Armed Forces of the United States and, when di- 
rected by the President during wartime, it is trans- 
ferred in total from its peacetime location in the 
Department of Transportation to the Department of 
Defense. 
Over the years the various lifesaving, navigation, 
and vessel inspection functions of the Federal Gov- 
ernment have been carried out by various organiza- 
tional units. At one point in the 1840s the aggrega- 
tion of many of these functions under the Revenue 
Marine within the Department of the Treasury 
yielded an organization similar in scope to the mod- 
ern Coast Guard. This structure, however, did not 
last, and the organizational shuffling of these func- 
tions continued into the 20th century. 
In 1907, a Presidential commission on Govern- 
ment reorganization was established and_ subse- 
quently recommended the abolition of the Revenue 
Marine with the transfer of its remaining functions 
to the Navy. The Congressional debate that fol- 
lowed the commission report ultimately led instead 
to the establishment, in 1915, of a new agency amal- 
gamating the responsibilities of the Revenue Marine 
and the Lifesaving Service. This new agency was the 
Coast Guard. 
Since its establishment in 1915, other Federal 
water transportation infrastructure activities relating 
to law enforcement, navigation, and safety have been 
steadily added to the Coast Guard mission. In 1936, 
the police powers of the Coast Guard were expanded 
to include the general enforcement of all Federal 
law relating to the U.S. navigable waters and the high 
seas. In 1939, the Lighthouse Service was transferred 
to the Coast Guard, establishing the Coast Guard as 
the central Federal agency responsible for the provi- 
sion of aids to navigation. Finally, in 1942 the func- 
tions of the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navi- 
gation (the successor to the Steamboat Inspection 
Service) were temporarily transferred to the Coast 
Guard and that transfer, too, was made permanent 
in 1946. 
Thus, by the end of World War II all of the basic 
major powers and functions of today’s Coast Guard 
were in place and its role as the central Federal actor 
with respect to marine navigation and safety had 
been established. Final recognition of the major 
transportation role of the Coast Guard and its dim- 
inished role in revenue collection came in 1967 when 
the agency was transferred from the Department of 
the Treasury to the newly-established Department of 
Transportation. 
The major civil responsibilities of the Coast Guard 
today may be categorized into five general functional 
areas. First, most of its operating units maintain a 
capability for carrying out search and rescue opera- 
tions on and over the high seas and waters subject to 
US. jurisdiction. This capacity is used by the Coast 
Guard to aid and rescue persons and protect prop- 
erty placed in jeopardy because of marine or aviation 
accidents or because of adverse environmental cir- 
cumstances such as floods or ice conditions. 
Second, a system of manned and unmanned aids 
to water navigation is maintained throughout the 
United States and LORAN stations are operated 
both in the United States and abroad to serve the 
needs of the armed services and of marine and air 
commerce. Additionally, administrative control is ex- 
ercised over bridges across navigable waters to en- 
sure that such structures do not interfere unduly 
with the safe operation of the U.S. water transport 
system. 
The third major civil responsibility is in the area 
of marine safety where the Coast Guard is responsi- 
ble for preventing maritime accidents and protecting 
life and property in U.S. waters and on the high seas. 
This is accomplished through the enforcement of 
U.S. laws and international agreements and through 
the development and enforcement of regulations 
and standards governing commercial and recrea- 
tional vessels and U.S. ports and waterways. Compli- 
ance with Federal rules and statutes is assured 
through a program which includes the review of 
plans and specifications for the construction or al- 
teration of merchant vessels, periodic inspection of 
vessels and marine facilities, licensing activities, man- 
agement of vessel traffic, regulation of hazardous 
materials, and the establishment of standards for li- 
censing and regulating marine personnel. Included in 
this area is an extensive safety program for recrea- 
tional boating. 
The fourth major Coast Guard function relates to 
ocean operations performed as part of the general 
law enforcement responsibilities of the agency and in 
support of other general national ocean activities. 
Under this program, Coast Guard cutters and air- 
craft maintain patrols to enforce international agree- 
ments and U.S. laws on the high seas and in waters 
under U.S. jurisdiction, perform ice patrol and ice- 
breaking operations, and support marine science 
operations on a cooperative basis with other agen- 
cies. Enforcement of the new 200-mile U.S. fishing 
limit is one of the activities conducted in this general 
area of responsibility. 
Finally, a major Coast Guard function that has 
expanded rapidly in recent years has been marine 
environmental protection. Largely an outgrowth of 
its general responsibility for enforcing Federal mari- 
time laws, this activity today has become a major 
Coast Guard mission in itself. Under various stat- 
utes, the Coast Guard is charged with responsibility 
for carrying out programs to prevent damage to the 
marine environment and to improve overall environ- 
mental quality. Related activities to secure and pro- 
tect U.S. ports and waterways are conducted to im- 
prove the economic use of the U.S. water transporta- 
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