Checking in on the state of the Coast Guard

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It has a name but no keel yet, the Coast Guard’s next polar security cutter. Shipbuilding is but one issue the Coast Guard is dealing with. At this week’s Sea Air Space conference, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin caught up with the Coast Guard commandant, Karl Schultz who talked about a range of issues, starting with the war in Europe.

Interview transcript:

Tom Temin: We talked about a range of issues including the war in Europe.

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Karl Schultz: Tom, I think obviously, what’s going on in Ukraine, the unjust invasion by Russia has, it’s got the attention of all the military forces, it got the attention of the whole government United States, you know, we pay attention to some of the sanctioned individuals and there’s some ties to the vessels. There’s Ukrainian Russian sailors on vessels or some are mixed crews, you know, we’ve had less than a dozen, dozen and a half of folks that have sort of walked off the ship. So we screened through this notice of arrival at United States ports advance notice of arrival, we’re screening, what crews we can tell you, you know, in what geographic Coast Guard areas, basically by districts or sectors who’s planned to arrive. So we got a good situational awareness, there.

We’re tracking vessels that are potential, you know, targets of sanctioned activity. And then, you know, we were in the up in the Black Sea back in the spring, we were training, we had a national security cutter, the Hamilton up there. We actually partnered and did some capacity building with a couple former Coast Guard Island Class patrol boats, one that sits on the bottom of the ocean, now the former Coast Guard Cutter Cushing so we’ve got a relationship with the Ukrainians from an from an operational standpoint.

So yeah, we’re obviously as the maritime, sort of infrastructure, lead agency, for cyber, you know, obviously, there’s an awful lot of talk about might Russia mount some type of cyberattack on Ukraine? We’ve seen some demonstrated behaviors there might they mount activities, other places, and a lot of talk about energy right now we’re we got. Our department talks about shields up, we’re paying a lot of attention in Coast Guard cyber, to make sure you’re looking at our own defensive capabilities and looking across the maritime sector, which is such a key enabler of our United States economy. So I would tell you on all fronts, we are paying attention and it’s shaping our thinking. of

Tom Temin: A lot induction on the antenna, you might say.

Karl Schultz: Yeah, absolutely.

Tom Temin: Just switching gears here, you mentioned that you had revealed the name, you did the fun part of telling the name of the first polar security cutter, I think the important news is it is the first polar security cutter, update us on that whole program.

Karl Schultz: Sure. So we did announce the state of Coast Guard is going to be the Polar Sentinel. And kind of pulling the polar name from the Polar Star, you know, that’s important to us. We are working with VT Halter, the ship builder, and they are maturing the design, hoping to see some you know, steel being cut here in the coming months. I think that’ll be another exciting point. That is a complicated ship, you know, it’s a 23,000+ ton ship, it is a 460 foot across the waterline, Finnish Azipods, a lot of international components and design working. The last two years with the pandemic really made some of that collaboration very challenging. So we have slipped the delivery date to the spring of ’25. But that’s going to be a world class, non-nuclear powered ship, very capable state of the market. And we’re excited about that. So I would tell you, you know, I’ve continued to talk in, you know, that’s a ship program record of three, but I think the conversation really needs to be about more heavy breakers, more polar security cutters. And again, I’m excited the Polar Sentinel builds on Polar Sea, Polar Star’s reputation and kind of playing that forward here.

Tom Temin: What makes it polar in terms of operation versus just a regular cutter?

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Karl Schultz: When you think about you know, the high latitudes, you know, the polar braker it can break through multiple feet of ice. I think it’s 6-8 feet, you know, continuous speed over ground about 6 knots. You can back in ram through ice as thick as 21 feet you know, that’s a different type of hull design. I talked about a 23,000 ton ship you know, you look at you look at Arleigh Burke’s destroyer, and you’re up around north of 10,000 tons. This is a big heavy ship at 460 feet, it’s very dense. The hull form, the Azipods. The polar designation is it’s going to be operating in the polar regions. You know, this ship will have year round access to the Arctic you know, we will be on the Antarctic continent all the time, but we will be down there more so than we are today.

