Future of the Homeland Security Missions of the Coast Guard

The focus of today's hearing is the Coast Guard's Homeland Security missions, including ports, waterways and coastal security, drug interdiction, migrant interdiction, defense readiness, and law enforcement. Since 9/11, the Coast Guard has taken an ever-increasing role in the protection of our Nation. The Coast Guard has been tasked to specifically focus their limited resources on port and maritime security. This often calls for some difficult choices, and in this time of very restrained budgets, we have to prioritize the Coast Guard's core missions, because the Coast Guard cannot be everywhere at once. Congress needs to ensure that the Coast Guard, again, has the proper assets to safely and effectively carry out its operations.