In tandem, His the Commandant sent a letter on August 15, 1942, to all District Coast Guard Officers calling to their attention that “[m]any issues arising from military and civil law enforcement activities, the port security program, the merchant seaman training program, and the integration of the former Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation are legal in character”, and that “the District Law Officer serve on the staff of the District in the same fashion as the Chief Counsel functions as a part of my staff at Headquarters.  The law officer should be regarded as the general advisor of the District Coast Guard Officer on legal matters.  The law officers should attend staff meetings and his opinion should be solicited, whenever possible, prior to decision on all matters of law or important decisions of policy having legal aspects.  In particular, the law officers should have cognizance of contracts, real estate, courts and boards, law enforcement and review, marine casualty investigation and review, tort claims of and against the Government, and fines, penalties and forfeitures.”  He cautioned that: “The law officers so assigned is [sic] not to be relieved of his legal duties unless the District Coast Guard Officer personally assumes the responsibility of the performance of these duties.”  Although the 1940 regulations authorized a single officer, the Commandant observed the volume of work may warrant the assignment of others.

The Legal Division was organized into eight sections during the war reporting to the Chief Counsel. The sections were: Opinion, Port Security, Admiralty and Maritime, Contracts, Real Estate, Courts and Boards, Legislative, and Patent. In addition, there were several special assistants to the Chief Counsel who were assigned special projects and tasks not falling within the cognizance of any particular section.  The office of the District Law Officer was organized along the same lines, except that in the small offices the work of several sections was combined. There were no legislative or patent sections on the district level.

During the war, the staff of the Legal Division comprised about fifty, half of whom were lawyers.  There were about eighty officer-lawyers assigned to field offices, including sixteen in the districts.

With the end of World War II and the resulting massive demobilization, the civilians that had been commissioned as reserve officers reverted to their civilian status and many returned to private practice. Captain Harrison returned to civilian status in April 1946, but retained his commission in the Coast Guard Reserve, eventually being appointed the Reserve’s first permanent Rear Admiral on June 28, 1956.

The post-World War II period contained few legal billets for active duty Coast Guard officers with law degrees.  In late 1947, for instance, of the twenty-one people assigned to the Legal Division in Coast Guard Headquarters only three were commissioned officers, the remaining eighteen were civilians.  There were no field personnel whose time was fully devoted to the handling of the legal matters that arose in the various Coast Guard district offices.  The legal section headed by the district law officer that had existed in each district office during World War II had been consolidated in July 1947 into an organizational component headed by the "Legal and Intelligence Officer."  This office was responsible to the district chief of staff for the performance of all duties other than those duties concerning legal matters.  In the performance of legal duties, the Legal Officer advised the district chief of staff, but was responsible to the Legal Division and the Chief Counsel at Coast Guard Headquarters.  Coincidentally, a Coast Guard Reserve Voluntary Legal and Intelligence Unit 05-8 was established in 1949 and was commanded by Harrison in his Reserve capacity until 1960.

During the late 1940’s some lawyers returned to active duty in the Coast Guard after a brief period as civilians in private practice.  Despite the scarcity of legal billets for military lawyers following World War II, many landed in quasi-legal billets, such as Marine Inspection and Investigation Offices, Captain of the Port Offices, and Port Security Units.

Uniformed Law Specialists Are Created

On September 11, 2001, Rear Admiral Robert F. Duncan was serving as Chief Counsel during the attacks on New York and Washington. In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, Coast Guard attorneys drafted and published essential orders and rules, including requirements for 96-hour advance notice of vessel arrivals and naval vessel protective zones.  Coast Guard attorneys joined Department of Defense attorneys in assisting families of the victims of the Pentagon attack and were assigned to a Department of Defense task force that began assembling evidence to support the trial of terrorists before military commissions.  Rear Admiral Duncan led the Homeland Security Strategic Task Force established by the Commandant to pave the way for fundamental doctrinal changes.

Coast Guard attorneys played a leading role at the twenty-second Assembly of the International Maritime Organization which convened in November 2001.  At the urging of the United States delegation, led by the Commandant, the Assembly adopted Resolution A.924 (22), Review of Measures and Procedures to Prevent Acts of Terrorism which Threaten the Security of Passengers and Crews and the Safety of Ships.  The resolution called on IMO committees to review, on a high priority basis, existing instruments to determine whether other maritime security measures were appropriate.  This resolution, adopted in record time, led to a variety of other actions by the IMO. In April 2002, the IMO began a review of the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, 1988, and its Protocol.  In December 2002, a Diplomatic Conference on Maritime Security adopted amendments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) to enhance maritime security, including a new chapter on ship and port facility security and a complementary International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code.

The Homeland Security Act was enacted on the same day as the Maritime Transportation Security Act.  Coast Guard counsel played an important behind-the-scenes role during negotiations on Capitol Hill concerning the transfer of the Coast Guard to the Department of Homeland Security, ensuring that the Coast Guard transferred intact and that its military maritime multi-mission character would be preserved.

