Improving DHS
Week 9: Improving Homeland Security
What would you do to improve homeland security? Write the topic in the subject line and describe it in the body. Be specific. Be creative. Be descriptive.
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is a unique part of DHS, being the only military branch located outside the Department of Defense. The USCG has a variety of missions ranging from Artic operations, port security, drug interdiction, search and rescue, and other maritime safety and compliance responsibilities. Yet the government has funded the USCG inconsistently and insufficiently in recent years, leading to a number of capacity and capability challenges. The passage in late 2015 of an omnibus appropriations bill provided some relief to the USCG by increasing its acquisition budget and funding an unrequested (but necessary) ninth National Security Cutter (NSC). However, the sea service is far behind in two other key programs: the Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) and a replacement polar icebreaker. Congress should strive to find a path forward for both programs that best uses taxpayer dollars.
Congress and the next Administration should:
Recapitalize the Coast Guard. Funding for acquiring new Coast Guard vessels has been regularly short of what is necessary to complete USCG’s mission and often results in additional acquisition inefficiencies and costs. Congress should commit to providing consistent acquisitions funding. This includes continuing to fund the Coast Guard acquisition budget at a minimum of $1.5 billion, accelerating the contract award and building of the offshore patrol cutter fleet, investing in more unmanned systems, and pursuing alternative options for fulfilling polar icebreaking requirements, such as purchasing foreign-built icebreakers.
Expanding the Military Branch Involvement in Homeland Sercurity
If you look up the mission of the US Department of Defense, you will find:
"The mission of the Department of Defense is to provide the military forces needed to deter war and to protect the security of our country."
Likewise, if you look up the mission statement of the Department of Homeland Security, you will find:
“With honor and integrity, we will safeguard the American people, our homeland, and our values.”
It strikes me as the natural overlap of protecting the security of our country with the safeguard (of) the American people, (and) our homeland, that the DHS and Defense Department have more in common than is commonly thought of when we discuss improvements in homeland security. With a budget approximately one magnitude larger than the DHS, and a long history of waste and arguably misuse of American forces, my recommendations for improvement in homeland security would be to allocate a far greater share of resources to the direct protection of our borders. This concept is not a stretch from what already is in place; the United States Coast Guard is contained within the DHS, currently, the only military branch located outside the Department of Defense.
For FY 2017, President Obama proposed the base budget of $523.9 billion, which includes an increase of $2.2 billion over the FY 2016 enacted budget of $521.7 billion.