Today, the Polar Star our sole heavy breaker makes one trip to break into McMurdo Station and resupply the natural science facility there. We will have an increased presence in the high latitudes on both poles in the future.

Tom Temin: And for the techies, that idea of an azimuth thing, propulsion that’s something the Navy has, does not do and doesn’t plan to so that that’s a distinctive piece of technology for the United States?

Karl Schultz: Yeah, so we use some some Azipod drives on our on our buoy tenders are 220, 575 foot buoy tenders, but this is a different application in the ice, you know waters of the high latitudes. And you know, the Finns have used this and other nations with high success. We’re very excited. The Polar Sentinel actually have two Azipods and there’s a centerline driveshaft to a little bit which is a unique combination, but it’s based on a German design initially, and it’s going to be a real world class icebreaker.

Tom Temin: We’re speaking with Admiral Karl Schultz, the Commandant of the Coast Guard and zooming back out here from the technological issues. You recently gave the latest state of the Coast Guard address. And you mentioned trends in autonomous technology, offshore wind, even. Just give us a quick overview of the state and what it is you’re responding to writ large.

Karl Schultz: Yeah, you know, so Tom, sort of pulling the conversation back here to domestic. You know, I look at the, we sit in the park department, Homeland Security, the security of the homeland is a big part. There’s navigational safety, you’ve got more recreational boaters on the water than ever before. The pandemic saw about a 15% uptick in the number of recreational boaters from paddle craft to boat owners. We had an unfortunate increase by 25% more fatalities on the water, more accidents. So we have a basic safety functionality there. We our auxilary or active duty forces.

I look at the energy this permitting, permits out there the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, (BOEM) permitted about 1,700 wind turbines off the eastern seaboard alone. I was in Jacksonville here. Thursday, in Jacksonville is where you got LNG powered cruise ships, they have one there, more ships coming we bunker LNG there that is unique. You know, we are the third largest exporter of LNG in the world. Before we were an importer, so there’s just a lot of changing landscape. Renewable energy, when we’ll go to the Gulf, there’s talk about, you know, floating renewable because of the water depths the Pacific. So there, it’s a, it’s an increased amount of technical sophistication on the waterfront, we’ve got to match and pace our workforce to be able to work in those increasingly sophisticated domains. And we have to have sufficient Coast Guardsmen in the training. So we have a marine inspector performance sport architecture that’s looking at how we train our people. So there’s a lot going on and the Coast Guard wants to be leading that. Not to mention we talked cyber before. So we’ll rehash that. But all this is a cyber component about how do you potentially shut down the nation’s largest ports to joint complex of LA and LB 40% of the goods that come to this country through one port. You shut that down in a cyber attack, you’re not going to have goods in the heartland 90, 72, 96 hours after such an attack. So we need to be defensive in our efforts there, as well.

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Tom Temin: And on offshore power that in other words, that’s a hazard that’s out there in the water, basically, for the Coast Guard.

Karl Schultz: Well, if we do do this, right, so we have the safety piece, you know, BOEM looks at the energy in those pieces. We need to, we’re doing what we call port access route studies along the entire eastern seaboard. We want to make sure offshore renewable energy, fishing interests, commercial traffic, recreational traffic, we need to sort of look at that through a marine spatial planning lens, and make sure all those things coexist in renewable energy and drive down emissions and you know, for long ball for the good of the nation. But our role is ensuring the safety piece of that, you know, the enabling of commerce piece. So those are where we’re working real hard to put a strong voice into that.

Tom Temin: OK, a couple of lightning round questions, the shore facilities reconstruction progress report there?

