Monday, March 4, 2013

Coast Guard to struggle with sequester cost cuts

The Coast Guard, already struggling to do its job with inadequate resources, will be hard hit by sequestration.

Commandant Adm. Robert J. Papp said it goes against the Coast Guard's "can-do" ethic to admit it can't do more with less, but he is encouraging his units to do just that, according to the Navy Times.

"We can't keep giving this image that we can do more with less," Papp said. "We never do 100 percent of the missions the country's given to us all the time because we don't have the resources to do 100 percent. So whatever resources we have, we apply them to the highest priorities on any given day."

Search and rescue and port security missions will remain a top priority, he said. Fewer resources for patrols means that more drugs will cross the U.S. border and more illegal fishing in the country's waters, Papp said.

Another priority for Papp is keeping the entire Coast Guard workforce, including active-duty, reserve and civilian.

Papp was addressing the effects of sequestration, government-wide spending cuts which went into effect on Friday do to Congressional inaction. He also addressed how hard it is to operate under an ongoing resolution that means the Coast Guard service must run at 2012 funding levels, while trying to rebuild their aging cutter fleet.

For more of the Navy Times story: navytimes.com

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