INVEST IN THE COAST GUARD

Coast Guard officials reacted with hurt pride to a recent audit
report finding grave deficiencies in staffing, training, equipment
and overall readiness in the search and rescue program. But the
study, by the Transportation Department inspector general, comes at
an opportune time for an agency that has suffered for years under
tight budget constraints.

The audit, pressure from the Senate, and the new national emphasis on
homeland security should all play a role in transforming the Coast
Guard.

The Coast Guard budget now before Congress provides the service an
opportunity to address serious weaknesses in all its programs.

The Senate version provides nearly $600 million more for the agency
than last year, in line with the audit's recommendation for greater
investment in all phases of Coast Guard operations, from deepwater
patrols to communications to boating safety and search and rescue.

Inspector General Kenneth Mead of the Transportation Department
recently testified that the Coast Guard's procurement budget, alone,
must increase by at least $15 billion over the next 20 years in order
to replace aging and ineffective systems ranging from deep water,
high-endurance cutters to 41-foot boats to the National Distress
System. Mr. Mead oversaw the new audit, which was requested by
Congress following the fatal 1997 Morning Dew sailboat accident in
Charleston Harbor. According to our Washington reporter Steve
Piacente, the Coast Guard challenged some of the audit's findings as
outdated, overly technical, not reflective of recent changes, and
unduly alarmist.

The service is famous for its "can do" attitude, as reflected in its
motto, Semper Paratus - always ready. But it is no denigration of the
Coast Guard to point out its crying need for new investment. The new
audit "confirms the observations I've made in recent years," Sen.
Ernest F. Hollings told our reporter. The South Carolina Democrat is
chairman of the Commerce Committee, and a strong proponent of the
need to strengthen both the Coast Guard and port security.

In singling out the Coast Guard's maritime safety programs, including
search and rescue, as in need of "substantial modernization," Sen.
Hollings has put his finger on a major problem. In recent years the
Coast Guard's leadership has placed great emphasis on the need to
improve its deepwater operations. Important as these are to drug
interdiction and monitoring ships entering U.S. waters, there is a
real danger that they have overshadowed more mundane but also equally
basic Coast Guard functions.

The neglect of National Distress System modernization has been one
result. As the National Transportation Safety Board pointed out after
the Morning Dew tragedy, the Coast Guard cannot monitor all maritime
frequencies or get reliable direction finding with the equipment it
has available.

So far the agency has resisted interim measures, pinning its hopes on
a lengthy competitive process for getting the "right" new system.
Funding constraints combine with this approach to keep pushing NDS
modernization into the future.

But this year Senate appropriators, at the request of Sen. Hollings,
have agreed to warn the Coast Guard that NDS deserves top priority
and a fast track, at the peril of reduced appropriations for
deepwater modernization.

The post-Sept. 11 focus in the administration and Congress on
homeland security should also serve as a catalyst to highlight the
budgetary and management shortcomings of the Coast Guard and meet the
agency's critical needs.