Karl Schultz: Yeah. So I spoke here at Sea Air Space with Commandant of the Marine Corps and the CNO. And I said one of the challenges, I think we’ve had a compelling narrative about a ready Coast Guard and funding that we pull a large backlog of infrastructure problems, all facilities, we’ve been putting patching roofs, we got to build some home ports for our new vessels. We got about $1.4 billion of shore work going on. We got to press in on that, you know, I have a couple budget hearings. In my remaining two months, I will talk extensively about the criticality of a ready Coast Guard. But part of that is our infrastructure that our men and women, our platforms operate. So that is, that is a work in progress. I will pass the baton to my successor, I have a feeling the 27th commendant will talk a lot about the infrastructure to enable the Coast Guard to be successful.

Tom Temin: And the electronic health record.

Karl Schultz: EHR images, MHS Genesis, we’re sort of a leader on that. Our transition is going smoothly. I’m excited where we’re at here a little bit. I’ve heard you know, we’ve gone live across the Coast Guard. So I need to get an update on that. But so far, no news. I take as good news. I think we’re moving in a very constructive direction with that.

Tom Temin: So you’re ahead of DoD really on that?

Karl Schultz: Well, we’re partnered with the DoD and the VA. And I’d say we’re, I think we might be a little further along in terms of adoption in the service. But it’s a collaborative effort there. But I think it’s a good story emerging here.

Tom Temin: All right. And then there was a tough report on sexual harassment and assaults for the Coast Guard last year. You testified on that. Just a progress report there.

Karl Schultz: Yeah. I would tell you, I think the topic of sexual assault, sexual harassment across the armed forces is a very difficult topic. Any one case is one case too many. So I think, you know, emerging out of this as we are putting more resources, more victim advocates, more folks with expertise. I think we’ve broadened the thinking of our workforce to come forward if you have a harassing situation or assault situation, to seek out help. We broadened the criteria about your ability as a victim to protect that or not protect that. So we’re working hard at I mean, but until we drive that type of behavior out of our ranks, there is work to do. And, you know, I’m encouraged that we’re thinking into it. But again, I want to have zero victims, Will that ever happen? I don’t know, I think it’s a challenge across society, but the armed forces are absolutely. And you know, we made some changes at the National Defense Authorization Act, the Coast Guard will follow suit, we’re taking a different approach, we have broken trust with victims. So we’ve got a through a new way of approaching these cases, you know, a little bit outside view. I’m always a fan of the commander being in decision making. But I think this different way of adjudicating these cases, with some outside expertise will hopefully, you know, restore that trust with the victims and get us to a better place.

Tom Temin: And finally, how about recruitment and retention? How’s the intake going?

Karl Schultz: Yeah, we look for about 4,200 enlisted members each year about 600 are reservists of that. So about 3,600 active duty about 500 officers.On the officer sites, sufficient numbers between officer candidate and Academy, it’s about a 50/50 split some direct commissions in that 500 number. You know, going and finding 4,200 Americans off the street to want to join enlisted ranks, you know, it’s very competitive. About 25% of America’s youth are eligible to serve when you take out all those things that limit you from military service. And then those were the propinsi. That usually is because they know some base serve and neighbors talk to him about it. You know, you’re down to about 10, 11% of that. And then the other services who have a little bit deeper pockets are thrown a lot of bonuses to show up. So we’re working hard. That said, you know, it has not been an easy environment. We win when our recruiters run the ball games in the schools, there hasn’t been a lot of that with the pandemic. So we got almost 3,350 last year have a 4,000 goal. I told our recruiters, I said if you got north of 2,800, I would spike the football. They got 500+ of that, but we do need to get up to that full 4,200 to be the Coast Guard the nation needs here.

Tom Temin: And baseball opens tomorrow. So you’ll be maybe there.

Karl Schultz: Maybe we’ll be at baseball we’re gonna be out there. We got to bring more recruiters on and we are working hard,Tom, to be a Coast Guard reflective of the nation. So it’s not just you know, butts in seats, we want more representative butts in seats of the nation we serve. So it’s we got to get to places where we hadn’t recruited successfully as much as we need so in the past.

Tom Temin: And that’s Coast Guard Commandant Carl Schultz, I spoke with him at this week’s Sea Air Space conference at National Harbor.

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