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20–872 PDF 2005

THE FISCAL YEAR 2006 BUDGET FOR

COAST GUARD AND MARITIME

TRANSPORTATION PROGRAMS, AND

H.R. 889, THE COAST GUARD AND

MARTIME TRANSPORTATION ACT OF

2005

(109–4)

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON

COAST GUARD AND MARITIME TRANSPORTATION

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON

TRANSPORTATION AND

INFRASTRUCTURE

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

MARCH 3, 2005

Printed for the use of the

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

(
COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE

DON YOUNG, Alaska, Chairman

THOMAS E. PETRI, Wisconsin, Vice-Chair

SHERWOOD L. BOEHLERT, New York

HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina

JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee

WAYNE T. GILCHREST, Maryland

JOHN L. MICA, Florida

PETER HOEKSTRA, Michigan

VERNON J. EHLERS, Michigan

SPENCER BACHUS, Alabama

STEVEN C. LATOURETTE, Ohio

SUE W. KELLY, New York

RICHARD H. BAKER, Louisiana

ROBERT W. NEY, Ohio

FRANK A. LOBIONDO, New Jersey

JERRY MORAN, Kansas

GARY G. MILLER, California

ROBIN HAYES, North Carolina

ROB SIMMONS, Connecticut

HENRY E. BROWN, JR., South Carolina

TIMOTHY V. JOHNSON, Illinois

TODD RUSSELL PLATTS, Pennsylvania

SAM GRAVES, Missouri

MARK R. KENNEDY, Minnesota

BILL SHUSTER, Pennsylvania

JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas

JIM GERLACH, Pennsylvania

MARIO DIAZ-BALART, Florida

JON C. PORTER, Nevada

TOM OSBORNE, Nebraska

KENNY MARCHANT, Texas

MICHAEL E. SODREL, Indiana

CHARLES W. DENT, Pennsylvania

TED POE, Texas

DAVID G. REICHERT, Washington

CONNIE MACK, Florida

JOHN R. ‘RANDY’ KUHL, JR., New York

LUIS G. FORTUN ̃ O, Puerto Rico

LYNN A. WESTMORELAND, Georgia

CHARLES W. BOUSTANY, JR., Louisiana

VACANCY

JAMES L. OBERSTAR, Minnesota

NICK J. RAHALL, II, West Virginia

PETER A. DEFAZIO, Oregon

JERRY F. COSTELLO, Illinois

ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of

Columbia

JERROLD NADLER, New York

ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey

CORRINE BROWN, Florida

BOB FILNER, California

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas

GENE TAYLOR, Mississippi

JUANITA MILLENDER-MCDONALD,

California

ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland

EARL BLUMENAUER, Oregon

ELLEN O. TAUSCHER, California

BILL PASCRELL, JR., New Jersey

LEONARD L. BOSWELL, Iowa

TIM HOLDEN, Pennsylvania

BRIAN BAIRD, Washington

SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada

JIM MATHESON, Utah

MICHAEL M. HONDA, California

RICK LARSEN, Washington

MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts

ANTHONY D. WEINER, New York

JULIA CARSON, Indiana

TIMOTHY H. BISHOP, New York

MICHAEL H. MICHAUD, Maine

LINCOLN DAVIS, Tennessee

BEN CHANDLER, Kentucky

BRIAN HIGGINS, New York

RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri

ALLYSON Y. SCHWARTZ, Pennsylvania

JOHN T. SALAZAR, Colorado

(II)
SUBCOMMITTEE ON COAST GUARD AND MARITIME TRANSPORTATION

FRANK A. LOBIONDO, New Jersey, Chairman

HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina

WAYNE T. GILCHREST, Maryland

PETER HOEKSTRA, Michigan

ROB SIMMONS, Connecticut

MARIO DIAZ-BALART, Florida

DAVID G. REICHERT, Washington, ViceChair

CONNIE MACK, Florida

LUIS G. FORTUN ̃ O, Puerto Rico

CHARLES W. BOUSTANY, JR., Louisiana

DON YOUNG, Alaska

(Ex Officio)

BOB FILNER, California, Ranking Democrat

CORRINE BROWN, Florida

GENE TAYLOR, Mississippi

JUANITA MILLENDER-MCDONALD,

California

MICHAEL M. HONDA, California

ANTHONY D. WEINER, New York

BRIAN HIGGINS, New York

BRIAN BAIRD, Washington

JAMES L. OBERSTAR, Minnesota

(Ex Officio)

(III)

(V)

CONTENTS

TESTIMONY

Page

Blust, Steven R., Chairman, Federal Maritime Commission ............................... 8

Collins, Admiral Thomas H., Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard ........................... 4

Moravec, Joseph, Commissioner of Public Building Service, U.S. General

Services Administration ...................................................................................... 10

Welch, Master Chief Franklin A., Master Chief Petty Officer, U.S. Coast

Guard .................................................................................................................... 6

PREPARED STATEMENTS SUBMITTED BY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS

LoBiondo, Hon. Frank A., of New Jersey .............................................................. 75

Young, Hon. Don, of Alaska .................................................................................... 89

PREPARED STATEMENTS SUBMITTED BY WITNESSES

Blust, Steven R. ....................................................................................................... 24

Collins, Admiral Thomas H .................................................................................... 31

Moravec, Joseph ....................................................................................................... 77

Welch, Master Chief Franklin A ............................................................................ 84

SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD

Collins, Admiral Thomas H., Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard:

Rescue 21 Project Summary-Deployment Schedule, chart ............................... 44

Legacy National Distress Response System vs. Rescue 21, chart .................... 45

Nationwide AIS (NAIS) Projected Deployment FY05-FY10 (FOC), chart ....... 46

Responses to questions ........................................................................................ 47

ADDITIONS TO THE RECORD

Fleet Reserve Association, statement .................................................................... 97

National Association of State Boating Law Administrators, statement ............. 94

(1)

THE FISCAL YEAR 2006 BUDGET FOR COAST

GUARD AND MARITIME TRANSPORTATION

PROGRAMS, AND H.R. 889, THE COAST

GUARD AND MARITIME TRANSPORTATION

ACT OF 2005

Thursday, March 3, 2005

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON TRANSPOR- TATION, SUBCOMMITTEE ON COAST GUARD AND MARI- TIME TRANSPORTATION, WASHINGTON, D.C.

The committee met, pursuant to other business, at 10:00 a.m. in

room 2167, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Frank LoBiondo

[chairman of the subcommittee] presiding.

Mr. LOBIONDO. Good morning. The Subcommittee on Coast

Guard and Maritime Transportation will now come to order. The

Subcommittee is meeting today to hear testimony on the fiscal year

2006 budget for the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation programs, and H.R. 889, the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2005.

We are reviewing the President’s fiscal year 2006 budget request

for the Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security’s Port

Security Grant Program and the Federal Maritime Commission. I

am pleased to see that the Administration has recognized the critical work done by both the Coast Guard and the Federal Maritime

Commission and is requesting increases in funding for both of

these organizations in fiscal year 2006.

Nevertheless, the Subcommittee has concerns with some areas of

the Coast Guard budget that finds the amount requested for port

security grants to be inadequate to meet our maritime security

needs. The Administration has requested $8.1 billion for the Coast

Guard in fiscal year 2006. That is an increase of $571 million or

approximately 8 percent more than the amount appropriated for

fiscal year 2005.

This increase is divided between operating expenses and capital

improvements. Under capital improvements, the Administration’s

request of $242 million is an increase for the Deepwater Program.

While it is nice to see that we are finally making some progress,

it is disappointing that this increase is still less than the amount

needed to get the program back onto its original 20-year schedule.

I am also very frustrated that we have yet to be provided with

the program’s re-baselined implementation plan. The plan provides

the blueprint for changes in asset capabilities to reflect the post9/11 environment. Before the Subcommittee can move forward with

its annual authorization for the service, we need to be provided
2

with this information. It is imperative that we have a complete understanding of what we are buying.

