administration has requested approximately nine point six billion dollars in fiscal year two thousand and eleven for the coast guard including the services operating expenses the acquisition budget reserve training pay for retirees the truman hobbs bridge program and environmental compliance this budget request is approximately thirty five million dollars or zero point four percent below the enacted appropriation for the coast guard in fiscal year twenty can justify this budget request in some perspective at the base budget request for the department of defense the is five hundred and forty eight point nine billion dollars an increase of more than three percent above the enacted budget for fiscal year two thousand and ten and that figure does not include funding for overseas contingency operations to achieve the budget reductions proposed in the coast guard fiscal year twenty levin budget while generally preserving the budget for asset recapitalization the budget request proposes a number of cuts in the coastguards operations specifically the budget proposes to reduce the size of the coastguards military workforce by one thousand one hundred twelve positions while increasing the number reps of big and personnel by three hundred thirty nine positions g l d a net reduction of seven hundred seventy three positions the decrease in the number of military personnel results largely from the proposed decommissioning of assets the budget propose security teams there's no way to sugarcoat what the impact of these proposed cuts would be they will reduce capacity of the coast guard to carry out its missions the fifteen point five percent in fiscal year two thousand and eleven to protect project that target removal rate for cocaine from non commercial vessels in maritime transit in plain english according to the coast own performance measures we do this patrol hours will likely mean that drugs will be interdicted at other performance indicators of also been lowered i deeply deeply deeply concerned by the proposed reductions in the coastguards budget the coast guard is a branch of our military and performs vital functions to secure our homeland from a variety of threats including terrorism related threats and illegal activities such as drug smuggling the coast guard also regulates the safe operation of the maritime transportation system h those in distress is a protect marine environment i firmly believe that the coast guard's budget needs to be equal to our nation's requirements for the coast guard services and this budget simply does not meet that standard today the subcommittee will also examine a new report issued by the government accountability office assessing the coastguards personnel management systems the training and expertise of coast guard personnel obviously long been critical concerns to the subcommittee particularly as we have closely examined what appear to have been shortcomings in personnel training and such mission areas as marine safety search and rescue and acquisition management ensuring that the coast guard has in place the systems it nice affectively track personnel qualifications and manage it assignment process will be critical to ensuring that the coast guard can staff this mission with fully qualified personnel we look forward to the testimony of mr even cowell from the subcommittee that's commandant to discuss an annual budget request as this term expires in may of next year i want to take this opportunity to thank the commandant for his extraordinary leadership and i do mean of the coast guard through what have been times truly great challenge including most recently recently leading the services example response to the crisis in haiti utmost respect for the commandant and i offer my deepest thanks to him for his lifetime of service to our nation and for the close close working relationship we've had over the past four years and i just say to you commandant on behalf of a grateful congress and a grateful nation we thank you simply i thank master chief petty officer nomination and we are hopeful that he will soon see confirmation the maritime administration's and why two thousand and eleven budget request totals three hundred and fifty two million dollars a decrease of approximately ten point seven million dollars below the level appropriated in two thousand and ten the balck of marriage appropriation fund marriage operations and training  rah operates the united states merchant marine academy kings point new york and provide support for six state maritime academy with funds from this account that wired tw budget will provide just over one hundred million dollars for the operation of the merchant marine academy including thirty point nine million for the badly needed infrastructure improvements  challenges including the recent right resignation of superintendent we are eager to hear how the maritime administration is addressing these challenges the american recovery and reinvestment act twenty nine provided  hundred million dollars to marriage assistance to small shipyards program all of these funds have been obligated and f y twenty ten congress appropriated fifteen million dollars for ma program and marrow is reviewing applications for this funding in f y twenty eleven despite what appears to be a significant demand for assistance among small shipyards there is no requests for funds for the assistance  loan guarantees for a number of projects that would cover approximately two point six billion dollars in loans for variety of projects and shipyards close however the f y twenty eleven budget request for title eleven is only three point seven million dollars the amount of funding needed to administer the existing long portfolio i note that sense at why two thousand and eight there have been five the falls under the title eleven of new initiatives at the f m c including a we organization the creation of a new maritime environmental advisory committee to support the creation of green jobs in the maritime industry and the commencement of a comprehensive  mr chief one for your incredible commitment dedication and service and i i can't tell you how disheartened inside and i am that what is probably one of your last hearings or your last week on the budget has to come at a time when you were put in the position that you are with this budget and earlier this month we know the president transmitted his proposed budget for two thousand and eleven and the the budget slightly increases amounts of bailable to the federal maritime commission but it's overall funding for the maritime administration and what i think are nothing short of reckless an uncons slashing of funding for the coast guard operation in acquisitions has to be brought before us to say that i'm troubled by what was proposed doesn't come close to covering it  congress would increase the mandate for the coast guard you desperately needed more personnel you desperately needed more operations and maintenance dollars you desperately needed acquisition dollars and all those requests were nor for decades the coast guard through the incredible dedication of its men and women managed to carry out its mission and then we embarked upon operation deep water we all know the transition that the coast guard had to assume with homeland security and at a time when the coast guard i think was deeply troubled admiral allen you were incredibly the right man at the right time to come in and get the coast guard sort of on the straight track here with all this having been said the president has said that this budget his budget reflects his priorities in tough economic times  but i don't know how any of us can support a budget for the coast guard which makes it a priority to cut our ability to safeguard american lives at sea and secure our ports and waterways from terrorist attack these reductions in force and capabilities can only be interpreted as undermining port security and one of my big concerns over the time as chairman of this subcommittee in my time on this subcommittee is that while aviation security has received almost a blank check over the years since september eleventh we have fought and scraped for port security dollars to keep up with keep up with  the incredible threat and challenge that we have from terrorist operations at our ports i don't understand how these actions can possibly be the priority of any administration under the president's budget the coast guard will be forced to operate with less people aboard fewer assets with less financial support it's a recipe for disaster the budget proposes to eliminate more than eleven hundred jobs at a time when not only record numbers of americans are out of work but it's time over the last couple of years where we attempted to strengthen the numbers for the personnel of the coast guard made my next increases and now we're going to slide all the way back down the hill it just doesn't make any sense to me we're going to abolish five specially trained anti terrorist teams responsible providing security at our largest ports reduce the number of vessels capable of carrying out coast guard missions close air stations in the great lakes and permanently ground five newly reengineer enhanced helicopters turning them into multimillion dollar supply closet items not the right way to go admiral allen on many occasions you have appeared before this subcommittee and said the coast guard must do away with the attitude that it simply can do more with less you are right sir when you said those things unfortunately the message you have received from the commander in chief is if the coast guard must do even more with less it's contrary to everything that many of us have worked for for decades i think it's simply unacceptable the budget does not reflect the repro already of the american people nor does it provide the resources necessary for success of coast guard missions admiral allen you have characterized this budget as unnecessarily as a necessary short term sacrifice to place the coast guard on a better footing in the future yet this budget not only fails to increase funding for the construction of new more capable vessels and aircraft it slashes several programs to the bare minimum number of airframes in halls required to keep the production line open so what exactly is the service sacrificing personnel and near term mission success for i share the commandant's concern about the long term needs of the coast guard the fleet and for that reason i have long advocated for the acceleration of the recapitalization efforts during the previous administration we were fortunate to have a very strong bipartisan effort from members of this subcommittee members of the full committee and members of congress to understand the urgent need to increase the pace of acquisitions and in a shorter period of time and lastly i want to express my extremely strong opposition to the proposal to eliminate five maritime safety and security teams including the team stationed in our nation's second largest port the port of new york new jersey for those who are not aware the specially trained and equipped teams provide critical anti terrorist