The U.S. Coast Guard became a component of the new Department of Homeland Security in 2002.
1. Overviews
2. To World War II
3. World War II
4. Post-World War II
5. Since 2002 (move to Department of Homeland Security)
Beard, Tom, ed. The Coast Guard. Westport, CT: Hugh Lauter Levin, 2004.
Webster, Proceedings 131.3 (Mar. 2005), notes that The Coast Guard chronicles "the service's storied 215-year history as a humanitarian and military service." This work does "a masterful job of navigating the diversity of the service's myriad missions."
Bollinger, Ray. "Spies Who Changed History: Mrs. Elizebeth Fr[ie]dman, A Coast Guard Secret Weapon." Naval Intelligence Professional Quarterly 23, no. 3 (Jun. 2007): 26-27, 31.
Detailed from the Treasury Department to the Coast Guard, Mrs. Friedman broke the codes of the "rumrunners" during the Prohibition era. Additional and updated information on the S/V I'm Alone incident is provided in "Boats" [pseud. Ray Bollinger], "Spies who changed History: Boatswains of the Rum War." Naval Intelligence Professional Quarterly 24, no. 1 (Jan. 2008): 51-53.
Brown, Raymond J. "Admiral Billard and the Rumrunners." Naval Intelligence Professionals Quarterly 9, no. 4 (October 1993): 9-10.
The author discusses the Coast Guard's use of intelligence -- and participation of the Friedmans -- against smuggling during Prohibition.
Ensign, Eric S. [LT/USN] Intelligence in the Rum War at Sea, 1920-1933. Washington, DC: Joint Military Intelligence College, 2001.
Hanyok, I&NS 17.2, notes that Ensign covers "many interesting aspects of the Coast Guard's intelligence effort" in this "well-written history." However, "[d]espite the details, he does not organize them into a coherent whole.... [T]he book never effectively demonstrates how intelligence actually affected the overall efforts to control maritime liquor smuggling." For Anderson, Intelligencer 13.1, this "interesting little study" should have avoided the "use of some current military bureaucratic jargon" such as "force multiplier" and "dominant battlespace knowledge."
Heitmann, JIH 2.2, notes that "[t]he U.S. Coast Guard waged an unrelenting campaign to detect, monitor, apprehend, and support the prosecution of those who smuggled alcohol on the high seas and navigable waterways of the United States." The Coast Guard used intelligence "to bridge the capabilities gap between well-organized smugglers and under-resourced law enforcement.... [Ensign's] study ... brings to light the massive, all-source intelligence effort that provided the backbone of Coast Guard operations in the 'Rum War at Sea.'"
Ackerman, Robert K. "Intelligence Assets Boost Coast Guard Performance." Signal, Sep. 1991, 81 ff. [http://www.afcea.org/signal/]
Haneberg,
Bob [CAPT/USCG], Dab Laliberte [LCDR/USCG], and Aaron Danis. "Coast
Guard Operational Intelligence in an Evolving World." American Intelligence
Journal 16, no. 1 (Spring-Summer 1995): 39-42.
"The Intelligence Coordination Center (ICC) is the Coast Guard's National-level intelligence activity. Our mission is to produce and disseminate all-source intelligence with a Coast Guard perspective in order to enhance Coast Guard operations and support US policymakers. The ICC principally supports the Coast Guard missions of counter-narcotics, migrant interdiction, marine environmental protection, fisheries enforcement, and military defense operations." The creation of the ICC in 1984 saw the Coast Guard resuming "comprehensive" intelligence activities following a hiatus of 50 years. The previous effort had occurred during Prohibition (1919-1933) when the Coast Guard had led the "Rum War at Sea." The ICC moved into the National Maritime Intelligence Center at Suitland, MD, in April 1994.
Lipton, Eric. "Report Sees Confusion Likely in a Sea Attack by Terrorists." New York Times, 4 Apr. 2006. [http://www.nytimes.com]
A report released on 3 April 2006 by the Department of Justice inspector general warned that "[p]otentially disastrous confusion could arise during a terrorist attack on a cruise ship or ferry because of a power struggle between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Coast Guard over who would be in charge....
"After 2001, the Coast Guard, a part of the Department of Homeland Security, created 13 specialized teams based at major ports around the nation ... [and] trained to respond to a hostage situation or other maritime terrorism.... The F.B.I., a division of the Justice Department, has 14 of what it calls enhanced maritime SWAT teams and a separate hostage rescue team trained to respond to maritime terrorism....
"The government tried to clarify the roles through an October 2005 document called the Maritime Operational Threat Response. It says the Department of Homeland Security and its agencies, including the Coast Guard, take the lead 'for the interdiction of maritime threats in waters where D.H.S. normally operates,' American ports and coastal waters. The document says the role of the Justice Department and the F.B.I. is to search for clues to prevent maritime terrorism and, if there is an attack, to investigate and prosecute. But the new report says the 2005 document has 'not eliminated the potential for conflict and confusion in the event of a terrorist incident at a seaport.'"
O'Rourke, Ronald. Homeland Security: Coast Guard Operations -- Background and Issues for Congress. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, Updated 1 Jun. 2006. [Available at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/ RS21125.pdf]
"The Coast Guard is the lead federal agency for maritime homeland security.... The Coast Guard's homeland security operations pose several potential issues for Congress, including adequacy of Coast Guard resources for performing both homeland security and non-homeland security missions, and Coast Guard coordination with other agencies involved in maritime homeland security."
Sloan, James F. [Assistant Commandant (CG-2), U.S. Coast Guard] "Coast Guard Expands Intelligence Efforts." U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings 131, no. 5 (May 2005): 98.
"In December 2001, President George Bush signed legislation that amended the National Security Act of 1947 and made the U.S. Coast Guard a full partner as the 14th member of the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC). Since that date, the Coast Guard Intelligence Program has grown significantly."
Wirth, Kevin E. [LCDR/USCG] The Coast Guard Intelligence Program Enters the Intelligence Community: A Case Study of Congressional Influence on Intelligence Community Evolution. Center for Strategic Intelligence Research. Occasional Paper No. 16. Washington, DC: NDIC Press, 2007.
From "Foreword": "Prior to 2002, the Coast Guard contributed to and benefited from Intelligence Community analysis as a customer. However, increasing transnational threats such as drug smuggling, weapons proliferation, and illegal migration, some involving or supporting terrorist organizations, accentuated the need for and the benefit of Coast Guard membership within the Intelligence Community." The author "describes the story behind the short but significant amendment to the National Security Act of 1947 which resulted in the Coast Guard's formal entry into the Intelligence Community."
Return to Military Intelligence
Table of Contents