I urge the Service, the Department and the Office of Management and Budget to work out their issues with the plan and get

it to Congress as soon as possible. In the absence of the new implementation plan, the Committee and the Subcommittee leadership

have introduced legislation to authorize $1.1 billion for Deepwater

acquisition. We believe that this level would allow the program to

be completed in 15 years.

We understand that number may change once we see the plan.

Completing Deepwater in less than 20 years is critically important

if the Coast Guard is expected to successfully carry out its missions. These aging assets are suffering operational failures at an

alarming rate and putting the lives of their crews and the public

they serve in grave danger. Accelerating the replacement of legacy

assets will enhance mission performance and reduce rapidly escalating operational and maintenance costs.

The homeland security mission of the Coast Guard continues its

post-September 11 growth. This year, the service should complete

the planning processes required under the Maritime Transportation Security Act and move forward with full implementation of

the Act. The Subcommittee is still concerned that we are focusing

on protecting our shores once vessels are here, rather than pushing

out our oversight as far as possible and preventing terrorists and

any dangerous materials in their possession from reaching our

shores. Prevention is always easier and safer than response.

Despite the particular attention placed on the Coast Guard’s

homeland security-related missions in recent years, the service continues to perform at a much broader range of responsibilities. In

the past three months, much media attention has been focused on

the Coast Guard’s response to oil spills in the Delaware River and

in Alaska. In Alaska, the service successfully rescued at great personal risk, 20 of 26 members of a crew of a vessel drifting without

power in the Bering Sea. The Coast Guard then immediately began

an oil spill response once the vessel broke apart. In the Delaware

River, the Coast Guard responded to the environmental damage

from a spill when the hull of the Athos I was breached by an uncharted submerged object or objects. We are still not sure which.

The subcommittee will be looking further in to the lessons we

have learned from these spills and will pursue legislative remedies

later this spring. These spills are a reminder that the Coast

Guard’s traditional missions must remain priorities for the service.

The strength of America’s commerce relies on waterborne trade and

the Coast Guard protects that trade not only from terrorism, but

also from other threats. We need to make sure these programs also

receive the attention that they deserve in the budget.

Of particular concern is the request to transfer Research and Development Test and Evaluation funds from the Coast Guard to the

Science and Technology Directorate of the Department of Homeland Security. Congress rejected this flawed proposal last year, and

this Subcommittee will lead the effort to do so again this year. We

were assured initially that we would not have to face this kind of

a challenge when the Coast Guard came under Homeland Security,
3

but unfortunately we have to deal with it once again and we will

be very vigorous in pursuit of this.

The Maritime Transportation Security Act authorizes grants to help ports improve security. More than $735 million has been appropriated over the last four years under this provision. The Administration proposes a single multi-sector grant program for fiscal

year 2006. I am concerned that such a program would pay little attention to the maritime needs. I hope we can protect funding for

the Port Security Grant Program at no less than the fiscal year

2005 appropriated level of $150 million. I look forward to an explanation of the effects this proposal would have on implementing the

port and facilities security plans called for under the Maritime

Transportation Security Act.

We will also hear this morning from the General Services Administration about the proposed move of the Coast Guard’s headquarters to property formerly used by St. Elizabeths Hospital. I

also look forward to learning more about this proposal.

Finally, the President’s fiscal year 2006 budget for the Federal Maritime Commission proposes $20.5 million, an increase of $1

million. This increase will allow the Commission to continue vigilant enforcement of foreign shipping rules and regulations to protect U.S. shipping concerns.

I want to thank the witnesses for coming this morning. We look

forward to your testimony. Now, I would ask Mr. Filner for any

opening statement.

Mr. FILNER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I look forward to working

with you and the other members of the committee this year in this

session of Congress. We have the important role, now, of looking

over the budget for the Coast Guard.

Of course, the President’s proposed budget is 8 percent higher

than we appropriated last year. I wish he did equally well in other

parts of the budget, but that is not a discussion here today. You

have, I think, recommended increased funding for the Deepwater

Acquisition Program. It may not be enough to accelerate the program as much as we have expressed in the past, and I am especially concerned that the Administration has not given to the Congress the so-called re-baselining of the Deepwater Program so that

Congress will understand what changes need to be made to that

program in the post-9/11 world. As it stands, it looks to us like we

are buying new vessels and aircraft without a proper consideration

of what is needed to meet the new challenges.

Let me just mention a couple of other things which I have mentioned to the Admiral over time in personal conversations, and I

appreciate the time, Admiral, you have given to us to explain the

Coast Guard’s budget and the programs.

I have talked over the last couple of years about the HITRON

helicopter. That is the fast-moving helicopters that could deal with

drug interdiction. We have I guess not made the advances that I

thought we should in terms of having more of those HITRON helicopters. I represent, of course, San Diego and we have through

South America and the sea right off our coast many drug runners.

The HITRON helicopters would be a great benefit to us. We know

they have interdicted, in fact, up until this time $6 billion worth

of drugs, so we know how effective they are. I still am not sure why
4

we have not leased any additional ones to deal with this threat on

the West Coast.

Chairman LoBiondo and Chairman Young of the Appropriations Committee last year agreed that we put in $39 million in the Coast

Guard and Maritime Transportation Act authorization to lease that

additional squadron. Of course, it has not occurred.

Another issue that I look at, Admiral, is that when you gave us

the Budget in Brief with the pie charts here, we appropriated in

fiscal year 2005 $2.48 billion for non-homeland security missions.

The Coast Guard spent $2.05 billion. That is, over $430 million was

put in the non-homeland security. It was shortchanged, perhaps

the search and rescue, marine safety, aids to navigation kind of

programs. Of course, we have the benefit up here of saying you are

not spending enough on homeland security, and then if you spent

more, we say you have not spent enough on non-homeland security,

but that is our privilege, I guess, as Congress members. But I do

not think Congress intended when we enacted the Homeland Security Act that there should be a decrease in the non-homeland or

traditional missions of the Coast Guard. So I hope you may speak

to that, too.

So Mr. Chairman, thank you for your leadership on these issues.

I look forward to working with you.

Mr. LOBIONDO. Okay, thank you, Mr. Filner.

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome our new members that are here today. We have some new faces and we are

thrilled that they are with us. We believe they can help us in what

we are trying to do with authorization and oversight. On our side

of the aisle, we have four new members to our Subcommittee. We

have Vice Chairman Dave Reichert from the State of Washington.

Thanks for being with us. We have Connie Mack from the great

State of Florida. We have Louis Fortuno, who is on his way. Okay.

And we also have Charles Boustany from the State of Louisiana.

Mr. Filner, do you want to introduce?

Mr. FILNER. They have all given me their proxies.

Mr. LOBIONDO. Okay.

Mr. FILNER. We have only one true freshman on our committee,

Congressman Higgins from upstate New York. We have two red

shirt freshmen who are not true freshmen, but are new to this committee. That is Congressman Weiner of New York City and Congressman Honda from San Jose, California.

Mr. LOBIONDO. Okay.

We will welcome our panel now. We have Admiral Collins, Commandant of the United States Coast Guard. We thank you for joining us again. We also have Master Chief Franklin A. Welsh, Master Chief Petty Officer of the United States Coast Guard. We have

the Honorable Steven R. Blust, who is the Chairman of the Federal

Maritime Commission. And we have Mr. Joseph Moravec, who is

the Commissioner of Public Building Service for the U.S. General

Services Administration.

Admiral Collins, please start off.

STATEMENT OF ADMIRAL THOMAS H. COLLINS,

COMMANDANT, UNITED STATES COAST GUARD

Admiral COLLINS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
5

Good afternoon. It is a pleasure to be with you and distinguished

members of the committee. Thanks for the invitation to be with you

today to discuss issues that are near and dear to our heart, and

that is the 2006 budget request. From our view, it is a great budget

and will have a positive impact on how the Coast Guard delivers

services across America for all our missions.