capabilities we should be increasing these teams of anything not decreasing them it's the wrong direction to go to even consider that we can do with less of them the coast guard already fall short in its requirement to escort high interest vessels the president's proposed cuts would only further endanger our homeland security i don't say those words lightly i don't see how we can we can interpret it in any other way than that at a time when homeland security can't be further reduced and let's face it across america the further we get from supply for eleventh the more most americans think this is something that is in ancient history and it's not i hope my colleagues will join with me on this subcommittee and with you mr chairman and with the full committee and in finding a way to keep these drastic budget cuts from happening i'm also concerned by some of the proposals made for the maritime the ministration president has failed to request any funding for federal loan guarantees to support construction of new u s built u s flag vessels in our shipyards something that we desperately need this funding supports critically needed jobs for american ship builders and u s merchant mariners yet no attention was given to this program i hope my colleagues will work in a cooperative and bipartisan way to restore a robust investment in our domestic shipbuilding industry for many reasons for the jobs and for the economic situation and for the homeland security implications that that has lastly the president has proposed a slight increase in the budget for the federal maritime commission this will provide the resources necessary for the commission expected workload and i support the proposed funding level for that particular area i want to thank all of our witness for appearing this morning and for their testimony i'd like to welcome the federal maritime commission chairman mr welcome you i wish you well in your first appearances subcommittee i hope we'll have a long and cooperative arrangement i'm sure that we will and as well as maritime administrator david met sudha who previously worked for senator lautenberg a very close friend and colleague of mine from new jersey and i know i join with all of my colleagues in wishing the senator a very speedy recovery and once again admiral allen i'd like to thank you and master chief bowman for remarkable dedication remarks well commitment to your country remarkable commitment to the men and women of the coast guard and as i mentioned earlier i'm really saddened that you're coming to the end of your term it's such a critical time and i'm really sorry that it had to be the tone that it did in this particular hearing for this budget but there's no way to sugarcoat that having said that master chief i want to particularly commend you for your efforts to improve improve the quality of life issues for the men and women of the coast guard something that you but done in a remarkable and dedicated way thank you for raising the alarm on the sad state of coast guard housing and thanks to your leadership although we've not come up with the right solution at this point i think we're clearly focused in understanding that to something we can't let go and that we're going to continue to work on for the men and women of the coast guard and as a follow up to your commitment that you've made at this point  find it difficult to come up with the right words to express my appreciation for your remarkable service to our country whether it was at a time of katrina when you took over and clearly the federal government was floundering in its  effort got nothing but the highest marks from everyone involved in bringing that situation under control as i mentioned earlier i think you took over the coast guard at an extremely difficult period of time with many challenges and questions that were raised and thanks to your unique quality and style of leadership i think the service is fully regained its footing and so are your to be commended for that that was no easy task i thank you for your selfless efforts on behalf of the men and women of the coast  guard i appreciate your advice and appreciate your personal friendship over the years and once again your commanders commitment to our country with that i thank you very much and mr chairman i thank you and i thank you very much and i'm gonna let me just say this  the state of the coast guard and defend the budget but i can promise you i think you'll have unanimous support from this subcommittee and probably the t density we thank you all for coming in bringing your testimony to us this morning i welcome this important review of the president's budget coast guard sector new york is headquartered at fort was worth in my district and staten island standing guard at the entrance to new york harbor and we salute the brave men and women that keep our shores safe every day the president has made clear that his budget would fully protect spending on defense and homeland security while making the key investments necessary to move us forward but this commitment does not appear to be reflected in the coast guard to maritime proposals before us today in particular i have a very serious concern urns about the proposed elimination of the maritime safety and security teams or m s m s s t's that provide our first line of defense in response to terrorist threats or incidents and cannot begin to comprehend the decision to decommission the ninety person team based in new york city with the enormous of course beautiful harbor that it possesses  terrorist attack occurred in new york city as you all know on nine eleven many of us lost loved ones friends and neighbors and the scars of that horrible day remain with all of us today new york city remains the greatest target for terrorists wanting to do america harm it is our nation's preeminent financial center the east coast largest shipping port and our dense system most populous metropolitan area with more than twenty million people in its environs any terrorist attack on new york wouldn't just affect new yorkers but it would have significant ramifications for every american as we sadly learned the ready the decision to decommission the new york based m s s t makes no sense whatsoever the m s s t keeps watch on our ports and patrols key landmarks like the statue of liberty and brooklyn bridge and the brooklyn bridge which we know have been targeted as well if the team responsible for carrying on these missions is based outside of new york and significantly reduce personnel headcount i have little confidence that the m s s t will be able to respond in time in the minutes that often allow us to prevent and disrupt terrorist incidents admiral allen on february twelfth i along with ten other members of the new york discussing this further i also have some concerns about the m rad project and the proposal to completely zero out funds for the small shipyard grant program what i understand from d o t d although the recovery act only provides about one hundred million for this initiative d o t receive more than one billion requests for funding in new york harbor shipbuilding and repair capacities so overstretched that we need to often we also need to send our ships to norfolk to find places to repair our vessels including some routine repairs to the staten island ferry and you should know that of the one hundred seventeen million in federal funds new york harbor did not get a single dime and now to add insult to injury just completely baffles me that federal support for shipping and ship building will be completely eliminated we have a successful program that is creating jobs and building up our long term shipping infrastructure we should be increasing support not decreasing funds for this key initiative mr chairman as a member of the vice chair of this subcommittee i look forward to working with you at this hearing and beyond to ask these in tougher questions we need to be sure that the committee views and estimates that we send to the budget committee in the appropriate is reflect the best interests of our nation's security and long term infrastructure needs at our ports and i thank you for your continued leadership on this matter thank you very much jim wish ranking member of the full committee mr micros recognize well thank you and thank you for conducting this hearing mr cummings and also ranking member and allowing me a few minutes trying not to get into too much of the subcommittees business but i want to take an guard and then i have to take a minute to say a special thanks to admiral allen wow what a great i had a great time you've already been praised by other main members but i particularly want to thank you for working with me as the ranking member i i came on a similar time and i still remember your first calls the difficult challenges you had from the very first day you  took your post and i took mine and the manner in which this gentleman has handled probably some of the most difficult seize the waters the coast guard has ever had to navigate as been  absolutely outstanding he has a calm demeanor he has a way about himself that he's determined to get the job done no matter what obstacles political rhetoric or  h challenges he has to face he gets it done quietly and effectively and he inherited again some things that have been alluded to here the deep water  you well well done well done sir then my second objective is to come here and join with my other colleagues unanimously and protesting the budget that's been to liberate i guess you  our first line of defense domestic defense for both national security and for america maritime safety at this time it's beyond me and when i woke up this morning m as of this week there's a report that was done this week there are more contract employees on top of the hundred eighty thousand and homeland security here they're cutting coast guard eleven hundred positions one of our most vital again national defense and safety we have this huge bureaucracy t s a they're increasing two thousand positions they already have over sixty thousand it's grown from sixteen thousand five hundred screeners they have eighty seven hundred administrators in t s a across the country three thousand two hundred administrators and people within the d c area making over one hundred thousand dollars a year and the coast guard people and their salaries the sacrifices they and their families make and we're here we're slashing them there is something wrong with this picture and i will work in a bipartisan manner to to correct this i appreciate the chairman's methodical approach and his commitment today to correct this mr levy and others we will we will work together we will change this is this is not the way to go at this time so we're not going to get the coast guard we're not going to cripple their assets we are going to keep them sailing and smooths waters and protecting us like they've done for so many years so thank you again you two for your great leadership for your working with this committee and all you've done and we're grateful and the country's grateful and we're going to we're to roll up our sleeves and go from