Sent: Monday, January 22, 2007 11:34 AM
To: us-coast-guard-list US Coast Guard Information Exchange
Subject: COAST GUARD REORGANIZES TO FOCUS ON MISSION EXECUTION, SUPPORT
 

USCG commandant Thad Allen is reorganizing the service into two divisions: 1) mission execution, and 2) mission support. One thing mission support will likely do is provide a new common logistics architecture and improve the handling of life-cycle support.
The Chief of Staff position will likely be eliminated and replaced with four new flag billets (deputy commandant for operations, deputy commandant for mission support, and two field commanders (one on each coast)). Coast Guard's main acquisition directorate and the service's Deepwater program acquisition office will be led by a single "chief acquisition officer."
At his upcoming state of the Coast Guard address (13 February 2007, 11:00 am) Allen will announce and distribute a new Coast Guard Maritime Strategy that will provide a strategic framework for planning maritime safety, security, and stewardship responsibilities for the next four-to-five years.

Speech may address changes
COAST GUARD REORGANIZES TO FOCUS ON MISSION EXECUTION, SUPPORT
Inside the Navy
January 22, 2007

 Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen is reorganizing his service into two broad divisions: mission execution and mission support, according to Coast Guard and industry sources.

 Some of the changes have been under way since Allen's predecessor Adm. Thomas Collins was commandant, such as the reorganization of Coast Guard headquarters staffs into numbered staffs to better align with the Defense Department, while others are brand new.

 Allen may outline the reorganization in greater detail in his state of the Coast Guard address Feb. 13, Cmdr. Brendan McPherson, the commandant's spokesman, told Inside the Navy.

 Some of Allen's 10 "cause for action" orders, which he has issued after becoming commandant in May 2006, foreshadow the changes.

 A large part of the reorganization is the realignment of the service's command and control structure, which is outlined in one of Allen's cause for action orders. Historically, the Coast Guard has been very mission-specific in its organization, sources said.

The goal of the reorganization is to focus on mission execution and support, according to an internal Coast Guard briefing slide. Under the proposed changes, the position of chief of staff would be eliminated in favor of four new flag billets created below the commandant, which will report to the vice commandant, according to industry sources. The sources declined to be named because the changes are predecisional.

The four new flag billets are a deputy commandant for operations, deputy commandant for mission support and two field commanders (one on each coast).

The recently-formed "Deployable Operations Group" (DOG), which is designed to provide adaptive force packages for all threats and hazards, will fall under the deputy commandant for operations. The DOG is expected to reach initial operating capacity this summer, Allen said Jan. 10 at the Surface Navy Association's annual conference in Arlington, VA.

Eventually, the commandant intends for the Coast Guard to be able supply DOG forces to other Department of Homeland Security agencies as needed. The service's specialized forces such as its tactical law enforcement teams, port security units and chemical response teams now fall under the DOG.

The mission support sector will provide a new common logistics architecture and better handle life-cycle support, an industry source noted.

Under this umbrella, the Coast Guard's main acquisition directorate and the service's Deepwater program acquisition office will be led by a single "chief acquisition officer," according to a Coast Guard source. This effort is under way and expected to be complete by the end of this year, the source said. This initiative is designed to improve management of the Coast Guard acquisition and improve the efficiency of human capital management, according to an internal Coast Guard briefing slide.

The changes Allen is proposing demonstrate how far the Coast Guard has come from being at the "bottom of the Department of Transportation to the top of the Department of Homeland Security department," one industry source said.

At his upcoming state of the Coast Guard address, Allen will announce and distribute a new Coast Guard Maritime Strategy that will provide a strategic framework for planning maritime safety, security, and stewardship responsibilities for the next four-to-five years, the commandant said Jan. 10 at the Surface Navy Association event.

"This is going to be capstone document for my tenure as commandant," Allen said. "I thought it was necessary moving into the job [as commandant] to articulate a way forward."

In a brief interview after his speech, Allen told ITN that the Coast Guard's maritime strategy will be interoperable with the maritime strategy that the Navy is developing (see related story).

"The Navy strategy is still being formed, but I needed mine because I started my tenure seven months ago and I needed to guide where I'm at," he said. "But knowing that [the Navy] strategy was being developed and knowing it's a basic strategy for everything as a national strategy for maritime security mine will be interoperable."

"I think there's great synergy between what [Vice] Adm. Morgan's doing and what we've already done," Allen added.

The commandant noted that he talks with Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Mullen on a regular basis. "I don't know if there's ever been a closer working relationship between a commandant and CNO than there is with us right now," Allen said. -- Zachary M. Peterson