Since 9/11, we have made great progress in securing America’s

waterways and making America’s waterways safe at the same

time. There is absolutely no doubt that there is a lot of work that

remains, but there is also no doubt that we have improved maritime homeland security every day. That in large measure goes to

the strong policy and budgetary support of the Administration and

Congress, and very importantly, this committee. We appreciate

that support.

The Coast Guard 2006 budget continues our progress, proposing

discretionary budget authority of $6.9 billion. This budget provides

the necessary resources to continue recapitalizing, as you noted,

Mr. Chairman, the Coast Guard’s aging cutters, boats, aircraft and

supporting infrastructure, while building up maritime safety and

security capabilities essential to meeting present and future demands.

The overarching goal here is to secure America’s borders by managing and ultimately reducing risk. It is a very risk-based focus

that we take, risk in the maritime domain. Doing so requires that

we identify and intercept threats well before they reach our shores

by conducting a layered, multi-agency security operation, while

strengthening the security posture of our strategic economic and

military ports. As we reduce maritime risk we continually balance,

and we area always involved in this balance equation of each of the

Coast Guard missions in how we deploy assets so there is no degradation in the service that America expects across our missions.

The 2006 budget will positively impact our ability to deliver

these type of services, both safety and security, to America. We

have three priorities as reflected in the Budget in Brief document:

recapitalizing the Coast Guard, primarily through the Deepwater

Program, but there are other obviously capital initiatives within

this budget; implementing or to help implement maritime security

for homeland security; and enhancing mission performance across

the board.

Obviously, the central feature, as you mentioned and underscored, Mr. Chairman, is Deepwater. It not only serves to recapitalize the Coast Guard, it is the foundation for and necessary precursor to implementing the maritime strategy for homeland security

and enhancing our mission performance across the board.

I would be remiss if I failed to acknowledge the outstanding service provided by extremely dedicated Coast Guard work force, a

total team of uniformed active duty, reserve, auxiliary personnel,

dedicated civilian employees, and I would also add talented contractors, to help us do our job.

My written statement that you have addresses the Coast Guard’s

many accomplishments of last year. I think from my perspective,

they are impressive. Looking at those accomplishments, it is clear

that Coast Guard men and women continue to rise to the challenge
6

and deliver results across both homeland security and non-homeland security missions.

Let me just give you up-to-date examples in addition to that annual total that is in the written statement. The events over the last

four days of the past week give a great snapshot of the multi-mission Coast Guard at work. In 152 cases in those four days, our men

and women saved 87 lives in distress. Protecting our homeland on

both East Coast and the West Coast in 12 different cases, they

interdicted a total of 308 migrants from four different countries

who were attempting to enter this country illegally.

In another hand, they investigated a Greek tanker carrying over

23 million gallons of crude oil which ran aground in the lower Mississippi. They detained four foreign-flag vessels for failing to comply with the Maritime Transportation Security Act. In two separate

cases in the Caribbean, they interdicted more than 6,000 pounds

of cocaine. That was just this past week in four days. It is typical

of the type of across-the-board, multi-mission service that our

Coast Guard is delivering to this Nation.

Obviously, Coast Guard men and women are unwavering in their

commitment to our service and our country. We still have six patrol

boats, as you know, over in the Arabian Gulf providing service

there. We ensure that they are properly compensated and that they

develop both professionally and personally. That goal is my highest

priority, my very highest priority. The budget before you is about

placing the right tools, the right equipment, the right policy in the

hands of our dedicated men and women. They have shown time

and time again that when we do put the right equipment, right policy in their hands, they know just what to do with it.

With your continued support, I am confident that we will be successful with our men and women, with our missions, and in service

to America, and deliver the robust maritime safety and security

America expects and that America deserves.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to testify. I would

be happy to answer any questions you have at the appropriate

time. Thank you.

Mr. LOBIONDO. Thank you, Admiral.

Master Chief, welcome.

STATEMENT OF MASTER CHIEF FRANKLIN A. WELCH, MASTER

CHIEF PETTY OFFICER, UNITED STATES COAST GUARD

Master Chief WELCH. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to present my views in support of the service members and

their families that I am very honored to represent.

I am very proud of the national contributions made by our work

force, and with your support we have benefitted greatly from the

reductions made between military and private sector pay gaps of

years past. The cumulative positive impact of military pay raises,

coupled with significant reductions of housing expenses, has been

both timely, as well as well deserved.

Despite increased operational tempos experienced by all components of our work force, our recruiting and retention continue to remain impressive. In fiscal year 2004, we slightly exceeded our active duty recruiting mission, while making significant progress to
7

further diversify our work force. Minority accessions totaled 36 percent of our overall recruiting efforts, representing an 11 percent increase from fiscal year 2003. Our reserve accessions were also

equally successful.

Retention rates also remain extremely high. The current retention rate within the enlisted work force is 89.6 percent, with 1.2

percent of those accessing to our officer corps. While there are

many factors contributing to our high retention, I view our successes as being key and measurable results of our Commandant’s

commitment to our people.

We have invested to nationally advertise and promote the roles

and missions of the Coast Guard and we have made great strides

in providing our people with enhanced professional development

opportunities. Recent accomplishments include the establishment

of a senior enlisted command master chief course and the introduction of a formal enlisted professional military education program,

increased throughput of our leadership and management school,

the establishment of a comprehensive unit leadership development

program, and continued aggressive support of tuition assistance

funding. We consider these human capital investments key to the

continued development of our work force and essential for us to remain attractive to those contemplating military service.

We also remain ever mindful of the quality of life needs of our

people. Housing, for example, remains a chief concern of our service

members and their families. While BAH reform has been successful

in absorbing housing costs incurred by our people who reside in the

private sector, we cannot claim total housing success until we can

provide our people who reside in government-owned quarters with

the same desirable and well maintained housing found on the economy. To that end, we have begun privatization in Hawaii and have

privatization feasibility studies underway in Alaska, to be followed

by Cape May, New Jersey.

Child care is also an expensive and problematic issue for our

service members with children. High child care costs impact our

work force throughout all geographical areas, but particularly those

assigned to location in accessible to Coast Guard or Department of

Defense child care facilities. We have a child care study ongoing to

assess the needs of our work force and to identify areas in which

we may make appropriate interventions.

Medical and dental care concerns remain widespread. The majority of our concerns are due to the fact that most of our personnel

are assigned well beyond the bounds of military treatment facility

catchment areas, thereby forcing our members to seek providers

which are becoming increasingly difficult to secure. I believe that

the principal contributing factor to limited provider access is that

of provider dissatisfaction with health care reimbursement rates.

We continue to work with the Department of Defense to resolve

these challenges, and we look forward to the implementation of the

new TRICARE contract which we hope will rectify some of the

shortcomings experienced with TRICARE in the past.

In addition to quality of life concerns, we also remain committed

to the needs of our people in the workplace, specifically and most

critically, our responsibility to provide our service members with

safe, reliable and effective cutters and aircraft from which to oper-
8

ate. As I have testified before, our front line fleet of cutters continues to deteriorate, resulting in significantly degraded readiness capabilities and equally degraded crew morale. Fleet readiness issues

are having an adverse impact on our presence in the maritime domain and are causing our good men and women to work even harder to overcome the deficiencies associated with our fleet.

In fact, if it were not for the ingenuity, the professionalism, and

the sacrifices made of our crews, our cutter fleet simply would not

be in service today. The well-predicted demise of our major cutter

fleet can no longer be overcome at the expense of our people,

though we are very grateful for your historical support and understanding of the urgency of need for our Deepwater recapitalization

initiative.

In conclusion, your continued support of our efforts to transform

the United States Coast Guard is gratefully appreciated. We thank

you all for your service, and I thank you for the opportunity to

speak with you today. I look forward to answering any questions

that you may have, sir.

