NEW ORLEANS — The Coast Guard is standing up a new disaster response command and is using lessons learned from 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina for guidance.
Called the deployable operations group, or DOG, the new command will reorganize the Coast Guard’s six special forces units and prepare them to quickly respond to natural catastrophes and terrorist attacks, said Rear Adm. Thomas Atkin, DOG commander.
The change will “bring all deployable units under one unified command for rapid deployment,” Atkin said at the Coast Guard innovation expo here.
The command was not created to fix a specific problem, he said, but rather to give the service the ability to effectively respond to future threats.
“It’s about how we’re going to perform in 2015 and beyond,” Atkin said.
Commandant of the Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen first came up with the idea shortly after 9/11, said Atkin.
Allen was “seeking to exploit these inherent special operations capabilities under a single chain of command,” noted Mackenzie Eaglen, policy analyst for national security at The Heritage Foundation.
On the surface, the change may look like a routine reorganization effort, but this is a rather significant evolution for the Coast Guard, said Stephen Flynn, senior fellow for national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. The service needs these skills to conduct complex counterterrorism missions, he added.
Before 9/11, Coast Guard personnel focused mainly on law enforcement, but post 9/11 security is a different challenge.
“The lethality of counterterrorism missions requires more specialized training,” Flynn explained.
The command combines the Coast Guard’s maritime safety and security teams, hazardous material and oil response units, as well as law enforcement and port security groups.
In the event of a disaster, Coast Guard officials will combine assets and personnel from any of the six special operations units to meet a specific need. That plan is a departure from traditional concepts because the Coast Guard “never used to move West Coast assets to the East Coast,” Atkin said.
He also noted that the Coast Guard will partner with other government agencies.
If terrorists attacked a harbor, for example, the command could team with Customs and Border Protection and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agencies, Atkin said.
The Coast Guard has also been in contact with the Defense Department’s Special Operations Command, Southern Command and Northern Command.
Specialized training for the deployable operations group was scheduled to begin this month, said Cmdr. Keith Smith, assistant chief of the operations division.
DOG was first established in July 2007, but as of October, it was still in the initial operating phase. At that time, the group comprised 101 Coast Guard personnel. Officials expect to bring in 40 more by the time it reaches full operating capability.
In addition to providing better disaster response, the Coast Guard also hopes to gain more effective management, oversight and coordination of the deployable units, said Stephen Caldwell, acting director of homeland security and justice issues at the Government Accountability Office.
The reorganization will not come without its challenges, Caldwell predicted. Expected growing pains could include difficulty merging different operating approaches and managing resources.
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