U.S. Coast Guard

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) is a "military branch of the United States involved in maritime law, mariner assistance, and search and rescue, among other duties of coast guards elsewhere." A branch of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, it is "[o]ne of the seven uniformed services of the United States, and the smallest armed service of the United States, its stated mission is to protect the public, the environment, and the United States economic and security interests in any maritime region in which those interests may be at risk, including international waters and America's coasts, ports, and inland waterways." 

"USCG has a broad and important role in homeland security, law enforcement, search and rescue, marine environmental pollution response, and the maintenance of river, intracoastal and offshore aids to navigation (ATON). It also lays claim to being the United States' oldest continuous seagoing service. The United States Coast Guard has about 40,150 men and women on active duty." 

"As members of a military service, Coast Guardsmen on active and reserve service are subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice and receive the same pay and allowances as members of the same pay grades in the other four armed services." 

History
"The Coast Guard's roots lie in the Revenue Cutter Service, which was founded on August 4, 1790 as part of the Department of the Treasury. An act of the U.S. Congress created the Coast Guard in 1915, with the merger of the Revenue Cutter Service and the United States Lifesaving Service. The United States Lighthouse Service was merged into the Coast Guard in 1939. The legal basis for the Coast Guard is Title 14 of the United States Code, which states: 'The Coast Guard as established January 28, 1915, shall be a military service and a branch of the armed forces of the United States at all times.' Upon the declaration of war or when the President directs, the Coast Guard operates under the authority of the Department of the Navy. The Coast Guard later moved to the Department of Transportation in 1967, and on February 25, 2003 it became part of the Department of Homeland Security." 

Leadership

 * Admiral Thad W. Allen, Commandant
 * Vice Admiral Vivien S. Crea, Vice Commandant

Contact Information
Coast Guard Headquarters Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard 2100 Second Street, SW Washington, DC 20593 Phone Directory Website: http://www.uscg.mil/

Related SourceWatch Resources

 * Hurricane Katrina
 * illegal immigration
 * military-industrial complex
 * revolution in military affairs

General Information

 * United States Coast Guard in the Wikipedia.

2006

 * Eric Lipton, "Failure to Navigate: Billions Later, Plan to Remake the Coast Guard Fleet Stumbles," New York Times, December 9, 2006.
 * Eric Lipton, "Failure to Navigate: Security Effort by Coast Guard Is Falling Short," New York Times, December 30, 2006.

2007

 * Andrea Shalal-Esa, "Coast Guard beefs up Deepwater project oversight," Reuters, April 16, 2007.
 * "Coast Guard drops Lockheed and Northrop," Reuters, April 16, 2007.
 * Charles Pope, "Cantwell will try to bail out Coast Guard. $7 billion in overruns swamps fleet upgrade," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 16, 2007.
 * Renae Merle and Spencer Hsu, "Coast Guard To Take Over 'Deepwater'. Move Wrests Control From Consortium of Contractors," Washington Post, April 17, 2007.
 * Dan Caterinicchia, "Coast Guard takes lead of $24B contract," BusinessWeek, April 17, 2007.
 * Katherine McIntire Peters, "Coast Guard to take over management of fleet upgrade," GovExec.com, April 17, 2007.
 * Press Release: "U.S. Coast Guard, Lockheed Martin Achieving Continued Success Across Deepwater Aviation and IT Programs," Lockheed Martin (PRNewswire), April 17, 2007.
 * "Lockheed defends Deepwater achievements," UPI, April 17, 2007.
 * Chris Strohm, "Lawmakers seek Justice probe of Deepwater problems," Congress Daily (GovExec.com), April 17, 2007.
 * Beth Daley, "Coast Guard Plunges Into Deepwater," Project on Government Oversight, April 17, 2007.
 * Eric Lipton, "Coast Guard to Manage Fleet Modernization," New York Times; Boston Globe, April 18, 2007.