Mr. LoBiondo. Master Chief, thank you very much.

A little bit of housekeeping. We have been notified that around

1:00 p.m., we are going to enter into a series of votes that could

last up to one hour. So with that in mind, we will proceed to the

next two members on our panel, and for the committee members

when we get to the questions, try to think if you can narrow it

down a little bit. Remember, that we can always submit questions

in writing, so if you have something burning that you want to

know about that we are not going to have time for, then we will

take a pulse when the vote comes about whether we continue or

come back or not.

So Chairman Blust, thank you for being here.

STATEMENT OF STEVEN R. BLUST, CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL

MARITIME COMMISSION

Mr. Blust. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of this Subcommittee. It is a

pleasure to appear before you today to present the President’s fiscal year 2006 budget for the Federal Maritime Commission.

With me today I have two of my fellow commissioners: Commissioner Paul Anderson and Commissioner Hal Creel, and a number

of our staff members who represent our whole organization and

have done a great job during this last year.

The President’s budget for the commission provides for

$20,499,000 for fiscal year 2006. This represents an increase of 6

percent or just over $1 million over fiscal year 2005 appropriations.

This amount will allow us to continue to perform our vital statutory functions and meet the responsibilities Congress has entrusted

to the agency.

I would like to highlight for you some of the commission’s significant accomplishments of the last year. I am pleased to advise that

on January 19 of this year, non-vessel operating common carriers,

NVOs, are now permitted to enter into confidential arrangements

with their shipper customers detailing the terms and conditions of

their international ocean transportation. As you know, the Shipping Act permits ocean common carriers, or VOCCs, to enter into
9

service contracts with one or more of their shipper customers, and

the Ocean Reform Act of 1998 provides that these contracts are

filed confidentially with the commission.

While NVOs may enter into service contracts and shippers with

ocean carriers, the Act does not grant the NVOs the right to offer

service contracts in their capacity as carriers. As you might recall

from last year’s hearing, the commission had received eight petitions from seven individual NVOs and one trade association requesting relief from this disparity. We received at the commission

hundreds of comments from the industry, as well as Congress. The

petitions asked for a range of solutions, and it also raised the issue

of whether the commission had the statutory authority to grant the

relief that they were requesting.

During the process last fall, several of the petitioners, along with

the Transportation Intermediary Association and the National Industrial Transportation League, filed a joint proposal with the commission suggesting a unified approach to this issue which recognized the potential limitations that the commission had. After assessing the proposal, the commission issued a proposed rule to

grant the relief the industry was seeking within the parameters of

the Shipping Act. In order to grant an exemption from the requirements of the Shipping Act, the commission found that it did not result in a substantial reduction in competition or be detrimental to

commerce.

Based on these criteria, the proposed rule set forth in a conditional exemption from Sections 8 and 10 of the Shipping Act was

put forth. After receiving comments from the industry, minor modifications were made to the proposed rulemaking and a final rule

became effective in January. I am pleased to report that we have

had a number of the NVOs take advantage of this new non-vessel

service arrangement approach that they now have available. We

have, I believe, over 250 NVOs who have signed up to take advantage of this new program. It has allowed parity and additional competitive activity within the marketplace, so it is a very good solution to a situation that had been out there for a number of years

and is being well received and taken advantage of by the industry.

Also in January, the commission implemented new regulations

governing agreements among ocean common carriers and marine

terminal operators. The new rules reduce the burden and cost of

complying with the agreement filing requirements of the Shipping

Act, while ensuring that the commission receives the information

necessary for effective oversight. The rules provide the shipping industry with certainty as to the FMC requirements, continued flexibility in commercial relationships, and sufficient confidentiality for

sensitive commercial information.

The provisions governing modifications and exemptions have

been clarified, including a new exemption for low market share

agreements among ocean common carriers that do not contain pricing or capacity rationalization authority. It has provided flexibility

and limited reduced requirements on their part, while still allowing

us to maintain sufficient oversight.

Finally, with respect to China, last year when I was here I advised you that there were several pending proceedings concerning

China and that the Department of Transportation Maritime Ad-
10

ministration and the Chinese Ministry of Communications had

signed a bilateral agreement resolving a number of the issues that

we had identified. Subsequent to last year’s hearing, in April the

bilateral agreement went into effect through the exchange of diplomatic notes. After the implementation, the commission requested

comments from the industry to determine whether the bilateral

agreement had met their needs and had satisfied their concerns. I

am pleased to report that the feedback we have received from the

industry, both from the vessel operators and the non-vessel operators has been very positive and what was agreed to in the agreement is being upheld. Both the carriers and the non-vessel operators are moving forward with opening their branch offices and taking over arrangements and taking advantage of the additional

bonding capabilities that were put forth.

In conclusion, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to

testify before the committee today. I would be happy to answer any

questions that you may have.

Thank you.

Mr. LOBIONDO. Thank you.

Commissioner Moravec, thank you for being here.

STATEMENT OF JOSEPH MORAVEC, COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC BUILDING SERVICE, U.S. GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

Mr. MORAVEC. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of

the Subcommittee. I am Joe Moravec. I am the Commissioner of

Public Buildings Service at the General Services Administration.

I am pleased to be here today to discuss the Administration’s

plan to consolidate elements of the U.S. Coast Guard on the West

Campus of the former St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Southeast Washington, D.C. My prepared statement has been submitted for the

record and should be before you. If you will allow me, I will briefly

summarize its salient points and hopefully shed light on how the

plan developed, how it fits into our overall plans for meeting the

housing needs of our Federal agency customers in the National

Capital Region, and what some of the challenges are to its successful implementation.

GSA became the West Campus’s landholding agency of record in

December of last year. We recognize that the West Campus’s 182

acres was unique. It is the last parcel of Federally owned land in

the District, with a capacity to house large agencies with high-level

security requirements. As the Government’s landlord, GSA has

identified a potential need for about nine million square feet of

such space over the next decade. Just as a matter of fact, we turn

over about five or six million square feet of Federal leases in the

National Capital Region every year. Our inventory is so large here,

so there is no question of continuing need.

The West Campus, given its size and its topography and its acres

of open green space, providing secure stand-off distances from surrounding development, provides us with an unparalleled opportunity to build a secure, highly functional state-of-the-art Federal

campus facility at comparatively low cost within the District of Columbia, the seat of Government, near Capitol Hill and the central

business district. It provides GSA with the opportunity to fulfill our
11

mission of providing a superior workplace for the Federal workers

and superior value for the American taxpayer.

Of our customer agencies in need, the Coast Guard was deemed

a particularly good fit, in fact the best fit for the West Campus,

given Coast Guard’s need for about one million square feet of workspace, which they in some cases are in desperate need of, given the

timing of their expiring leases, given their present inadequate,

functionally obsolescent facilities, especially at Transpoint, which is

their main building in Southeast Washington, their present fragmented configuration in several buildings, which is diminishing

operational efficiency, and especially given the urgency occasioned

by their high-priority national security mission, and related to this,

their highest level installation security criteria.

Also especially given the long-term headquarters nature of the

proposed facility for which there is no obvious private sector equivalent, the Coast Guard emerged as the ideal candidate to begin the

renaissance that we envision will take place over the next decade

at St. Elizabeth’s West Campus.

We will be able to meet their exacting state-of-the-art specifications that we feel, based on our cost-benefit analysis, represents a

clear best value for the American taxpayer, over an $80 million

present-value difference between the cost of leasing space for 30

years for the Coast Guard.

Their requirement gives us an opportunity to design and build a

distinctive, world-class hundred-year headquarters facility, while at

the same time preserving and enhancing a unique national historic

landmark. It also enables us to be, as we say, a good neighbor to

the District of Columbia. Coast Guard will anchor with about 4,000

jobs, ultimately growing to over 10,000 Federal jobs as we build out

the balance of the campus and economic revitalization of the Anacostia area, which is entirely supportive of the city’s economic development plans.

