Escape from Oblivion. Why the Coast Guard needs out of the Department of Transportation...Now.
Abstract
What is the seventh largest Navy In the world? Which branch of the U. S. Armed Forces endured the highest casualty rates in WW I? Name a department of the U.S. Government that is actually a profit making enterprise?' You are not alone if you didn't know the correct answer to all of these questions is. The United States Coast Guard. Most Americans, including many of the other branches of the service, are woefully unaware of the unique history, character and contributions of the fifth branch of America's Armed Forces. This is not simply due to the Coast Guard's relatively small size. There have been times in its history when the service was much smaller, yet was still much more visible and viable than it is today. The fact is, the Coast Guard was buried alive on April 1, 1967 when it was placed within the newly formed Department of Transportation. It has been slowly suffocating ever since, suffering the effects of political obscurity, weak advocacy and the gradual dilution of its core competencies by civilian oversight which neither understands nor much cares about the military and operational qualities which are the essence of the Service's vitality and viability. This difficulty is compounded by the Junior position of the Secretary and Department of Transportation within the Executive Branch. Transportation Secretaries have proven unwilling or unable to expend their limited political capital on the Coast Guard's behalf. Transportation is a department populated by regulatory bureaucrats, toiling dutifully but anonymously in the oversight of road, rail and air transportation programs, industries and trust funds. It is a department this country did without for 191 years. Some argue we could do without it again. Regardless of one's position on the efficacy of the Department of Transportation, the sad reality is that today's Coast Guard is not simply wallowing in obscurity; it is condemned to obscurity, within obscurity.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADA442788
Entities
People
- John Miko
Organizations
- National War College