Coast Guard Commandant Testifies: Insights & Updates

WASHINGTON — U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Bob Papp testified before the House Subcommittee on Homeland Security Appropriations here, Thursday, about the Coast Guard’s budget for fiscal year 2012.

Adm. Papp spoke about the service’s fiscal year 2012 budget request and provided committee members a snapshot of recent Coast Guard operations including vessel traffic management on the St. Marys River in Michigan, anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden, the rescue of workers from an oil platform fire in the Gulf of Mexico, interdiction of a semi-submersible, self-propelled vessel in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and the recent repatriation of migrants interdicted in the Straits of Florida.

“These missions protect U.S. national interests, and they’re missions that only the Coast Guard has the authority, competency and capability to do,” said Papp. “No one else can do what we do. Our homeland is safer and more secure because Coast Guard men and women perform them so ably. But what concerns me is that our aging fleet of cutters and aircraft continue to cost us, both in dollars and mission performance. It is vital that we protect our waterways by sustaining front line operations while continuing our recapitalization efforts.”

Click here (PDF) to read Adm. Papp’s written testimony. Click here for a fact sheet on the Coast Guard’s fiscal year 2012 budget request and click here (PDF) for the Coast Guard’s 2011 Posture Statement with a detailed look at the fiscal year 2012 budget.

Photo: U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Patrick Kelley