here mr chairman and mr ranking member thank you thank you very much for being here and your support will now hear from our wouldn't bianco and the other members present here today thank you for having us here to talk about the two thousand and eleven budget i have a written statement for the record and i'll summarize my comments here if that's ok sir i'm pleased to be join and i'd like to thank the subcommittee for their support for coast guard men and women mr chairman you and i came on board about the same time you have been steadfast mr low beyond oh you've always been there for us and we appreciate the support for our troops in new york as well as you noted mr chairman on the twelfth of february i delivered my fourth and final state of the coast guard address and i described our current state is ready and resilient and i believe as i stated it was clearly demonstrated following the devastating earthquake in haiti one hour after the earthquake struck three coast guard cutters had orders to proceed eighty on scene the next morning our units controlled aircraft movements until the airport could reopen they conducted the first surveys and assessments of the citizens and as recovery operations around top our personnel teamed with fema to provide an incident management team to support usa id and the ambassador to haiti our units conduct the port assessments and assisted in the reopenin we also deployed a reserve port security unit to provide security in the port and that unit has been relieved and as the mobilizing as we need here this morning finally we continue to monitor partners from haiti for any indication that a mass migration may occur the coast guard was first on scene because of our operational forces and our command and control structure we are agile and flexible our operational model is unique in this country and in the world in an era where a whole of government effort is being sought to deal with a variety of complex challenges we are in fact a whole of government organization mr chairman you've stated several times we are the nation's thin blue line at sea but because we are so unique and multi mission there is continual discussion regarding our mission mix our location and government but i'd like you to consider this as we surge forces in haiti other coast guard personnel and assets were breaking ice on the great lakes and in new england medically back awaiting a heart attack victim two hundred seventy miles off the coast  san diego conducting fishing vessels boardings in the bering sea and detaining twelve foreign vessels around the country for all of violating international safety and security standards the genius of our organization continues to be our operational model that allows our field commanders to move resources where they are needed and our doctrine that emphasizes on scene initiative to sustain this performance for the navy and we must provide our people with the capability to safely and effectively execute the mission environment and the president noted in his state of the union address families across the country are tightening their belts the federal government should do the same obviously that sentiment is reflected in our two thousand and seven budget submission in our discussions with the secretary and a part in the leadership we agreed to make the difficult tradeoff between balancing our current operational capacity with the need for new cutters aircraft boats and sensors mr chairman given the funding levels provided we made the conscious decision to invest in our future the budget contains nearly one point four billion dollars to acquire new assets or removing aging cutters in aircraft from service that are too costly to maintain it includes thirteen point nine million dollars for housing units and we do appreciate the first lady's per first lady's personal interest in the welfare of our people in our housing programs but to allow for recapitalization within a fixed top line there is no other place to look for structure personnel and assets to meet the funding limits established we must continue to provide pay and entitlements to our people they are first we must take care of them to that end our operating expense request reflects pay raises  cost of living increases and other cost increases that are absorbed within the current operating base that means fewer people and fewer units i will go through the detail that a cut you've already described those in your opening statements or i'll save the time as a result we have less capacity in two thousand and eleven that we did in two thousand and ten we will use our existing resources to prosecute all of our missions by allocating them to the highest priority just as we've always done that includes accepting greater risk and managing our resources professionally and with proper stewardship and we will continue to do that obviously recapitalizing the fleet is my top priority it has to be because our future readiness is at stake so the twelve cutters  responded to haiti ten suffered severe mission affecting casualties two are forced to return to port for repairs and are still unable to operate and one proceeded to an emergency dry dock each passing year erodes our capability putting our people are risking endanger our statutory responsibility mr chairman the state of the coast guard is ready and resilient but i would characterize our fleet as fragile and approaching the limits of supportability due to the age of our large cutters we must in your service of the nation our personal deserve the best because that's what they provide to us now to the first day of rescue operations in haiti a young petty officer emailed this to his mother today i've truly been more thankful to be an american as a country will stand together and put aside our different opinions on health care war the economy to help those in need mr chairman i appreciate your offer of support and for the ranking member as well let me add in closing remarks i too have appreciated your friendship mentorship and leadership there's been an honor to serve with you thank you very much good morning mr chairman and distinguished members of the subcommittee this is my fourth and last appearance before you due to my impending retirement i'd like to personally thank all of you for your efforts on behalf of coast guard people during my career i've been fortunate to serve alongside what i believe to be the most capable and dedicated workforce in the u s government and i'm thankful today for the privilege of discussing their needs with you and my written statement i went into great detail describing the heroic action of co personnel over the last year however i'm not sure the human words are capable of adequately describing how i really feel about the performance of our people they are protectors defenders lifesavers has showcased after the earthquake in haiti the coast guard brings hope alive just hours into the tragedy a very young coastguardsman very young of coast guard cutter mohawk named fireman runner said a little boy about four years old came up to me and squeezed me so hard and just told me that he loved me looked up and told me that he was the only one left everyone else in his family had died today i saw people that should not have been alive it was a bad heart movie i was proud of commander john driscoll as he stood at the killer cation coast guard base and responded to a reporter who questioned why coast guard men would limited medical training were working on survivors with such extensive and terrible injuries he simply responded with there is no other choice these people have no other hope the coast guard workforce is resilient but we're stretched thin we continue to seek parity with department of defense services regarding military benefits and family programs june sixteenth two thousand and nine ranking member low beyond zero and members of this subcommittee who are part of the coast guard caucus sponsored h r twenty nine zero one a measure that if enacted would go a long way toward improving supporting conditions for our people most of the proposals contained in this bill are also found in h r thirty six nineteen the coast guard authorization bill that passed in the house and october through two thousand and nine both measures were provided hansard thirty for child development service centers and chaplain services allow for coast guard participation in the armed forces retirement home and authorize the president toward the coast guard cross and silver star medals for extraordinary heroism the gallantry and action both measures seek to address a lapse in coast guard housing a i'm fortunately housing continues to be a major concern last week i visited a coast guard commander based on long island new york an area that experiences major swings in the housing market depending on the economy and the season because of this the coast guard approximately one hundred homes on the island homes that must be maintained but we are falling behind i visited one home a station is next that i remember as a beautiful house when i saw it back in one thousand nine hundred four even today it was characterized by the folks there as a good house on close inspection i agreed that it was livable but i noted terrible drafts of the windows kitchens and bathrooms and fixtures that have not been updated in many many years cabinet doors that were warped and did not close properly i am thankful that the two thousand and eleven budget provides fourteen million dollars to address these deficiencies i consider this a down payment on the three hundred fifty million dollar strongly believe that without further relief this quality of life issue will eventually impact negatively on both retention and rain and yes the constant work and support of this subcommittee continues to make a difference and better our coast guard  to mean so much to so many people for that i'm grateful and honored to have had the opportunity during the last four years to represent the interests of our workforce before you thank you good morning chairman cummings ranking member lo bianco and members of the subcommittee thank you for inviting me here today to discuss president obama's fiscal year two thousand and eleven budget priorities and initiatives for the maritime administration the president's budget request of three hundred fifty two million dollars for the agency will fund programs important for maritime transportation these programs support the maritime sectors continuing contributions to our country's economic competitiveness environmental sustainability and transportation system safety security and readiness but first with the subcommittees for mission i'd like to give you a quick update on the maritime administration's disaster aid and relief efforts in haiti at the request of the secretary of defense we activated a total of seven maritime administration ships five from the ready reserve force and two additional high speed ferries coast guard defense department and maritime administration employees work very well together to ready these inactive ships for duty three are being used today the s s cape may the s s cornhusker state and the in addition we have helped promote the services of the many capable s commercial ships seventeen of which have served in relief efforts all are carrying food aid supplies and even passengers and ferry service and all our crude with dedicated and skilled u s mariners with regard to the budget secretary ray la hood has made clear one of his top priorities is to improve the profile and prestige of the u s merchant marine academy in kings point new york to that end the president has requested one hundred million dollars for the u s merchant marine academy in fiscal year two thousand and eleven this would represent a thirty five percent increase above the fiscal year two thousand and ten and acted level the increase would support capital improvements operational funding for items like necessary computer and information technology upgrades and academic program enhanced pence as well as compensation for previous over charges of midshipman fees the maritime administrat making improvements with regard to the school's financial accountability we are aggressively implementing recommendations made by the government accountability office and its most recent audit were port my plan is to successfully address all forty seven o recommendations by the end of this fiscal year additionally we will continue to strongly support training of merchant marine officers at the six state academies another priority for the maritime administration is job creation the agency's title eleven loan guarantee program supports jobs through infrastructure investment and economic growth when credit markets are tight this program is especially vital for those trying to get financing for u s ship construction with the current title eleven subsidy balance of seventy eight million dollars we will be able to issue commitments to worthy applicant in two thousand and eleven and additional source of port infrastructure funding comes from the department's discretionary infrastructure grant program also called the tiger program on feb seventeenth the department announced one point five billion dollars in tiger granted awards for fiscal year two thousand and ten of this amount more than one hundred twenty million dollars will fund seven port and maritime related projects these grants will support new marine highway services add capacity to ports and improve shoreside connections to inland markets security preparedness and response are also critical missions for the agency and command the largest share of the budget request for example the president's budget request includes one hundred seventy four million dollars for the sixty ships and the maritime security program this level of funding matches the authorized level this important program guarantees military access to commercial u s flagships related logistics services and a workforce of trained u s mariners u s flagged commercial ships have delivered four hundred thirty thousand containers of equipment and supplies to support us troops in iraq and afghanistan last but not least the maritime administration is can committed to the proper disposal of obsolete ships in the national defense reserve fleet in two thousand and nine for the first time in three years ships began to leave the susanville reserve fleet in california even more will leave this year the president's budget request supports the environmentally responsible disposal of an additional fifteen ships from the fleet in fiscal year two thousand and eleven mr chairman i look forward to working with the subcommittee on advancing maritime transportation our country maritime career many years ago under one of your last year's predecessors so it's good to be back home but clearly these committees permission i would like to summarize my testimony requested for written statement be included in the record that objection thank you the president's budget for the maritime commission provides twenty five million four hundred ninety eight thousand for fiscal year two thousand and eleven this represents an increase for us of a million three hundred sixty three thousand over twenty ten in funds one hundred thirty two employees we will add one new i t positions speed to commissions data security efforts and reduce burdens on the businesses we regulate during my confirmation hearings last july i stated the obama committee ministrations commitment to three main priorities for the commission first the top priority should be our role in assisting the economic recovery for job growth both within our commercial ocean transportation industry and among the businesses they second the commission must focus refocus on protecting our country shipping community and above all the american consumer from unfair practices from foreign governments cargo carriers cruise lines third we will work with all sectors of our maritime family to help green our ports and the shipping industry in the coming year we will play a valuable supporting role as a trade and economic line leader to help the ministration begin to implement the national export initiative and to redouble our exports over the next five years each o commissioners is committed to working in a collegial cooperative in bipartisan matter to accomplish the commission's mission and we also had a commissioner brennan is back at the fort guarding our activities this morning but he sent the committee his regards my vision of the f m c is to be a more proactive regulatory agency so that we do not just react to issues that are brought to us based on that here are three goals that we have accomplished already first after receiving valuable insight from input from the committee and others we have announced our agency reorganization program to become effective on july thirty first of this year we reestablish the office of managing director and other stablished the office of consumer affairs industry resolutions as an independent office in the near future the commission will present a revised budget that reflects this new organization but we have the same funding the will and the same number of f t s just last week the commission voted to initiate a r making to relieve non vessel operating common carriers from tariff rate publication requirements this relief will result in significant cost savings and potentially new jobs in that sector of the industry we are holding hearings next week to  passenger vessel industry and their requirement to cover financial activities of cruise line passengers if there's an accident at sea or an operator fails to perform in the environmental area the f m c sees three key issues first the commission voted back in august to end its opposition to the clean air and truck program in the port of los angeles and going forward the commission is committed to being a helpful partner for our ports when green issues second we have an internal staff committee helped ignition focus on green issues and become a clearinghouse for ports and other parts of the maritime industry interested in greening their activities third the commercial recently reviewed a very significant proposal of the sixteen carriers in the transpacific discussion agreement which will allow them to institute slow steaming and have a great environmental impact when that activity in october of two zero eight the european union repealed its block exemption antitrust immunity from compete competition rules online or shipping conferences the commission is continuing work on a comprehensive study of the impact of this repeal we must be very careful to gauge the long term impacts on our own trade commission is also working on two new issues involving foreign governments the first is to carefully monitor the activities of the people's republic of china in their new requirements for the shanghai shipping exchange which could have indirect impact on our carriers and on our shippers second we are watching increased diversion of u s bound cargo to canada away from u s ports two years ago the canadian government opened a new container port au prince rupert and in alliance with a chinese carrier have diverted two hundred sixty five thousand containers to that port away from our west coast ports this past year we are consulting with ports and others and involved customs and border protection to address any potential unfair practices in potential security impacts finally but not least i found at the commission staff although small is very dedicated to public service over ten percent of our employees have thirty five years or more of service at the commission we c very satisfied with their jobs and related aspects of employment with the thirty percent of the survey showed success of improvement each year and i know the committee has been very interested in this issue and we are committed to building a diverse skilled and effective an opportunity to provide some same thank you very much mr chairman i certainly appreciate this opportunity unfortunately i'm bouncing between two committee meeting said the same time hundreds of thousands of people who come from chicago and other areas during the summer and they all appreciate the coastguards activity there i guess my father lee advice and some older than most of you my father  advices don't even start the battle you did it a few years ago and somebody bitten by the congress and the operation was restored but aside from that i would just plead for the need for the helicopters on the great lakes particularly in lake michigan which has a huge amount of traffic during the summer this is of course a seasonal placement but the idea of pulling five helicopters away from much encourage you to withdraw that part of your budget and maintain a helicopter presence on lake michigan michigan in particular and so that this is a statement not a question but i would hope that you would take that to heart and restore that service we're talking about to me a substantial number of lives that will be at risk without that service so i beg of you please restore that and and the battle early on and come out of it basically what you were saying is that it's a priority is that right yes mr chairman but it's the same time we will as far as performance operational performance and there will be a reduction is that correct and i'm worried you've got a trade off here yes sir that's exactly what i mean yeah and is that an appropriate trade off and if it is would you explain that to us yes sir within a constrained fiscal environment you almost move away from traditional budgeting where you take the prior year and acted you would incrementally add on things like cost of living increases pay raises and so forth you look at what efficiencies you could achieve and what new things you might want to do and it's an incremental or detrimental changes to what the prior year enacted level when you're looking at severely constrained budget environments you don't start with prior year and acted in incremental decorah meant that you start with what's available in terms of funding and you make tradeoffs within that line and that's what we did for now i read an article yesterday which pretty much stated and that would likely if things were to go as they are right now budget lines being a reduction in counterterrorism with regard to the coast guard do you think that that idea well sir there's an overall reduction in capacity and i understand the concern especially with the marines safety and security teams as i mentioned in my opening statement the coast guard operating model is we give all the resources to our field commanders and they allocate those to the highest need a risk in their  areas counterterrorism operations port waterways safety and security critical infrastructure protection are all part of that so what's going to happen is if you have a lower level of operating assets it puts a larger premium on how you do that risk calculation where you allocate the resources and it really i would say there's less capability to do counterterrorism operations but i would have to tell you that we manage that across the portfolio so all of the missions potentially could be impacted based on the decision the field commanders made and how congressional direction the coast guard recently developed a workforce action plan the congressional direction instructed the coast guard to provide a workforce plan that would include a gap analysis of the mission areas and that continues in the resources and the type of personnel necessary to address those needs as well it's tragic leaving funding requirements and timeline to address those needs the g a o reported in the study of the coast guard person management systems released today which will hear about shoving the workforce action plan developed by the coast guard did not provide the gap analysis and did not identify funding needs or set for potential timeline by which the gaps could be filled how many total personnel does the coast guard need to carry out its assigned missions with fully qualified personnel and does the coast guard currently have that level of personnel as a coast guard completed a gap analysis or almost soon we're talking specifically about our operation centers that's right regarding search and rescue mission we have set up an internal working group and we are moving to identify those gaps in the resources required generally we're talking about people who are communications watch danders a listens for mayday and or distress calls people actually develop the search plans and the supervision over those the current staffing varies in every sector in the  those supervisor stand twelve hour watches some stand twenty four hour watch as the goal with our gap analysis is to keep create a standard staffing model and develop those shortfalls that is in progress and when we are going to provide that information as soon as we're completed sir when you go across the board how would  i'm being responsive your question in that article or issue you raised i believe related relates to sector command centers now we manage the search and rescue mission that is discrete subset of the larger coast guard personnel system if you will ok that is being addressed specifically in terms of gaps at each sector and that's what we will come forward with before they get that gap analysis or regarding the larger size of the coast guard we've had many discussions about that and what we could do with additional people for this kind of military personnel that's a real problem well there are a couple of challenges associated with it and again what we're talking about is trying to adjust for structure to make sure we can continue to recapitalize and that means assets and people that's only place you can go if you're going to pay your people to cost of living increases and other costs associated without any increase in your in your top line you know as it is rather than just disturbing because you know one of the things that we've been trying to do and we've done this on a bipartisan is trying to increase the number of personnel overall and it seems i mean we've got a seven hundred seventy three reduction when you look at the you know wh fleet mixture analysis to determine the number and types of vessel platforms that will be necessary to support the coast guard missions in the future mr mike and i requested this report a couple of weeks ago however the report has not been provided to the subcommittee forced to make a conclusion here that maybe you can shed some light on or prove me wrong but given the timing the recommendations and the lack of the report coming forward i have to assume that the administration is refusing to allow you to give us this report because it likely calls for acquisition of a number of assets that can be not be supported by this absurd budget by the administration can you tell us when the subcommittee might expect this report yes sir and in fact that n your statement on the modernization of the fleet you talked about the and i think it's important for this to be on the record mr chairman you talked about the recent experience in support of the haiti operation in the response and you noted that the coast guard operates one of the oldest fleets in the world and of the twelve major cutters assigned to the haiti relief operation ten of the twelve cutters or eighty three percent suffered severe mission affecting capabilities i guess in layman's terms emergency repairs one proceeded to emergency dry dock and you also stated that you had to divert their resources away from evacuation efforts to deliver repair parts that's that's so i mean mr chairman i think we're further we're saying the same thing but i think we're going to be forced to emphasize this repeatedly and in fact equally so that everyone understands in real terms in a real operation in a real disaster what these devastating cuts are going to mean and further along the same line admiral allen the president as we talked about proposed to eliminate five maritime safety and security teams one of them as we noted home ported in new york city another one in anchorage one in san francisco one orleans and one in georgia  the impact would be just short of four hundred military positions can you outline for us in your view what specific capabilities would be lost under this proposal if it were to be enacted yes sir a marine safety and security teams have a combination of capabilities but most notably is on water presence the ability to conduct security patrols not only on the water but around facilities on land the teams are deployable the most notable use for surge operations and they don't have a standby search and rescue response capability we employ them on specific missions both in the ports where they are stationed and elsewhere around the world and these teams have been deployed anywhere in the world from the from the persian keep bad guys away yes sir when they're not deployed to actually operate the port where they're at so if you take the marine safety and security team in new york harbor when they're not deployed say to guantanamo bay or in support of a surge operation someplace in the country they would all be in local forces with a presence on the water and deterrence specifically highlight new york new jersey because obviously graphic reasons for me but assuming this ridiculous proposal were to be advanced  acted what would it mean in the case of the port of new york if there work to be a if there were to be terrorist activity how do we make up the gap here who's going to pick up the slack or first of all though the base resources in and around new york between six and seven hundred personnel between military and civilians and the station on staten island new york is our largest search and rescue station so there's a considerable forces already there faced with the need to reduce the number of marine safety and security teams we took into account the existing footprint already in new york but if you're talking about that capability where would it come from the next closest team presuming the proposal as an act of will be boston's or  well just just in winding up the last few seconds i appreciate that admiral allen again understanding the difficult position you put in but just think about what we're saying to the people of new york in terms of  where considering the homeland security issue at the place where the site of the attack took place on september eleventh were saying that it's ok for the administration to decide that the security priorities of new t program to perform both port security and harbor missions and harbors in the event of a terrorist incident could just review again where is the logic in decommissioning the team responsible for providing protection for our largest city and our nation's greatest terrorist target this decision isn't just where he some from for me as a new yorker but also as an american it makes me question our priorities and even the g a o testimony states that will decrease operational capacity in performance in the ports waterways and coastal security mission almost a decade after the nine eleven attacks how can we even think of turning our back on the security needs of new york city and in particular the ports the single largest cost reduction in the coast guard budget is the eighteen point two million to be cut from the m s s the program with almost half of these reductions about ninety f t e is coming from the decommissioning of the new york team based on the team based in new york in my district could you just tell us what it means exactly for new york harbor what's the logic behind it and in effect is in this leaving the harbor unprotected sir thank you for the question let me go back to the rationale the tradeoffs in the decisions we make and i think it's very important we have the conversation and understand that we have around the coast guard right now coast guard surface unit stations that are ready to respond to search and rescue law enforcement other taskings they are ready response seven by twenty four basically firehouse type operations that we have separate forces that deployed for surge operations that are mission specific in new york we have a station on staten island and other stations in the area that respond to search and rescue seven by twenty four three sixty five that is not the mission of the maritime safety and security team that is headquartered the new york area they are there for surge operations to be deployed other places when you're looking at tradeoffs with fixed line budget you can't go to the seven twenty four three sixty five response ever because that's safety of life and that is our first and highest priority so if you're looking where you have four structure that you can use to trade off which we have to meet the top line the  on the water capability in terms of operating small boats doing waterside security doing security at selected waterfront facilities on land that capabilities available in new york but is also deployable any place we might need for surge operations so the team in new york when they are not deployed would be available to the local commanders for doing those types of operations so if you're looking at the incremental change of what would be available in new york after this team will be gone it will be that time that they are not deployed that they're available to local commander francine security duties which would enhance deterrence and increase security but it is my understanding correct that they're that they're being eliminated from new york but moved somewhere else or the remaining in other places now we have we have twelve of these teams what we did was knowing that we had to reduce the force structure to meet the funding limits we made sure that there was regional coverage and we took into account and you can disagree or not with this given the extensive amount of  personnel and units we have assigned a new york area which is our largest operating command in the coast guard we did take note that there are already almost seven hundred people in new york excluding maritime safety and security team and we are making these hard choices you have to take into account  can be argued that that would be too far away to to really have any impact this as an occurrence would it take place in new york with their presence would where that surge would most likely be needed i mean yes sir if an event were to occur in new york harbor boston is for the new york you're absolutely right but the mississippi that is in new york may or may not be there all the time because they are deployed it's when they're available in the harbor and on deployed status that they could be used by the local commander and what i'd be happy to do for the record is give you the amount of days they were available to local commander versus deployed i think would frame the issue better for you sir i appreciate that admiral and just lastly if you could in kind of civilian terms when i go back home to my district and say that we've spoken about this what do i say to people to reassure them that they are not less safe or that our harbor is not less safe and that new york has now lost a significant part of its terror and response to terrorist threats in a harbor which we know support around the country to be able to deploy these forces whether they are to the middle east or going to know where we might need them knowing that we would have a capacity that could be used to help the local commander in new york when they were not deployed the search and rescue coverage and all the other missions of the coast guard are maintained with the additional over six hundred people that are currently in new york and they are not being diminished sir thank you have a let me just say and thank you for the next a time mr chairman i will just conclude by saying that i will join with the leadership of this committee on both sides of the aisle to do everything we can to make sure that these cuts not become reality and affect the safety of the people whom we represent and that certainly in the new york new jersey area thank you allen thank you for all you've done for the coast guard you've been a great leader who will miss you when you leave and i hope you wherever you go you are successful you have been the coast guard and i do apologize for this this congress that we call it not the house for never really authorizing you for years we have not passed a bill out of the senate and i say shame on them and i am still going to hammer mr chairman members of committee one thing the admirals doing what he has to do it's up to us the rewrite this president's budget which is a disaster i've said this to i don't know why are they come from a why it happens but they cut the coast guard coast guard the most active unit we have i believe in the armed forces of the day somebody to disagree with that but you're constantly on call in on duty and we haven't funded it so it's our responsibility is this congress to step up to the plate and fun i think that one of the finest agencies we have in the united states armed services but m a replacement vessel now they can take its place between two thousand and eleven and probably two thousand and thirteen i'm just asking you can we delay that decommissioning until we have a replacement vessel because it does their great purpose teams given a fixed funding level the age of the cutters the amount of money it takes to keep them running and they need to be new cutters something has to give against a fixed top line and these are very tough choices nobody likes to vacate a port especially one in the state of alaska it is been a source of such support for us and we thank you for what you've done over the years but faced with being able to accommodate pay raises and cost of living increases there is no place to go except for structure that's a number of times the coastline of the east coast and it still doesn't equal the coastline and the activities we have in all and alaska and i'm just saying this vessel is crude is it's man it's supplied it station is ready to go it's just oh and i you regard as what you say there's going to be a gap there that will hurt us what if we raise some more money to get into this budget i hope you consider the fact that we did we don't want this security cutter so we have to cutters in operation one that's thirty five percent want to be put on contract we are replacing we are removing the vessels ery lacing from service this year so we will go through a gap with fewer holes until the new ones are built duty icebreakers polar sea and polar star are at near the end of their service life the polar sea has been extended we do have money to bring the polar star back into service and we're making those repairs at this time the current gaps that we have our money to operate the polar star and the fact that the money right now resides in the national science foundation and on the coast guard base now separate from that is the issue of the future of the polar sea the polar star in terms of replacing that capability you can build new icebreakers you can lease them you have a lot of options and how you might move forward sir but that has to be preceded by a policy decision that we have to replace that capability and that has not happened yet sir as a coast guard looked at that policy decision would that be made by the coast guard or somebody else sir once we have a policy decision that the repeal of the capability of the thank you mr chairman mr mudd sudha it's good to see you again and i thank you so much i had an opportunity for you to come into my district i found you to be very engaging and wanting to understand what was happening in the largest port complex in the united states and we thank you for saying that personally given what you learned about the port of los angeles in long beach during your visit what do you see is the biggest challenges facing our port security given the two thousand eleven budget for the maritime administrat thank you congress and we first of all i certainly appreciated being able to view the port with you i actually went back last week and visited a couple more of our ships that are that are based there i was most impressed in the message i heard loud and clear from the port officials in the community was the need to focus on a more national supply chain and goods movement policy that effectively links  ports along with the inland infrastructure like the rail and trucks and the highways that connect to the port to be able to make sure that goods move their flow through there freely and smoothly and as efficiently as possible as you know we don't have as strong a role in security as some of our fellow agencies like the coast guard here but we work very closely with them and right we think that you know one way to help in that regard is to make sure that there is  a smooth flow of movements through the committee through the port itself well in light of that we had a situation where we had a labor lockout in the ports and when the ports were closed it cost our economy one billion dollars a day and that's billion with a b so although you're absolutely right in terms of the security what happens on the port security side if we have a reason that we have to shut down the ports it would dramatically impact on your particular end so in light of that have you thought of any initiatives that may red would be undertaking in the coming year to support the expansion of short sea shipping it's the full year two thousand and eleven budget request reduces funding f red operations in programs from fifty nine point seven million to forty three forty nine point three million a seventeen point five percent reduction why is this reduction proposed well first of all the merit has undertaken discussions with officials at the apartment of fence and north com we've talked about what would happen if a port were to go out of service and entire port because that's something that not a lot of folks in the industry are looking at many of them are concerned with you know a single terminal or a single part of a port being out of service so we are looking at that perhaps we can do some modeling and gets more information about what actually happened what we would need to be doing as a country to be prepared  as far as the marine highway program this remains an extremely high priority for the administration one thing i'd point out is that in the discretionary grant program the tiger program that the department recently announced awards for we've funded i believe it's somewhere upwards of fifty million dollars and marine highway projects and that's far in the a way above any funding levels of the agency has ever  received for a line item marine highway initiative so that's something that we look forward to continue we believe these projects stand up on their own merit and really do produce the types of benefits that we know they will do to the environment  in terms of energy usage reducing congestion around the port itself on the on the land side and so we'll continue to push this i agree with your assessment as a whole however you're speaking to a person who represents in conjunction with congressman rohrabacher the largest ports in the united states and however we were left out on that list so it's a little sore spot with me of how we managed to provide this and yet we didn't even do it for the most critical area in the nation but thank you sir admiral allen several of my colleagues have talked about their particular poor areas and you've heard the area that i represent and i'm just curious do you see any impact in in the western region command we spent an entire afternoon with the industry leaders who were thomas c e o s of ships port operators and so forth to talk about port resiliency specifically how you could reestablish port operations after a catastrophic event whether was natural or manmade this going to be an ongoing effort and a partnership between a mere ad coast guard in north com and this is part of a larger effort that's been going on for several years we call maritime transportation recovery and there is a national plan to do that and we have a way to actually orchestrate work with a history of stakeholders in local port to prioritize we do assessments reopen the port and cueing of traffic as it needs to come in and out and we're committed to that process and i can tell you working very very closely with mr mansour so thank you sir so if the chairman would be in agreement i'd like to ask if you could forward to this committee a copy of may be the summarized notes from the maritime transportation recovery meeting that you had to be very curious to learn more about it and mr chairman could i ask one final question i know i've asked michael yes yes thank you sir i'm just curious admiral how involved were you with the actual administration in forming this budget where you sought to say you have to cut four percent and you can pick where you want to cut it or are you basically told this is where it's going to happen now the budget that is proposed relaxing reflects some very hard decisions and tradeoffs that i personally discussed with the secretary and her staff and presented as a way to meet the requirements of a fixed top line so we're they your ideas are there the tradeoffs that were made that are reflected in this budget to meet that funding level reflect could build or put him in the budget with given the replacement of the of your lordship in durance cutters meter and cutters are you building them as fast as congress can fund the replacements i'm sorry you're retiring them faster than congress can fund the replacements and as i was told to see you know i put a ship in the budget case scenario three years later it's commissioned worst case scenario six years later is commission but with the stroke of a pen he's retired one so all all right we are is your budget recommendation on at least a one for one capabilities basis replacing those vessels that are being decommissioned this year so we are retiring them faster than we are replacing them i mentioned earlier but let me just restate it for your information we have delivered to national security cutters the way she in the bartov the stratus thirty five percent done we're about ready to enter negotiations with the northrop grumman right now to put the fourth under contract we are decommissioning for vessels here they represent those four ships to have been delivered one thirty five percent one yet to be put on contract subject to proposal negotiations so there will be about the effect will be last quarter days and cutters out of service or what is where are you on the court case involving the stress one tends to the one twenty three's and involving about biology ship board from an integrity standing very important now sir you and i are in violent agreement that we need to recover the value of the government's money that was spent on that while the court case is going on to be adjudicated the department of justice as the control over what's going on and at one point the vessels were tied up because you're a potential evidence cherry requirements for those vessels we have since negotiated with the department of justice to take equipment off those vessels and put them back into service where it can be used so we are realizing some value in that changes every day but i can give the committee a report on what we've realized in terms of parts and equipment coming off of that i was ready to proceed with any manner whether it was a third party adjudication or whatever to go after the value of those ships frankly department attorneys give you give you any timeline as to when this might be resolved or at least go to trial i have no timeline right now but i'm more than happy to consult with justice and give an answer for the record sir thank you sir but sir mr ma one let me start by thanking you for returning the phone call the other day i will stop us saying that i think your predecessor made a tragic mistake when he replaced joe's story at the united states marchment academy and it is my understanding that there is an opening at the merchant marine academy if admiral stewart is available i would sure hope you would interview him if he has decided that he does not wish to return then i would highly recommend and i have looked at it as you under your advice but the qualifications for the job i would highly encourage you to interview general steven blum formerly the chief of the national guard bureau now the deputy commander at the northern command lacks the maritime experience that is as expelled out in some places but in every other category i have known him to be just an outstanding officer in the united states military i think he would serve that academy well and so i'm going to ask  strongly consider him secondly in this environment every day we're called upon to explain where every dollar goes but in this environment we're called upon even more so quite honestly  and i don't mean to pick on you because you have inherited this agency but when it comes to the maritime administration over the past few it's pretty hard to explain what your agency does and i'm someone who follows us more than most i know you're on the merchant marine academy one of the things i would hope you would be doing is promoting the answers the united states merchant marine one of the ways we can do that is to encourage people to build ships repair when we passed during the clinton years the national shipbuilding initiative that we invigorated it both in statute and with some dollars when the very first things the bush administration did we started back to death i cannot encourage you enough in this environment where we need the ships were people need to work to take a very aggressive approach towards a national shipbuilding initiative the title eleven program it is a loan guarantee program we're not giving anybody anything and we get an incredible twenty two  on return on our investment for every dollar that we make available in loan guarantees twenty dollars are made available to the yards to build ships or to the operators to buy ship or repair or ship i would encourage you to rebuilt in chinese shipyards that operating out of the maritime security program which is reserved for american flag american jones act vessels and this was supposed to be rebuilt in american hands law and he has recommended to this committee language to clear that up i would certainly encourage you in the time that he remains to work with you to submit to this committee that language or better language if you've come up with a better way of i'd do is make a comment and let them ask you follow up if i could we have had problems over the years with family housing because of the size of the coast guard our budget and some of the limitations placed on how we actually acquire housing and the department of defense there are a couple of things they do that are hard for us to get to one is a public private venture where you basically have a firm come in build a housing and they get the allowance for quarters there's an offset there and over a thirty year period their investment is paid off under the scoring requirements however the amount of that guarantee has to be scored upfront in a budget and that's been a insurmountable obstacle for us even if we were to get the authorisation separate from that is the ability to sell property take the proceeds from the sale of assets and move that into a fund that could basically sell fund algae to be self generating and remove property off the books and and gain value for property we don't need anymore that can be converted to housing for our people and i want to ask you follow up yes or no we have several properties that could be put up for sale right away several more behind that that could be ready in two to five years for a substantial amount of exports at a time when many vessels have been tied up to reduce capacity what is the commission doing to ensure that the shipping conferences are not unreasonably limiting capacity to drive up rates and what more can be done to ensure that the u s exporters and the containers and shipping capacity necessary to meet those needs thank you mr chairman as the committee knows in this very severe period of economic turndown in this worst year for the maritime industry in decades capacity has been cut back we've stressed in our meetings with the carriers with the talking agreements that they must be able to serve our exports as well as imports beyond that at this point to work urg as partners with shippers to down a fire where potential shipments might be coming from so that the key here is the location of containers at the right point in line we have no problem along the coastal areas primarily to the inland points and we had discussions internally yesterday about how we can find for the department of agriculture for other shipper groups how we might increase those container levels it's two of the things that mr masoud a you wrote in your chest simon that providing a running support and oversight to restore the academy programs and controls and agency management and varied of what measures being taken to correct the situation at the academy number two some within king's point community have expressed concern that academy may not be able to maintain its accreditation the shock of the academy losing its accreditation cannot be overstated i just want to know where we are in that thank you sir we are well as you mentioned the secretary has made king's point a priority and and i share his vision of what he sees for the school to be one of the crown jewels of the service academies we are starting at the top we are doing everything we can to find the right superintendent to take the helm of this important institution i think congressman taylor earlier for plugging this vacancy we  we are conducting a nationwide search is a federal career civil service position and we are doing everything we can to find the very best we are also taking a very close look at how the maritime administration oversees the academy i found personally that better communication and listening to the academy officials to the broader academy community including the alumni association parents  midshipmen themselves as has proven extremely valuable and very productive in making sure that everyone understands what's going on i'm going to be submitting questions to all of you i will call upon next panelists stephen call well mr stephen caldwell caldwell you will hear from you for five minutes want to say i do want to mention something about haiti when some of the other coast guard folks here can pass that on but one of the first groups evacuated from haiti by the coast guard i do want to mention was a group of people that were actually there looking at development assistance there so i just want to personally thank the coast guard for their efforts to get our people back in the budget many of the details have already been gone over here in terms of the major themes in the tradeoffs that admiral allen has proposed in the budget and has been  approved in the president's proposal and i can address those more fully under q one but i move on some of the key management challenges including some issues related to the report really seen today well my written statement includes some issues on the deepwater workforce planning issues both of these management issues improve coast guard performance and mission by providing more detailed information on the recorder ment's that the coast guard faces but it is important for us to recognize that a good estimate of the resource