We plan to work closely with the Coast Guard to continue to develop and refine their program of requirements, which will translate into building blueprints and ultimately into bricks and mortar

as part of an overall campus Master Plan that will invite input

from the city, the historic preservation community, and the surrounding neighbors. We hope to break ground in fiscal year 2007

and begin moving the Coast Guard in in fiscal year 2010, and assuming adequate funding, complete the campus in the 2014 time

frame.

We have a number of challenges. The buildings and grounds on

the West Campus have not been used in years and have been

somewhat neglected. They have fallen into a state of disrepair.

There is much deferred maintenance on the site. The infrastructure, which is to say the roadways and sidewalks and the sewer

water utility conduits, lighting, signage, and landscaping all need

extensive work to support occupancy by the Coast Guard.

Also, the historic landmark status of the property will require

special handling. Access to the site, both access to the two green

line Metro stations to the north and south of the site, and vehicular

access off of I-295 and the Suitland Parkway will require some

careful consideration.
12

However, in summary, we believe that the West Campus provides the best, most cost-efficient long-term solution for the Coast

Guard and other high-security profile agencies that need to stay

near the seat of Government.

I would be pleased, of course, to answer, Mr. Chairman, whatever questions you or other members of the Subcommittee may

have.

Thank you.

Mr. LOBIONDO. Thank you, Commissioner, very much.

In consultation with Mr. Filner, we are going to try to wind up

before we have votes so we do not detain the panel for an unnecessary amount of time. So with that in mind, I will ask the committee members to please be mindful of colleagues who would like to

ask questions.

We will start off with you, Mr. Filner.

Mr. FILNER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Bienvienidos [Greeting given in native tongue]. Thank you to all

of you for being here. Admiral, we have discussed an issue for a

long time in public and in private. We have two persistent and

stubborn people here, so I will keep trying. I do not give up.

As you know, we have seen the capability of the so-called

HITRON helicopter for drug interdiction. We authorized money for

you to have another fleet and you did not take it. And now we are

in the process, I take it, of re-engining these HH-65s. The Chairman and I had asked for basically data which would justify on a

cost-effective basis that decision. I think we just got it and we have

not had a chance to really read it yet.

But it seems to me, still, that the data and the advice that you

had as this decision was being made of re-engining the HH-65s

rather than going out with a whole new generation of helicopters,

as I read the ICGS report, it makes the recommendation that the

dollar differential cost a little more for new ones, was more than

made up for by an increase in capability. I was just wondering why

you rejected that recommendation.

Admiral COLLINS. I would be glad to answer that one, sir. We

have supplied you with data on the H-65 and we have a report

coming to you within a matter of a week or so, hopefully, as we

clear it through the Administration, that details the analysis associated with a HITRON squadron in Jacksonville, a HITRON squadron on the West Coast, or one in Jacksonville and the cost-benefit

of that. That is on its way, and I think you will see the numbers

are pretty convincing.

The issue at hand is on the 65, we had a fleet of 90-some helicopters, 84 operational, 11 support helicopters that had an engine

that was beyond its day. It was not safe. It was not reliable. It was

marginally safe, and we had to operate on the margins and we had

to restrict operations. We have a force with a fleet that does the

bulk of the Coast Guard’s job, and we had an engine that did not

service our men and women or the people that they rescued. They

had to be changed. That was the IG, the GAO, all looking at it,

said that was the absolute right decision for us to make.

We had an existing fleet, the engine was not performing, it had

to be replaced. We did not have the luxury of waiting for a six-or

seven-or eight-year time frame to buy a new system. That is what
13

it cost, at least that time frame, to define the requirement, get the

performance specification, go through all the major systems acquisition, and get the thing awarded. We are looking at that way down

the pike. It was a now issue that had to be resolved. And so we

made the right decision and I think, again, most of the audits say

that it was the right decision. So now we have a helicopter, we are investing over $350 million

in, that is structurally very, very sound helicopter. We have already received the first two re-engined helicopters that are magnificent in performance, great thumbs up from all our operators.

We are making this investment, let’s get the return on investment

for the taxpayer out of it. That is the basic answer there. We were

caught up in a time thing and had to make the right decision. I

think we made the right one.

Mr. FILNER. Again, we have discussed this before. I am not sure

that the time frame is exactly as you laid out, but we have put in

a French engine in a French helicopter. There are no American engines that do this job?

Admiral COLLINS. We of course went out with the solicitation, an

invitation for information, request for information. That was the

best fit and the best value.

Mr. FILNER. You went out with a public competition on that?

Admiral COLLINS. We went through

Mr. FILNER. You went to the French manufacturer.

Admiral COLLINS. No, we went to our Deepwater contractor, because this is a Deepwater asset. It has to be integrated in the

Deepwater system now and into the future. It made great sense to

use that system as integrated. That is what we are paying for them

to do is integrate.

Mr. FILNER. I understand that. It looked to me that the people

who have some vested interest in that decision made the recommendation and there was not really a public competition over

that. We are going to spend $500 million in the re-engining versus

buying in a full transparent competition of maybe a new generation. Something does not make sense still with me.

We have tried. We have talked about this for a while. We do not

have time, giving respect to my colleagues, to really go over this.

I still think, Mr. Chairman, something is fishy about this, if I can

use that metaphor. We are spending a lot of money and a lot of

time re-engining helicopters. There are available now a newer generation. There was not an open competition as it were, recommendations down the line seemed to recommend something else.

So I still am going to look further into this with your permission

and help, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you.

Mr. LOBIONDO. Thank you, Mr. Filner.

Mr. Simmons?

Mr. SIMMONS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you gentlemen for your testimony.

Admiral, it is great to see you. I drive by the Coast Guard Academy almost every day that I am in the district, and it looks great.

I cannot wait for the renovations on Chase Hall. It always looks

good on the outside, but it needs work on the inside. I commend

you on that.
14

Two issues: one, R&D money. When we transferred the Coast

Guard to the Department of Homeland Security, the understanding

was it would be transferred intact. A couple of years ago, or at

least in the last Congress, R&D money was taken out of Coast

Guard line-item budget and placed in Department of Homeland Security with the idea that the R&D Center would compete for those

dollars. This subcommittee and the T&I Committee felt that that

violated that agreement and we restored those dollars back into the

Coast Guard.

Now, the Administration has submitted once again where the

Coast Guard R&D is zeroed out with the idea that we compete. In

an effort to cover my bases, Mr. Chairman, I have gotten on the

Homeland Security Committee so I can watch this issue from both

sides. Kind of like watching tennis, and bouncing back and forth.

Mr. LOBIONDO. Well, we considered it solved then, if you are on

that committee.

[Laughter.]

Mr. SIMMONS. Well, I will be your lead man because I believe

those dollars ought to go to Coast Guard. Do you have a comment

to make on that issue?

Admiral COLLINS. I think the intent here within the Administration is to try to build a very cohesive, synergistic, coordinated approach to R&D within the Department of Homeland Security. Certainly, that is the mission of the Under Secretary for Science and

Technology, is that over-arching kind of coordination, let’s make

sure we are all rowing in the same direction with R&D. I think the

intent is right there.

From our perspective, I have absolutely no anxiety level that we would not get roughly $24 million on a reimbursable basis from

them. We are in the process of developing a memorandum of agreement between us that will talk about that. It prescribes certain

amounts of that money that would be allocated for homeland security and non-homeland security-type activity. So I really have very,

very low anxiety that we would run into trouble.

Having said that, we can work this either way that the committee feels is appropriate. The one little snag is the money that we

get from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. Right now, under a departmental budget for R&D that gets reimbursed to us, that roughly I think it is $3.5 million that is sourced from that, cannot be

sourced from the department. So that is one wrinkle in this new

arrangement.

Mr. SIMMONS. Which leads me, Admiral, to believe that what we

should do is have a line item for Coast Guard R&D and put it in

for Coast Guard R&D and then let the R&D Center compete with

DHS for those other projects. In other words, we need to look at

it in that fashion.

