State of the Coast Guard

Yesterday I delivered my second State of the Coast Guard address at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. In this annual address to the Coast Guard, our interagency partners and our maritime stakeholders, I focused on the Coast Guard’s future – the strategy, legislation, and budget we need to build a 21st Century Coast Guard.

Since becoming Commandant nearly two years ago, I’ve traveled across the country and around the world to meet personally with thousands of Coast Guard active duty, reserve, Auxiliary and civilian employees. I made a commitment to them that we would provide the equipment, support and training they needed do their jobs more efficiently and effectively. I pledged to continue to recapitalize our aging fleet and command and control systems. I’m pleased to report that we are seeing the results of those efforts right now.

The Coast Guard’s first major cutter to be built in more than 25 years, the National Security Cutter Bertholf, successfully completed sea trials this week and we are preparing to missionize three new HC-144 Ocean Sentry maritime patrol aircraft. We are also well underway in our reorganization of our force structure, having made significant progress across all fronts to modernize and transform the service over the past year and a half. More importantly, we’ve provided a vital service to the American public and reached new milestones in our history in the past year, such as the removal of a record-breaking 350,000 pounds of cocaine at sea and our celebration of a million lives saved since 1790.

Going forward, the Coast Guard cannot rest on our reputation or remain fixated on our wake. Now is the time to build a 21st Century Coast Guard, one that will be responsive to the environment as it evolves around us. As a unique instrument of national security, we will work closer than ever with the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps to put our cooperative maritime strategy in action. As America’s lifesavers and guardians, we will enhance our marine safety program, develop our intelligence and maritime domain awareness, and take action to restore our polar icebreaking fleet, as we prepare to operate in an increasingly open Arctic. We also need to grow the Coast Guard. We cannot continue to meet the ever growing needs and higher expectations of our citizens with a workforce that is essentially no bigger than it was 50 years ago. That is why I will fight for every penny of the President’s FY09 $9.3 billion budget request. It is a down payment on the future of America’s Coast Guard.

Never before has this nation relied so heavily on our oceans and waterways for the safety, security and prosperity of all Americans. And never before has this nation relied so much on its Coast Guard to protect the environment and our keep our communities safe and secure. We will answer that call.

All threats. All hazards. Always ready.

Admiral Thad Allen
Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard