Coast Guard Tackles Role in Slowing Flow of Drugs

WASHINGTON — In his final State of the Coast Guard address on Thursday, Adm. Paul F. Zukunft laid out both the successes in a broad range of activities and the continuing struggles facing the smallest branch of the military.

Zukunft, the U.S. Coast Guard’s top official since 2014, said the service was gradually modernizing its aging fleet of ships, taking on a greater role in combating international drug trafficking and, after years of cuts, receiving a budget increase. But, he said, a number of challenges remain for the 227-year-old organization.

Zukunft said the service would need a 5 percent annualized increase in its budget for operations and maintenance, and at least an additional $2 billion to make the necessary purchases to modernize its fleet, which still has some ships that are nearly 70 years old.

The Trump administration has requested about $11.7 billion in funding for the 2019 fiscal year for the Coast Guard, or an 8.4 percent increase over last year’s request.

“This puts us on the right trajectory,” Zukunft said. “But we need to maintain the momentum.”

Zukunft, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, will step down as the 25th Coast Guard commandant in June. The Trump administration has not yet named his replacement.

Zukunft’s speech, at the National Press Club in Washington, was also meant to be a reminder of the service’s accomplishments.

It plays a crucial role in homeland security, particularly protection of the Southwest border, even as the administration plans to spend $25 billion on a border wall to combat drug trafficking and illegal immigration. The Coast Guard falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security rather than the Defense Department.

In 2017, the Coast Guard seized a record 455,000 pounds of cocaine, some by patrolling waters off the coasts of Colombia and Peru, worth more than $7.2 billion wholesale. It also arrested more than 600 drug traffickers and captured nearly 3,500 people trying to enter the country illegally.

The Coast Guard also rescued nearly 12,000 people after deadly hurricanes hit the East Coast, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2017.

“Day in and day out, our men and women employ our broad authorities to ensure the security and prosperity of our nation,” Zukunft said. “They stand ready to respond to any disaster — natural or man-made.”

Gil Kerlikowske, a former commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, credits the Coast Guard with being on the front lines of the Department of Homeland Security’s battle against drug trafficking and a key to protecting the southern border.

“Adm. Zukunft brought a laserlike focus on drug interdiction,” said Kerlikowske, who worked closely with Zukunft during the Obama administration.

The Coast Guard operates simultaneously as a military service, a law enforcement agency and a member of the U.S. intelligence community. Known primarily for its role in search-and-rescue missions, the Coast Guard has in recent years taken on missions around the world that include guarding the president and even cybersecurity.

But for years, the Coast Guard has suffered even as its mission has expanded, in part because of its image as a service that towed ships or searched for people lost at sea. Another issue has been a lack of funding. The Coast Guard does not receive any additional money from Congress for its work in areas such as disaster relief.

The Trump administration, in addition to moving to increase the Coast Guard’s budget, has lavished praise on the service.

During a celebration of the Department of Homeland Security’s 15th anniversary on Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence singled out the Coast Guard. “The men and women of the Coast Guard have inspired the nation,” he said.

But the administration’s relationship with the Coast Guard has also been frayed.

The initial Trump White House spending plan would have cut the Coast Guard’s funding by 14 percent, or about $1.3 billion, to help pay for Trump’s border wall. The other military services — the Army, the Air Force, the Navy and the Marine Corps — all saw funding increases.

The administration reversed itself and increased the Coast Guard’s budget request to, among other things, build a new Arctic icebreaker for the first time in 40 years as the United States competes with Russia and China in the polar region.

The vessel will not be ready until 2023, however, and will be one of only two such ships that the United States is operating. By comparison, Russia has 40 icebreakers and 11 more in production.

“Russia has really been asserting itself in the Arctic, and we’ve been asserting ourselves with paper, with reports,” Zukunft said.

Zukunft has not been shy about challenging the administration: Last year, when Trump posted on Twitter his intent to ban transgender troops from serving in the military, Zukunft said in a speech that same day that he would continue to support transgender troops under his command.