Admiral COLLINS. Sir, I would not argue with you one bit on

that.

Mr. SIMMONS. Great. In conclusion, and I will let my other colleagues speak, I agree completely with Mr. Filner in his comments.

Pratt & Whitney had an engine available. Pratt & Whitney is obviously a U.S. company and not a French company. I guess my feeling is that when those Pratt & Whitney workers work on an engine

for a Coast Guard helicopter, they are thinking of the young men
15

and young women that are on that bird and they want them to be

safe. They want them to be safe in their mission. They want them

to come home safe because those young men and women are Americans. It is their friends’ and neighbors’ children. I am not sure that

the folks over in France working on that engine have the same feeling about it. So I concur with Mr. Filner on that subject and I

would be happy to join him in looking into that issue further.

I yield back, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. LOBIONDO. Okay. These votes came up a little bit sooner

than we thought. We are going to go to Mr. Taylor next, but I am

going to ask the committee how many members want to come back

after votes, or can come back, if we should hold the panel.

Mr. TAYLOR. Mr. Chairman, I will come back. If you do not mind,

I would prefer to ask my questions when we come back.

Mr. LOBIONDO. For the panel then, I apologize, but we are going

to ask you to come back. We will break for the votes and we will

be back as soon as we can. We will stand in recess for the votes.

Thank you.

[Recess.]

Mr. MACK. [Presiding] The committee is now back in session. We

left off with questions. I believe Mr. Taylor, if you are ready?

Mr. TAYLOR. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I want to thank you for sticking around. I know it has been a

long day for you.

Two things I would like to ask you. One is I know you have a

very ambitious shipbuilding plan in place, and I am sure from past

experience know that you need the ships. The recent announcement by the Navy of the possibility and quite possibly probability

of reducing the buy on the DDX program and the possibility of

going to a single-source program could, if enacted, absolutely wreak

havoc on the Nation’s maritime shipbuilding industrial base.

My question is, given that very real possibility, has the Coast

Guard given much thought to the possibility of coming before this

committee or coming before the appropriators and saying, we can

help preserve that industrial base during this lull caused by the

delay of the DDX, the reduction of the DDX, by expediting the purchase and building of some ships that I know I need anyway.

Chances are if they are built in more of a series, that there will

be some economies of scale that you might not have had otherwise.

A, have you looked at that? I know it is a rather recent phenomena

coming out of the Secretary of the Navy’s office, but it does indeed

create an opportunity for you. That would be question number one.

The second question is, we have been working with your office,

unfortunately with varying degrees of lack of success, on trying to

have a navigation project on the Pearl River in Mississippi included in the Truman Hobbs Program. One of the hurdles that we

are looking at, and it is a fair observation on the part of the Coast

Guard, as they say, under existing law, we do not really need to

replace this swing bridge which is the shortest path to the sea

through an authorized channel. Well, there is an alternative that

although it is not an authorized channel, you do have an alternative, and therefore Truman Hobbs really does not apply.

Two things come to mind. The alternative is through an extremely shallow lake that requires periodic dredging by the Corps
16

at enormous expense. The alternative I would guess the Corps

could put a pencil to and would show that over the years will cost

us a heck of a lot longer to maintain that unauthorized channel

than to maintain the channel which is the quickest and shortest

path to the sea.

So what I am asking for, and would hope that you would consider, is a willingness on your part or on the part of the Coast

Guard to consider some changes to the Truman Hobbs Act that

would take into account all of the factors, including environmental,

including long-term dredging at the citizens’ expense by the Corps

of Engineers, environmental impacts, quickest and safest route to

the sea. I think it has been some time since that Act has been

amended. I would just ask if you would be willing to work with us

on that. I see a nod on that one. I will take that as a yes.

On the first one, your thoughts on whether or not we should try

to alleviate some of the problems that could be caused by the small

buy on the DDX by expediting the delivery of the ships that we

know you need.

Admiral COLLINS. Of course, we do have an ambitious program,

as you have stated. We are subject to the same budget constraints

and downward pressures that the Department of Defense is, maybe

more so, in our program. I feel very, very fortunate to have the

Deepwater Program submitted at the level it was in the 2006 budget that shows, given on a relative basis, what is happening across

the national budget, the Federal budget, pretty sound support from

the Department of Homeland Security and the President and OMB

on our program.

What we can do in the out-years is a function of what we can

fit in, obviously, the Federal budget in terms of capacity. A year

or so ago that we submitted to Congress, I think it was the first

report submitted by the new department as a matter of fact, several years ago, a report to Congress on the ability of Deepwater to

be executed in a more rapid way, more compressed way, and did

the Nation have the shipbuilding capacity to do it, and was it a return on investment thing that made sense.

We submitted that report over and said the answer to the first

question is yes, the shipbuilding industry in the United States was

talented and had the capacity to do it. And second, that it made

sense from getting a capability sooner that this Nation needed, you

know, the capability that Deepwater builds give us, which is a network-centric, much more capable, and particularly C4-ISR business.

So that report is up here on the Hill, and I think kind of speaks

for itself on what we could do. Right now, how fast and aggressive

we can be with Deepwater is a function of the over-arching priorities in the Federal Government. I think for any agency in this government over the next couple of years it is going to be a challenging budget time.

So again, to get $966 million in it, I am absolutely thrilled that

we are at that level. I think, of course a lot of the shipbuilding is

going to happen down in the beautiful State of Mississippi in

Pascagoula.

Mr. TAYLOR. What a coincidence.
17

Admiral COLLINS. What a coincidence. So we are thrilled with

that and we have the keel being laid on the national security cutter

next month, the first one. We have the middle cutter being designed and that is robustly funded within the 2006 budget to get

that designed and to get that production going, and ultimately

build 25 of those, 25 to 28 depending on the ultimate plan.

So I think we are doing pretty good with that. Clearly, Deepwater does offer an opportunity to level out the ups and downs of

the production curve. As you know, when you have more downs

than ups, you pay more and get less. That is not a pejorative statement on any of the shipbuilders, but the burdened overhead rate

goes up. When you have less production, the head-rate goes up. So

you pay more and you get less. So it is to the advantage of the taxpayers, the advantage of the Federal Government, it is the advantage to the people that are building ships to try to dampen out

those big swings. Deepwater does offer an opportunity to do that.

Mr. TAYLOR. To what extent, Mr. Chairman, if you do not mind,

to what extent, I deeply regret that there is going to be another

round of base closure. Based on what I am seeing with the B-22,the

F-22, the littoral combat ship, the DDX and the C-130J, which are

all being either reduced or cancelled, I just have a gut feeling this

is going to be the mother of all BRACs. I think it is going to end

up being somewhere between one out of three and one out of four

bases in America.

To what extent is the Coast Guard involved as some of these

bases, and there are going to be some nice bases closed, I regret

to say. To what extent are you allowed to look at that and get first

pick, should some other government entity no longer want that installation? Governors Island comes to mind, but by the time the

Coast Guard got it, it was pretty worn out. There are some new

bases that are going to----

Admiral COLLINS. We do have an opportunity, as part of the

process. The problem is that most of the Department of Defense facilities, quite frankly, the scale of their services and ours is like we

are on a different planet. The scale of their bases are significant.

It is more infrastructure than we can afford or manage. It is a mismatch.

Mr. TAYLOR. Home port Pascagoula come to mind, which is,

again, brand new housing. Some of the offices still have plastic on

the furniture. I mean, it is going to be great for someone.

Admiral COLLINS. As you know, we have just moved three additional ships to Pascagoula. Two of them are already there, another

one will be there in the next year or so. Those are PC-179s that

transferred to us from the Navy. We have a medium endurance

cutter there in Pascagoula, and we have a Coast Guard station

there. It is a great fit. I could not agree with you more, Congressman, that the people love being there. It is a reasonable cost of living. Mississippians are friendly. They like their Coast Guard. It is

a great place to be for us.