Another dramatic development affecting the Coast Guard after 9/11 was passage of the Intelligence Authorization Act of 2002, which amended the National Security Act of 1947, to place the intelligence element of the Coast Guard within the Intelligence Community.  A military lawyer was assigned to advise Ms. Francis Townsend who later was appointed the first Assistant Commandant for Intelligence (and who would later become Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism).  As the intelligence program would grow, so would the number and sophistication of military and civilian counsel supporting it.

On 29 August 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast region and more than fifty Coast Guard attorneys – active, reserve, and civilian – from across the nation deployed to support the Coast Guard response to Katrina, and later, Hurricane Rita.  Attorneys assigned the 8^th Coast Guard District, now commanded by former Judge Advocate General Robert F. Duncan, supported the initial lifesaving and pollution response.  In succeeding days and weeks, a Coast Guard attorney deployed as the legal advisor the Vice Admiral Thad Allen, the Principal Federal Official, and he and other Coast Guard attorneys solved numerous operational problems On the operational front, Coast Guard attorneys, from a variety of disciplines, provided real time/on demand advice to the legal staff of the Primary Federal Official (PFO) for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and supported Coast Guard, DHS and federal interagency actions in response to a wide range of issues, including authority for inland search and rescue operations; law enforcement and force protection while escorting convoys of supplies; authority for removal of debris and pollutants; authority for forcible evacuations; facilitating the waiver or extension of certification, manning and licensing requirements for crews of commercial vessels; waiver of user fees associated with vessel inspection and licensing applications; applicability of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to floodwater removal operations; execution of a temporary waiver to the Jones Act allowing foreign-flagged vessels to supplement U.S. vessel movement of petroleum products in the Coastwise trade; interpretation of the applicability of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to foreign vessels chartered to assist in the survey and repair of damaged oil and gas platforms; advising on the use of the Oil Spill Liability Trust fund or the Stafford Act to pay for pollution response; and evaluating the safety and security regulations applicable to cruise ships utilized to provide temporary housing.  Legal assistance and claims teams fanned out across the 8^th and 7^th Coast Guard districts to support Coast Guard people, 60 percent of whom in Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi suffered catastrophic losses.  Legal teams provided legal assistance to over 1000 clients and assisted with approximately 600 personal property claims.  Attorneys in the field and at headquarters supported Congressional, Government Accountability Office, and Inspector General investigations; and creatively resolved numerous operational issues.

At the same time, Captain William D. Baumgartner, who would become Judge Advocate General in 2006, led efforts at a diplomatic conference from October 10-14, 2005, to finalize amendments to the maritime terrorism convention: the 1988 Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation.

Coast Guard judge advocates deployed to Iraq from 2008 through 2010 to participate in the prosecution of terrorists in the Criminal Court of Iraq and support detainee and counterinsurgency operations.  One judge advocate served as command cadre in the Patrol Forces Southwest Asia.  Other judge advocates deployed to Afghanistan in 2006 and from 2010 through 2012.

In January, 2010, Coast Guard attorneys supported Coast Guard forces that deployed to provide humanitarian support after the devastating earthquake in Haiti.  Their efforts called up reservists, prepared Coast Guardsmen for deployment, and provided legal support to deployed forces.

Not long after Haiti, on the evening of April 20, 2010, the Transocean-owned, BP chartered, Marshall Islands-flagged Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit, Deepwater Horizon, located approximately 72 miles Southeast of Venice, Louisiana, reported an explosion and fire onboard.  After an intense search and rescue operation led by the Coast Guard, where 115 of the 126 crewmembers were saved, the Deepwater Horizon sank on April 22, severing the riser that connected the MODU to the Macondo wellhead, triggering the largest oil spill response operation in United States history, and declaration of the first “Spill of National Significance.”  Rear Admiral Baumgartner detached from service as Chief Counsel to become 7^th District Commander shortly after the explosion and the Deputy Judge Advocate General, Calvin M. Lederer, became Acting Judge Advocate General.  He would serve in that capacity until January, 2011, when Rear Admiral Frederick J. Kenney became Judge Advocate General.

While the 8^th District Staff Judge Advocate provided initial support to the Federal On-Scene Coordinator, a legal support structure drawing on CGJAG-wide resources quickly evolved that spanned operations at all levels of the response.  Coast Guard attorneys deployed to the Incident Command Posts in Houma, Louisiana and Mobile, Alabama, and attorneys from the 7^th District Staff Judge Advocate supported the Incident Command Post in Miami.  A legal staff, typically numbering five attorneys, supported the Unified Area Command, with the legal advisor seated literally at the right hand of the FOSC while the UAC operated in Robert Louisiana in the first several weeks of the response.

Legal advisors were also assigned to Admiral Thad Allen, the National Incident Commander.  The Judge Advocate General, the Legal Service Command, and other offices provided support in depth to deployed attorneys.   Coast Guard attorneys advised the NIC and FOSC regarding their authorities under the Oil Pollution and the Clean Water Acts, and on a wide range of novel issues, including the decision to direct BP to fund the construction of $360 million of barrier islands, protection of endangered species including sea turtles and other marine life, air quality monitoring relating to in situ burns, worker safety for responders on the beach and in wetlands, public safety, and international implications of the spill.  Increasing response assets in the Gulf led to development of an expedited process to waive the “Jones Act”, which limits coastwise trade to U.S.-flagged vessels, to introduce additional response vessels, and promulgation in ten days of an emergency regulation reducing response requirements in other part of the United States to permit the movement of oil skimmers.  Coast Guard attorneys were active on Capitol Hill, briefing members and staffs, and led drafting and advocacy of legislation to ensure adequate funding for the response, increasing draws on the Oil Spill Liability Emergency Fund and lifting the cap on funding to $1.5 billion.

In the first week of the response, the Judge Advocate General drafted the charter for a joint Minerals Management Service (which later became the Bureau for Ocean Energy Management, Regulations, and Enforcement) and Coast Guard investigation into the disaster.  A Coast Guard judge advocate was later detailed to board of investigation and would play a key role in authoring the Coast Guard’s findings.  Coast Guard lawyers were also detailed to a Department of Justice criminal investigation and the Coast Guard’s Incident Specific Preparedness Review.

Under the leadership of then-Captain  Kenney, the Coast Guard joined the Environmental Protection Agency in referred for litigation claims for judicial civil penalties against the responsible parties.  Coast Guard counsel were intimately engaged in the litigation from drafting the complaint, managing discovery, and preparing for settlement discussions and trial.  Throughout the response, CGJAG response documentation specialists preserved response documentation and later established a Central Archive for digital and printed data.

Judge Advocates played other significant roles in the response.  In the early days, Captain David Nichols, 8^th District Staff Judge Advocate, served as the first chief of staff for the UAC.  Captain Steven Poulin, Mobile Sector Commander, served as the Incident Commander for the eastern part of the Gulf.

The last decade has seen increased focus on collaboration, integration, and professionalism among both attorneys and supporting professionals, as well as growth.

Increasing demands for legal services have resulted in numerous billets created by clients to support their operations.

Starting in 2002, competencies for those in legal yeoman positions were prescribed followed recently by revisions as well as competencies and standards for both yeoman personnel and paralegals.  In 2005, the Coast Guard Professional Legal Responsibility Program published.

When Admiral Thad Allen became Commandant, he ordered a reexamination of Coast Guard missions and structure which ultimately resulted in reorganization of the mission support organizations and the creation of Deputy Commandants for Mission Support and Operations.  In addition to the significant role played by CGJAG in proposing and drafting legislation to execute the reorganization and participation in the development of new policies, Rear Admiral Baumgartner led a reexamination of the delivery of legal services.  The result was a number of changes in organization and policy.

When the Maintenance and Logistics Commands in Norfolk and Alameda were disestablished, the two large legal offices supporting them were integrated into a new bi-coastal Legal Service Command, commanded initially by Captain Beth Pepper.  The Legal Service Command was the first new unit commissioned during the “Modernization” effort.  Organic Staff Judge Advocates were established for the first time for both Atlantic and Pacific Areas and for the 5^th and 11^th Coast Guard Districts.

With the growth of CGJAG and the increasing demand for legal services, increasing collaboration and integrating judge advocates and civilian counsel was a high priority for both Rear Admiral Baumgartner and his successor Rear Admiral Kenney.  In 2009, the Leadership Council approved Judge Advocate General oversight of legal billets.   In August,  2009, the Vice Commandant approved the Judge Advocate General serving as reviewer on all Staff Judge Advocate officer evaluation reports and that a lawyer participate in the evaluation of all lawyers.  In May, 2011, the Assistant Commandant for Human Resources agreed that the Judge Advocate General would propose and finally approve judge advocate assignments, recognizing that Coast Guard judge advocates are unique among the rest of the officer corps in the respect that law is the only specialist where the assignment of officers is government buy statute, not policy.

These structural changes implement the foundational PRINCIPLES FOR THE DELIVERY OF COAST GUARD LEGAL SERVICES, first published in 2010:

• The effective, efficient and safe delivery of Coast Guard mission services is the ultimate purpose of the Coast Guard and, by extension, CGJAG.
• We all share responsibility for the delivery of legal services
• We deliver ethical and responsible legal services.
• We serve the Coast Guard and our clients
• All of CGJAG is available to support the Coast Guard and our clients.
• Every counsel will have a senior counsel.

Judge advocates have routinely deployed in support of homeland security contingencies, including hurricanes and national special security events.  They have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.  They have been assigned to the Department of State and the Department of Justice.  Judge advocates have served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff and today serve in AFRICOM, NORTHCOM, and SOUTHCOM.  Judge advocates and civilian counsel continue their involvement in international and maritime law, leading initiatives to counter piracy, ensure environmental protection, and secure the maritime transportation system.  They also expertly practice across the full spectrum of legal specialties that support Coast Guard missions and support.   Judge Advocates and civilian counsel, and those who support them, can be found at every echelon and their efforts are reflected every day in mission success.