US Department of Homeland Security seeks to establish USCG secretary, revamp service acquisition and operations

The US Coast Guard has long needed upgrades at shore facilities such as the one pictured here in Kodiak, Alaska. (Janes/Michael Fabey)

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a Force Design 2028 (FD2028) plan on 21 May for the US Coast Guard (USCG) that calls for the establishment of a USCG secretary position as well as the overhaul of USCG acquisition, logistics, maritime surveillance, and other service operations and structure.

“The other branches of the armed forces have service secretaries that provide direct civilian political leadership, control, oversight, accountability, and advocacy,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem noted in the release of FD2028 at the US Coast Guard Academy commencement in New London, Connecticut.

Noem said she will work with Congress to craft legislation needed to establish a coastguard service secretary within the DHS.

Similar to other service secretaries in the Department of Defense (DoD) under the defence secretary, the USCG secretary will be legislatively authorised, nominated by the president, and senate-confirmed, Noem noted, adding the USCG secretary “will have authorities comparable to the secretaries of the other military services within the Department of Defense”.

The DHS will also seek to establish a USCG undersecretary as well.

FD2028 also calls for the USCG to “outsource procurement activity to increase efficiency”.

By leveraging other proven government agencies, FD2028 plans to “reduce the need for its specialised contracting personnel to unnecessarily devote time to certain projects. Assisted acquisitions and outsourcing surge work to DoD or other agencies with requisite capacity will streamline execution”.

Through FD2028, the USCG plans to “create a Coastal Sentinel next-generation maritime surveillance capability”.

According to FD2028, “The coastguard's existing sensor and command-and-control systems are obsolete and not integrated with other capabilities deployed by other federal and state agencies.”