We will look at opportunities over the years ahead, if there are

opportunities there for a larger footprint. But again, most of the

scale of Navy bases come with a big price tag when you own a

whole bunch of real estate. It is an expensive proposition for us.
18

Mr. TAYLOR. The war in Iraq, what, if any, effect has that had

on your recruiting and retention?

Admiral COLLINS. I just got back from, both the Master Chief

and I, several weeks ago from visiting our men and women in the

Arabian Gulf. We got a little sea pay. We were underway. We got

a little wet. We got off-shore on the patrol boats there. Our men

and women are doing incredibly. They are highly regarded by the

other services, very, very professional, and regarded as so by the

Navy, Army and everybody else. They are doing a tremendous, tremendous job. We are very, very proud of them. Their spirits are incredibly high. They understand the mission they are doing is important. They are there for about 12 months, then they rotate back.

They are very proud of what they are doing. By the way, they get

their first assignment choice coming out of theater, so that makes

them a little happy at tail’s end.

They are well-supported. We are taking care of them. We are

taking care of the boats very well. I think the message back to the

rest of the force is, this is important duty, this is good duty, meaningful duty. The Coast Guard has never been more relevant to this

Nation, whether it is overseas or at home. And that is the message.

It is influencing our retention rate, Congressman.

Mr. TAYLOR. I hope positively. That is what I was trying to get

at. Is it a positive effect or negative effect?

Admiral COLLINS. I think it is a positive across the board. We did

not hear one negative, or at least I did not hear. Maybe they were

afraid of talking negative to me, but I did not hear one negative

vibe or see one negative vibe coming from our forces there.

The other very attractive thing, quite frankly, is that we are

going to have, those junior officers and enlisted folks on those

boats, when they come back, their resume is much fuller. Their experience set is much fuller. They are going to be much more valuable Coast Guard folks that have just a broader view of the world,

and engaging with the rest of the services and the coalition folks.

I think they are going to be incredibly valuable Coasties for a long

time.

Mr. TAYLOR. Last question, Mr. Chairman.

Admiral COLLINS. I did not answer your question on the waterway and the Truman Hobbs, but we will be glad to work with your

staff, sir, to see what is the art of the possible on that.

Mr. TAYLOR. Okay, two things. The Special Forces have a program run mostly through charitable organizations, which is called

the Special Warrior Fund, where corporations or individuals contribute to see to it that if the child of a Special Forces person, a

Special Forces person dies while on active duty. I do not know all

the details, but they know that their kid is going to go college. That

is the purpose of this fund. A, does the Coast Guard have something similar? And B, I was a bit surprised to find out that in those

circumstances, if a member of the United States Armed Forces is

killed in the line of duty, that they cannot transfer the educational

benefits that they earned, that that cannot be transferred to their

children. That troubles me. How would you, A, if the question was,

do you have a similar organization, of course then we are counting

on charity, which as you know, is a roller coaster. How would you

feel about amending it so that those benefits could be transferred
19

so that that young Coast Guardsman knows, God forbid something

bad happens, that his kids are going to college?

Admiral COLLINS. I think it is a reasonable approach, Congressman, and it seems very, very attractive and something that we

should provide our members. Maybe I would defer to the Master

Chief, because you are familiar with the program in question and

if it applies to us as well.

Master Chief WELCH. If I may, Mr. Congressman, I, on behalf of

our work force, think that is a wonderful, wonderful and muchneeded idea. Our men and women work hard. Our men and women

sacrifice their lives for the good of this country. It is my opinion

that we owe them everything that we possibly can pay them for

their service. In addition, I think we also would be well-served to

not only offer dependents the Montgomery GI bill benefits. I think

we would also be well-served to include educational benefits for

some 65,000 active duty members today that do not have educational benefits.

Mr. TAYLOR. Why is that, Master Chief?

Master Chief WELCH. Most of the situation, Mr. Congressman,

results from people entering the Coast Guard on what we call the

VEAP era, Veterans Educational Assistance Program, who were

advised or otherwise did not accept the educational benefits offered

to them, and therefore were left out Montgomery GI bill eligibility.

Mr. TAYLOR. I am making a request of you. As a former First

Class Petty Officer, this is kind of fun, but Chief, do you think you

could get me a recommendation on that, get your lawyers to? That

needs to be addressed.

Admiral COLLINS. We will get our staff looking at that and we

will do a staff-to-staff thing, sir.

Mr. TAYLOR. Okay. Thank you very much. Unfortunately, I have

to go to Armed Services, but thank you for sticking around.

Admiral COLLINS. Thank you, sir.

Master Chief WELCH. Thank you.

Mr. LOBIONDO [Presiding]. Thank you.

Mr. Fortuno, you are recognized for questions.

Mr. FORTUNO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Admiral, I visited with some of the men and women you have in

the San Juan operations, and I commend you for the work they are

doing. Actually, I was accompanying Chairman Young last Friday,

visiting, and I must tell you that we both were very much impressed by what we saw they are doing. They are certainly doing

more with less, but they are doing it because they are definitely

committed to their job and to the defense of our Nation.

Among other things, we saw other than ice-breaking. They pretty

much do everything else down there. We had a special interest in

the drug and migrant interdiction operations in the area. The information they gave us is that 45 percent of the migrant interdiction

efforts of the Coast Guard nationwide are performed out of the San

Juan operations. In your presentation, you say that there were

11,000 undocumented migrants that you intercepted last year. I

have numbers for fiscal year 2004 that tell me that out of the San

Juan operations, about 8,000 were intercepted out of San Juan operations, so the numbers do not necessarily match. I would like to
20

understand better. It does not have to be now, but later on if possible to get some information on this.

Admiral COLLINS. We would be glad to provide you our best

records that we have relative to the outcomes out of San Juan and

others, and give you a full profile of what that represents.

Mr. FORTUNO. The other item that we discussed having to do

with migrant interdiction is that originally we would get mostly

migrants from the Dominican Republic. Now, we are getting a lot

of them from Cuba, the People’s Republic of China, the Middle

Eastern countries. We do have a serious national security concern

that this may be a wide open porch in the backyard. Once they get

in San Juan, they are in Kansas. That is just the way it is.

I do have a concern, and certainly I am sure that whomever prepared the maps, then leave the U.S. VI and Puerto Rico purposely,

it is just that it is included in one of the regions. But I was concerned not to see the U.S. VI and Puerto Rico, given the fact that

this operation covers from the Dominican Republic to Haiti, all the

way down to the Venezuelan-Colombian coast, with not just a migrant interdiction, but a drug interdiction operation that they are

carrying out. I must tell you, I commend you again for the job that

they are doing. We went out on a cutter. They do the best they can

with the equipment they have there, and they are very proud of the

job they are doing.

Admiral COLLINS. Thank you. Clearly, the area in and around

San Juan, the windward pass, every day I get an operational brief

and there is a force lay-down of where our ships and planes are focused. I can tell you that that area has recurring Coast Guard

presence. That is where the business is growing, the illegal movement of people business is growing. We have a very robust presence there. We will continue to have a very robust presence there.

The 110-foot patrol boat, the 123, the extended 110-foot boat, our

medium-endurance cutters in particular and helicopters. We have

what is called Op Bah, Operations Bahamas and Turks out of

Great Inagua. We have a forward operating base in Great Inagua

and a recurring helicopter presence there that gives us that good

forward-operating location for our helicopters.

So we are dedicated to a robust presence. We know those are

where the threat vectors are coming from, whether it is moving illegal goods or illegal people or counter-drugs. Those are the primary threat vectors. We have, again, a robust presence on a recurring basis.

