 U.S.C. § 89. Further, under 18 U.S.C. § 1385 the Coast Guard is exempt from and not subject to the restrictions of the Posse Comitatus Act, which restrict the law enforcement activities of the other four military services within United States territory.
On 17 October 2007, the Coast Guard joined with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps to adopt a new maritime strategy called A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower that raised the notion of prevention of war to the same philosophical level as the conduct of war. This new strategy charted a course for the Navy, Coast Guard and Marine Corps to work collectively with each other and international partners to prevent regional crises, manmade or natural, from occurring or reacting quickly should one occur to avoid negative impacts to the United States. During the launch of the new U.S. maritime strategy at the International Seapower Symposium at the U.S. Naval War College, 2007, Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Thad Allen said the new maritime strategy reinforced the time-honored missions the service carried out in this U.S. since 1790. "It reinforces the Coast Guard maritime strategy of safety, security and stewardship, and it reflects not only the global reach of our maritime services but the need to integrate and synchronize and act with our coalition and international partners to not only win wars ... but to prevent wars," Allen said.
Authority as a law enforcement agency
The Coast Guard has law enforcement powers, in contrast with the other branches of the United States Armed Forces which are prevented from acting in a law enforcement capacity by the Posse Comitatus Act and Department of Defense policy.
14 U.S.C. § 89 is the principal source of Coast Guard enforcement authority.
14 U.S.C. § 143 and 19 U.S.C. § 1401 empower US Coast Guard Active and Reserve commissioned officers, warrant officers, and petty officers as federal customs officers. This places them under 19 U.S.C. § 1589a , which grants customs officers general law enforcement authority, including the authority to:
(1) carry a firearm;
(2) execute and serve any order, warrant, subpoena, summons, or other process issued under the authority of the United States;
(3) make an arrest without a warrant for any offense against the United States committed in the officer's presence or for a felony, cognizable under the laws of the United States committed outside the officer's presence if the officer has reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing a felony; and
(4) perform any other law enforcement duty that the Secretary of Homeland Security ma
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