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By Gordon I. Peterson Throughout the Cold War, the need to maintain strong military forces to deter war with the Soviet Union and the War- saw Pact was a mainstay of U.S. national security policy. During today's global war on terrorism, similar linkages exist between a more capable U.S. Coast Guard, improved homeland security, and the deterrence or defeat of a terrorist attack in the maritime domain. The 9/11 Commission Report clearly describes this nexus. "Our report shows that the terror- ists analyze defenses," the Commission wrote. "They plan accordingly. Defenses cannot achieve perfect safety. They make targets harder to attack successfully, and they deter attacks by making capture more likely. Just increasing the attacker's odds of failure may make the difference between a plan attempted or a plan dis- carded." The 9/11 Commission also noted that improved homeland security mea- sures may also oblige would-be terrorists to develop more elaborate plans, thereby increasing the danger of exposure or defeat. "Protective measures also prepare for the attacks that may get through, con- taining the damage and saving lives," the report states. Strategic Goals Beyond its critical replacement of obso- lete legacy cutters and aircraft with more modern platforms and systems, the Coast Guard's Integrated Deepwater System will directly support the service's Strategy for Maritime Homeland Security, the strate- gic goals of the Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. homeland defense requirements. "Key to the Coast Guard's current and future readiness-and our ability to provide necessary levels of homeland security and defense-is obtaining the right capabilities and the right capacity as we grow, mod- ernize, and realign our force," said Adm. Thomas H. Collins, Coast Guard com- mandant, during a speech at the National Defense University in December. "Deep- water will deliver the increased capacity tomorrow that allows us to become as much a 'presence' organization as we are a 'response' organization." The Deepwater Program's more-capa- ble platforms and systems also will help to close the well-documented capability gaps found in today's Coast Guard. "Deepwater will provide the means to extend our layered maritime defenses from our ports and coastlines many hun- dreds of miles to sea to increase maritime domain awareness," Collins said. "When Deepwater is complete, our cut- ters and aircraft will no longer operate as relatively independent platforms with only limited awareness of what surrounds them. Instead, they will have the benefit of receiving information from a wide array of mission-capable platforms and sensors-enabling them to share a common operating picture as part of a network- centric force operating in tandem with other cutters, boats, manned aircraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles." Given the pace of today's operational tempo, Deepwater's capabilities are fun- damental to the Coast Guard's ability to meet its pre-9/11 missions while dramati- cally increasing its ability to meet expand- ing homeland security and homeland defense requirements. As Collins correctly emphasizes, the Coast Guard is the one organization that straddles the seam between these twin mission areas. This attribute is often under-appreciated, but it is at the heart of the Coast Guard's legal authorities, law- enforcement competencies, interagency experience, and military functions. "Improved Deepwater platforms and sys- tems will serve as the Coast Guard's means for satisfying our responsibilities to both the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense," Collins notes. Critical Enabling Platforms Deepwater's command-and-control sys- tem and product lines for surface and avi- ation platforms all advanced during the past year. In June, the Coast Guard award- ed Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS) the contract to begin production and delivery work on the lead Maritime Security Cutter, Large (WMSL, formerly known as the National Security Cutter). Fabrication of the lead ship in the class began in early September at Northrop 22 • MarineNews • February, 2005 USCG Deepwater Update USCG Deepwater: Centerpiece of Coast Guard Transformation MN FEB05 (17-24).qxd 1/26/2005 4:33 PM Page 22
