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Posted 08/06/07 13:31
U.S. Coast Guard’s New Unit Similar to Spec Ops
By PATRICIA KIME
The U.S. Coast Guard calls them special-ized forces: Teams that can perform helicopter insertions against armed enemies, conduct scuba searches for mines and bombs, or storm disputed oil platforms.
Aiming to become the nation’s lead maritime tactical response force, these Coast Guardsmen — members of the service’s new Deployable Operations Group (DOG) — are about as close to special operations-capable as the Coast Guard gets.
The DOG formally became a Coast Guard unit July 20 in a sunset ceremony in Washington.
“We have specialized forces that conduct the high-end portions of our missions,” said Rear Adm. Tom Atkin, the DOG’s fist commander. “Could we say some of these capabilities are similar skill sets as special forces in [the Defense Department]? Definitely.”
Like the Defense Department armed services’ special operations commands, the DOG draws together the Coast Guard’s elite teams — those that handle anti-terrorism response, environmental disasters, port security and combat operations in the maritime milieu, according to service officials.
Its command cadre will oversee the Coast Guard’s response to operational contingencies both at home and overseas. Past events that have relied on DOG legacy units include the space shuttle Columbia disaster, port security of Umm Quasr, Iraq, Hurricane Katrina and the response to the Palermo Senator, a vessel that carried radioactive cargo — later found to be harmless roofing tiles — into the port of Newark, N.J.
The new command is necessary, officials say, to streamline the Coast Guard’s — and the nation’s — response to disasters, whether they be natural or man-made.
“During Hurricane Katrina, we performed admirably,” Atkin said. “But response was a little more ad hoc than it needed to be. We weren’t always 100 percent sure of each other’s [tactics, techniques and procedures]. If we’d had the doctrine and the force package in place, we would have been even more effective.”
The Coast Guard is unique in that, as a military service in the Homeland Security Department, it has domestic arrest powers under Title 14 of the U.S. Code.
But if a law-enforcement action turns into a matter of homeland defense, the Coast Guard can respond as an arm of the armed forces, falling under the Defense Department’s chain of command.
The Coast Guard’s dual-hatted role allows the DOG to better coordinate with government agencies and the armed services, Atkin said.
“The goal is to maybe have some redundant capabilities but not duplicative,” Atkin said. “We’re not trying to be the [FBI’s Hostage Response Team]. We do want to be part of the maritime response capability for the nation, and we believe we are building out the right capability.”
The idea for the DOG grew out of an internal assessment to the Coast Guard’s response following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Once the service began standing up maritime safety and security teams and deploying Coast Guardsmen overseas for port security and naval coastal warfare, officials believed its law enforcement and combat arms units would be better served under one command. Hurricane Katrina pushed the movement into high gear.
The DOG was “actually developed in a PowerPoint shortly after 9/11. But the timing wasn’t right, and the plan wasn’t approved,” Atkin said, adding that when Adm. Thad Allen became commandant in 2006, he made the DOG’s development a priority.
The command component of the DOG is temporarily housed in Arlington, Va., in an office building that has a classified communications room and office space for its 100-plus members. Atkin envisions the DOG’s permanent home to be somewhere near Washington, but with training space.
Units now under DOG command, including the Coast Guard’s 13 maritime safety and security teams, National Strike Force environmental hazards unit, a Chesapeake, Va.-based maritime security response team, Naval Coastal Warfare Squadron Coast Guard members and the service’s tactical law enforcement teams, will remain at their current locations. •
Posted 08/06/07 13:31
U.S. Coast Guard’s New Unit Similar to Spec Ops
By PATRICIA KIME
The U.S. Coast Guard calls them special-ized forces: Teams that can perform helicopter insertions against armed enemies, conduct scuba searches for mines and bombs, or storm disputed oil platforms.
Aiming to become the nation’s lead maritime tactical response force, these Coast Guardsmen — members of the service’s new Deployable Operations Group (DOG) — are about as close to special operations-capable as the Coast Guard gets.
The DOG formally became a Coast Guard unit July 20 in a sunset ceremony in Washington.
“We have specialized forces that conduct the high-end portions of our missions,” said Rear Adm. Tom Atkin, the DOG’s fist commander. “Could we say some of these capabilities are similar skill sets as special forces in [the Defense Department]? Definitely.”
Like the Defense Department armed services’ special operations commands, the DOG draws together the Coast Guard’s elite teams — those that handle anti-terrorism response, environmental disasters, port security and combat operations in the maritime milieu, according to service officials.
Its command cadre will oversee the Coast Guard’s response to operational contingencies both at home and overseas. Past events that have relied on DOG legacy units include the space shuttle Columbia disaster, port security of Umm Quasr, Iraq, Hurricane Katrina and the response to the Palermo Senator, a vessel that carried radioactive cargo — later found to be harmless roofing tiles — into the port of Newark, N.J.
The new command is necessary, officials say, to streamline the Coast Guard’s — and the nation’s — response to disasters, whether they be natural or man-made.
“During Hurricane Katrina, we performed admirably,” Atkin said. “But response was a little more ad hoc than it needed to be. We weren’t always 100 percent sure of each other’s [tactics, techniques and procedures]. If we’d had the doctrine and the force package in place, we would have been even more effective.”
The Coast Guard is unique in that, as a military service in the Homeland Security Department, it has domestic arrest powers under Title 14 of the U.S. Code.
But if a law-enforcement action turns into a matter of homeland defense, the Coast Guard can respond as an arm of the armed forces, falling under the Defense Department’s chain of command.
The Coast Guard’s dual-hatted role allows the DOG to better coordinate with government agencies and the armed services, Atkin said.
“The goal is to maybe have some redundant capabilities but not duplicative,” Atkin said. “We’re not trying to be the [FBI’s Hostage Response Team]. We do want to be part of the maritime response capability for the nation, and we believe we are building out the right capability.”
The idea for the DOG grew out of an internal assessment to the Coast Guard’s response following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Once the service began standing up maritime safety and security teams and deploying Coast Guardsmen overseas for port security and naval coastal warfare, officials believed its law enforcement and combat arms units would be better served under one command. Hurricane Katrina pushed the movement into high gear.
The DOG was “actually developed in a PowerPoint shortly after 9/11. But the timing wasn’t right, and the plan wasn’t approved,” Atkin said, adding that when Adm. Thad Allen became commandant in 2006, he made the DOG’s development a priority.
The command component of the DOG is temporarily housed in Arlington, Va., in an office building that has a classified communications room and office space for its 100-plus members. Atkin envisions the DOG’s permanent home to be somewhere near Washington, but with training space.
Units now under DOG command, including the Coast Guard’s 13 maritime safety and security teams, National Strike Force environmental hazards unit, a Chesapeake, Va.-based maritime security response team, Naval Coastal Warfare Squadron Coast Guard members and the service’s tactical law enforcement teams, will remain at their current locations. •
