Senior Coast Guard officials are lobbying Congress for patience
and generosity concerning the Deepwater program, and stress that
the ambitious modernization effort is key in executing anti-narcotics
missions.
“The Coast Guard must obtain and field the latest technologies
and develop new techniques to counter this ever changing threat,”
said Rear Adm. Dennis Sirois, the Coast Guard’s assistant
commandant for operations. “For example, we are developing
an initiative to deny the critical use of offshore refueling vessels
to the go-fasts.”
“Go-fasts” refer to small speedboats that rely on a
network of slow, petrol-laden boats to power the craft they use
to smuggle drugs into the United States. If the fueling vessels
can be successfully targeted, the smugglers’ speed and range
could shrink significantly.
While testifying before a House government reform subcommittee,
Sirois described congressional calls to reduce Deepwater funding
as “troubling.”
The Coast Guard’s 2006 budget requests $966 million for the
program. The House version of the 2006 DHS appropriations bill reduces
Deepwater funding to $500 million; the Senate version reduces it
to $905.6 million.
“If held to a $500 million funding level, the Coast Guard
cannot complete necessary legacy asset sustainment,” he said.
“Any reduction in Deepwater funding jeopardizes the Coast
Guard’s integrated recapitalization strategy.”
Deepwater’s plan is to build or upgrade Coast Guard ships
and planes so their information can be integrated into one common
operating picture. Those assets will take advantage of advanced
unmanned vehicle and sensor technology.
The advanced detection platforms and equipment of Deepwater will
be necessary for interdicting smugglers in enough numbers to make
a difference, Sirois said. Currently, most operations are dependant
on limited patrol aircraft and collected intelligence to find smugglers.
The abbreviated funding levels being discussed in Congress will
result in an operational capacity that “will go away faster
than it can be replaced and this resource problem will persist,”
Sirois said. “We are working our assets and our crews harder
than ever, and the wear is beginning to show.”