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The Coast Guard's trenierulous physical and manpower resources — a comple- 

 ment of approximately 5,400 officers and 31,000 enlisted men supported by 5,900 

 civil service personnel — are at the disposal of many kinds of users, responding 

 to routine needs and grave emergencies with a high and admirable profession- 

 alism. In the broad and often dangerous reaches of the sea, the Coast Guard 

 does just about everything but guard the coast in the military sense. In a wider 

 sense, the Coast Guard is indeed the Nation's guardian against the hazards 

 of marine operations, serving the entire marine community, from swimmers to 

 petroleum explorers, in so many ways that it often is impossible to define the 

 propoi"tion of Coast Guard effort attributable to any one category of needs. In 

 fact, a principal characteristic of the Coast Guard's vessel and shore station 

 operations is their multipurpose nature. A single Coast Guard vessel may tend 

 buoys, enforce fisheries and pollution laws, search for lost pleasure boaters, 

 rescue endangered fishermen and their vessels, conduct oeeanographic investiga- 

 tions, or perform other services, all within a single year. 



At present, the Coast Guard is considered one of the armed services and would 

 be placed under the U.S. Navy in case of major ai'med conflict. Certain Coast 

 Guard ships are today attached to the Navy in Vietnam. There are Indications 

 that the role of the Coast Guard in national defense is changing, accelerated 

 by the growing sophistication of military operations and weapons technology. 

 The Vietnam experience has shown that Coast Guard elements can be detached 

 for special service without placing the entire agency in full wartime status. 

 Careful study is needed, because the changing relationship of the Coast Guard 

 to national defense requirements should be reflected in its internal organization 

 and mission. 



The character of the Coast Guard itself is changing under the pressure of 

 growing uses of the sea. The needs of marine users in addition to those of the 

 merchant marine often strain facilities. Offshore mineral operations pose new 

 requirements and new hazards. The tremendous growth of marine recreation has 

 created safety and enforcement problems for the Coast Guard of a magnitude 

 unforeseen a decade ago. Increased oeeanographic responsibilities from the 

 Arctic Ocean to the shores of Antarctica are adding still a new dimension. 



The Coast Guard role in a national ocean program 



The Commission believes that changes in the Coast Guard and its mission 

 should be encouraged and accelerated by bringing it within the framework of 

 the national ocean program to be led by NOAA. In our view^ the Coast Guard 

 represents an enormously valuable national marine resource that is at present 

 underutilized beca'ase of traditional contsraints on its mission and lack of a 

 proper milieu for its operations. Although it is a uniformed service, the Coast 

 Guard's services are preponderantly civil in character, and it provides an estab- 

 lished national sea service of great potential value for a major national ocean 

 program. 



The Coast Guard is moving in the direction of increasing its oeeanographic 

 competence ; this would be accelerated greatly by placing the agency in an orga- 

 nization devoted to marine science, technology, and service. Within NOAA, the 

 Coast Guard would be directly supported by a broadly based scientific and tech- 

 nical program which would be of great assistance to the Coast Guard in modern- 

 izing its own technical .services. The basic point is that with NOAA the Coast 

 Guard can be used to a much greater degree in a more broadly gauged role than 

 is possible within a solely transportation context and that this can be achieved 

 without curtailing its important transport-related functions. 



The transfer of the Coast Guard to NOAA would also benefit NOAA greatly. 

 Large-scale scientific investigations could be supported by the ships, planes and 

 other facilities of the Coast Guard. Location of marine resources could be assisted 

 by instrumentation on board its ships and by precise navigational aids. Tests of 

 ocean technology and marine and atmospheric monitoring and prediction pro- 

 grams could utilize the Coast Guard capabilities. There could be better utilization 

 of ship facilities in mapping, charting, and other technical services. 



NOAA must have education and training facilities for orientation programs, 

 multi-disciplinary courses, and seminars for agency executive personnel, con- 

 tractors, and grantees. Under NOAA, Coast Guard Academy functions could be 

 expanded to serve the need for the professional orientation and training of those 

 with critical roles in managing the national ocean program. Conduct of such 

 activities on the Academy's campus would also offer many opportunities for 

 broadening and enriching its basic program of training career officers. 