Our Deepwater, I keep coming back to this because it really is

our future, the capabilities that Deepwater will give us, we will be

even more effective than we are now. We will have vertical unmanned airborne vehicles, two to each one of our ships. They will

give us the eyes and ears to have total visibility of those kinds of

things, those kind of threat vectors, along with helicopters and

high-speed boats, a coordinated package. So we are excited about

the future, a little impatient about these capabilities, but in the

meantime we are investing in our Legacy systems, the existing systems, to make sure that our men and women have equipment that

runs and works. I tell you, they are doing great things. I agree with

you. I continue to be impressed every day with our men and

women.
21

Mr. FORTUNO. Thank you.

Admiral COLLINS. Thank you for your comments.

Mr. FORTUNO. I would like to switch to another topic. That has

to do with security, having to do with the cruise ships that visit

some of our ports. In the case of San Juan, we are talking about

1.3 million passengers a year on those cruise ships. Ninety-plus

percent of those passengers are U.S. citizens. This is happening on

U.S. soil. I would like to understand better what is the Coast

Guard doing in terms of managing that threat, which is complicated further by what I am saying, actually. The numbers for illegal migrants coming from countries other than Caribbean countries in the last couple of years has skyrocketed, according to the

numbers that we were given. It is starting to include Middle Eastern countries, as well as the People’s Republic of China. So that is

a concern that I have, and I wonder if you have any comments on

that.

Admiral COLLINS. The large-capacity cruise ship, of course, is a

popular phenomenon in the United States, a popular business line,

an important part of the Southeastern United States economy.

Heck, it is important to the State of Alaska, by the way, because

the cruise ship industry in Alaska is big.

There are large numbers of people that move on those cruise

ships. On a given day in the Port of Miami, on a Friday, and you

see the five huge cruise ships lined up with up to 3,000 passengers

a pop. You know that they could be vulnerable or targets.

So that security is important. We have been attentive to that

from day one. One of the interesting comments, of all the aspects

of the maritime community on 9-10-01, the one that had the most

advanced security feature to it, a security regime, was the cruise

industry. That happened from an Act that was passed in the late

1980s as a result of the Achille Lauro. That spawned legislation

and enhanced security requirements for cruise ships.

So when 9/11 happened, we already had a security regime in

place and a relationship with the large-capacity cruise ships to

build off of. So it was more advanced than other elements of the

maritime community. Immediately, we invoked 100 percent screening of baggage and passengers. We had three levels of security, we

called them maritime security condition one, two and three that

can be invoked at any time. We oversee the security operation. We

do not do the screening. It is done by the private sector, but we

oversee it from an oversight perspective. The companies, I think,

are pretty aggressive and responsive to the security requirements.

We spend a lot of time worried about their waterfront security

in places like Miami and San Juan and others, to ensure that the

right waterfront protection is there when they are in port, and the

necessary patrols and so forth. We do inspections of those vessels,

not only from a safety perspective, but also a security perspective.

The crew lists are vetted. The passenger lists are vetted.

So I think they are getting pretty substantial coverage. We continue to look at the threat, at the risk, and to put the appropriate

amount of resources to the threat and the risk as it evolves.

Mr. FORTUNO. Thank you, Admiral.

I yield back my time.

Mr. MACK. [Presiding]. Thank you.
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Admiral, Master Chief, Chairman and Commissioner, I will

never forget this day, because I have not been here 60 days yet,

and look at me.

[Laughter.]

Admiral COLLINS. It is great when you are good, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. MACK. Who knew?

I just, for a point of reference, I am from Southwest Florida. I

appreciate everything that the Coast Guard does to protect our

shores and to protect this country. So thank you for the work that

you do.

I do have a question that I would like to ask you, and just again

for a point of reference. I know this is something that is pretty important to the Chairman as well. The Coast Guard and Maritime

Transportation Act of 2004 authorized the Coast Guard to establish

a pilot program to develop and test procedures to improve the processing and issuance of merchant mariners documents. Currently,

there are some zones, I guess, examination zones that they have

to travel to, and there is quite a bit of distance in some cases where

they have to travel.

There are also, with the advancements of technologies recently,

not recently, really, but with the advancements of technologies and

private companies now offering this type of solution, has the Coast

Guard or the Department of Homeland Security budgeted funding

to carry out this pilot program? Has the Coast Guard taken steps

to improve the process by which the mariners documents are

issued? And has the Coast Guard investigated the possibility of allowing merchant mariners to submit necessary information and

documentation using Internet-based systems and technologies?

Admiral COLLINS. A great set of questions, and a lot of the details, I would be glad to brief you and the Chairman on. The answer to a lot of those questions is yes, largely for security concerns.

We had some fraudulent document concerns about mariners from

a security perspective, and it launched on coordination with the

FBI and others an extensive review of all merchant marine documentation. We did hundreds of thousands of reviews and everything else, to sort out the fraudulent part.

The reason I mention that, it launched us in a whole process reexamination of the merchant marine document process. A tiger

team put together prototypes, ES launched to see how we could

tweak it. We submitted to the Appropriations Committees in both

the House and the Senate an unfunded priority list. It is a new

phenomena, a requirement in last year’s bill for me to support the

high priority things that did not make it into the budget, but still

remain high priority. Obviously, the President’s 2006 budget represents our highest priorities. These are the next tier.

On that, you will see merchant marine documentation initiative,

with significant FTP people and dollars associated with it. So at

this point, the robust funding of the process improvements that we

have examined, and we have a list of process improvements we

would like to launch, are subject to that out-year initiative.

We also have a plan to centralize some of the functionality embedded in our regional exam. We have these regional exam centers

around the country. We have done a study that says some of the

functionality of that lends itself to centralization, where we could
23

rip it out, consolidate it and make it central, but leave the personal

contact part back at the centers, make that more robust, and make

the central processing more robust, and lean on information technologies to help you out.

So that consolidation plan is in the works. It is part of this outyear thing that we would like to do. I think it is a good return on

investment. It is the right thing to do. It is the subject of a future

budget, obviously.

Mr. MACK. Sorry, real quick. Are you talking about the pilot program or what you have learned from the pilot program taking forward?

Admiral COLLINS. The pilot program, pilot initiatives are underway. We owe you a report on that, as I recall, too. But this would

be the full restructuring of the program that I think has safety

benefits, security benefits, efficiency benefits that will ultimately

accrue. We would be more than happy to give the Chairman and

committee members a brief on that plan. In response to direction

from Congress, they wanted to do a cost-benefit on us, to consolidate and centralize this thing, particularly whether we would do it

in Washington or we would do it Martinsburg, West Virginia at the

operations center we have out there. We have submitted that already up on the Hill that shows you the cost-benefit and what

would accrue.

So the bottom line, we have done a lot of thinking and a lot of

work on this already. We have done a lot of process improvement.

We have incorporated the process improvement where we can,

where it does not involve a lot of money.

We are also looking at some fundamental changes through regulatory effort of the document itself, you know, what the document

is and what is embedded in it, and how it is used.

So we would love to give the Chairman and yourself a brief on

that whole structure, and so you get a good feel with the breadth

and dimension of the effort. Quite frankly, Congressman, the Coast

Guard and the Nation is under-invested in this particular process

and I think let it get into a state of disrepair. It is one of these

back-office things, a function in the back office and maybe did not

get the front office attention it should. I think what turned the

light bulb on for us was the security dimensions involved. You

want to make sure it is not only to document the experience and

the training and the capabilities of the member, but also is it the

member who has said he is, and is it a valid seafarer, et cetera.

So that security dimension has created a greater sense of urgency about this issue for us.

Mr. MACK. Certainly with the advances in technology and imaging and everything, and authenticating, the technology is there and

it is just working it into the system and getting it funded is what

I am hearing.

Admiral COLLINS. Yes, sir.

Mr. MACK. Okay. Thank you very much.

If there is no further business, the Chair again thanks the members of the Subcommittee and the witnesses. The Subcommittee

stands adjourned.

[Whereupon, at 2:58 p.m. the subcommittee was adjourned, to reconvene at the call of the Chair.]
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