will harmatz we're not necessarily mean that those resources would be available i think this budget makes that very clear allow me to provide a couple of examples of that first regarding the command realignment despite the coast guard not receiving permission for all of the changes that it has proposed most of those proposals are well underway in terms of implementing those but in terms of say the deployable operation group that dog the m s s t is one of the units under the dog the dog has achieved some of the benefits of providing standardized training tactics and procedures across the coast but the purpose of the dog was to better leverage existing assets  has really shown in some ways that having a dedicated management qadri within the dog has actually highlighted some of the resource challenges and the shortages and gaps that they face one example with those those would be helicopter training for or tic insertion which is one of their homeland security missions i'm kind of at the high end of the threat spectrum but it's pretty hard to you while you're identifying that requirement and we just recently done some work on that that doesn't mean that the resources will be there in this ever allies mention to the helicopters actually that support those training missions for the m s r t in the norfolk area are being withdrawn to move to the great lakes terms the work force planning actually mention the staffing sector model is one of the key new tools for workforce planning it's intended to create detailed baseline staffing data comparable across the coast guard's thirty five diverse sectors but again having a high fidelity model to come up with those numbers is not going to mean that the coast guard has those assets and particularly in this budget where you have military decreased by over eleven by i'm sorry one thousand positions on the positive side these new tools do those tradeoffs to be highlighted in a situation where you are going to make resource allocation decisions as the budget tightens closing thank you very much i'll be happy to respond any questions i know the house has a lot going on today thank you thank you very much this call of the coast guard is proposing a significant reorganization of his top leadership including promoting the vice admiral four star civic atlantic evaluate the performance in effectiveness of my nice coast guard what are the metrics that the coast guard has developed boys developing and what is the status of that about them and they adequate to enable comprehensive assessments think one of things that's more difficult i think the coast guard is making less progress is what you would call efficiency measures so they have a lot of measures in terms of that the outputs what they're doing where they are in the reorganization process but actually looking at the impact of those on the outputs of their performance measures is something that's always been hard for them to do and was even weaker i think in terms of looking at efficiency measures and whether they were able to do the same mission with less people or something like that you wrote in your new report about a lack of gap analysis in the workforce action plan the service recently developed do you believe that the model but really it is a bigger issue creation's committee had asked that a gap analysis be done across all personnel and all requirements and i don't see that as having something that's been done i mean i do wide initiative to get more civilian government people in positions so that you don't have contractors watching over the contractors and again part of the one part of the loss in military billets this year is because the increasing civilian billets and when you get civilians you know that are trained to do acquisition work you can be in a better position than putting military people they're in a relatively short rotation unless of course they are engineers and they're  you see that is something that is definitely beneficial as opposed to a military people being shuffled from one place to another and never getting as much experience in many instances is that a fair statement i think if the military people have that detailed technical training experience if you don't have that deference but but generally not all of them do some of them do admiral robert professional engineer with years of experience but not all of the other staff necessarily involved in the acquisition division does that so you do that the other thing i wanted to mention because quote is making progress in terms of closing the gap i think as we reported last year they went from about twenty seven percent of their slots chairman it's called well thank you for your service thank you for being here today as you know your testimony the coast guard has as portrayed the fiscal year eleven budget request as a tradeoff between current operations and future acquisition efforts do you believe that the requested funding level for acquisitions provided the resources necessary to address declining asset readiness by replacing them promptly well the coast guard i think as we all know has been in a bind in terms of making that tradeoff and that we did some work on the national security cutter and the legacy he sees last year and at that time because it wasn't committing to what they were going to do about the agencies but it was going to require more and more money to keep the length lean their length of service and to keep them active so i think obviously as the admiral said they needed to use that money for other things so that they can get these other ships out quickly it will create a short term gap in terms of those high end cutters can you offer us your your ideas feelings opinion that if the ten percent reduction in acquisition funding goes through is that an appropriate tradeoff for the loss of more than a thousand coast guard personnel i don't have a overall position on that i think that in terms of it's kind of curious because as part of that tradeoff you know it's not a straight tradeoff between funding between a c and i and the operation expense because the ac i phone is actually going down but to find more money in it they are pulling that out of hide so to speak in terms of those other positions those positions are really cross quite a wide spectrum of coast guard but a lot of those positions i think maybe up to seven hundred in those positions are from those high insurance cutters so you're coming down as you decommission those cutters you will have you do have a period where you don't need those people for the new cutters yet so i think part of that is is while you're losing that capability that's where those people are coming from and in july i think it was  you testified that the coast guard latest estimate on deepwater assets were something like two point seven billion more than anticipated and that this schedule would slip occurred funding guard complete the deepwater program as designed in twenty years i think current is the operative word i mean we only appropriate the money when you're at a time what is of great interest to us this you have a funding trail laid out for the n s c yes we have a more clear funding trail laid out for the f r c s the o p c just starting to ramp up this year in terms of predesigned three contract work but that's where i think the   i'm curious since you've had a chance to look into this i remain dumbfounded that the coastguard acquisition team and the navy acquisition to continue to resist combining their forces given one ten last one twenty three problems given the navy's problem with the l c s program you know we continue to have two paranoid understaffed programs both making tragic expensive mistakes and yet they resist combining their resources to hopefully one team that does is better if you given it any thought if you made a recommendations along those lines we haven't have given it some thought in terms of increased use of the coast guard to use navy expertise and this is happening with the n s c as well as some of the other coast guard assets where they had to turn to the navy and have have gone to the navy which is giving them expertise in the areas of reviewing some of the acquisition plans and particularly reviewing some of the logistical plans for bringing the first in class cutters on board in terms of the overall issue of whether they should be combined we have not looked at that sir if you seen is there anything that convinces you that the mistake that was made on the one ten last one twenty three if you see anything either administratively or legislatively that would keep us from making that mistake again and if you have to and you see something that needs to be done what recommendation would that be well i think we've made recommendations that we think will go down the path of preventing that kind of thing happening you know there's always understandable maybe pressure from congress to get this money spent out there let's get these assets  usually takes a go go slower approach let's make sure these assets are out there let's make sure they're working let's look at certain milestones met before we commit to the higher end of the initial production and full production and those kinds of things so those are some of the things that are close that and if you made any specific recommendations to this committee of how we could do this better going forward let me answer that for the record and we can send you the specific recommendations we made our report over the last couple of several million more dollars to fix what he should've done right the first time and then the coast guard takes it to a second vendor without telling the first vendor which in my opinion probably voided the contract i mean it is just and by the so it is so it's a very real scenario that never should happen the first time and again we made a mistake once we have to take the steps to keep this from happening again and i would hope in the course of this justice investigation which i'm sure you have a hand in that they're going to be some american mandation please do not be shy about forwarding them to me or this committee whatever you the most comfortable with because that's just absolutely something that we should have financial reporting noting that the d h s s office of inspector general reported a lack of documentation within the coastguard of key reporting and do you believe that that its transition to a new financial accounting system will meet with to resolve those deficiencies that is our hope we've been joined it working with the i g g is generally been doing work at the coastguard level and she has been doing work at the departmental level and i think what but i think admiral allen was ready to move ahead with certain improvements in the financial management system the department i think overruled him in terms of we need to get some department white things you know because the problems at the coast guard were also happening in d s a and it was one of the other components but it will be still some time before the department can come up with a clean financial pinioned audit opinion right thank you very much thank you