Coast Guard may face capability gap on the high seas.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: Homeland Security News

The Obama administration has

proposed cutting $1.3 billion out of the Department of Homeland Security's overall budget. Almost one-third of that--$382 million--would come out of the Coast Guard's allocation.

For starters, 222 positions at the Washington, D.C., headquarters would be eliminated. Several of its older ships would be decommissioned, and some seasonal bases on the Great Lakes would be shut down.

But it's the large boats and ships that have leadership the most worried. The administration includes funding for the sixth National Security Cutter and continues preliminary work on the Offshore Patrol Cutter, but there may be capability gaps on the horizon.

Prior to the budget's release, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Robert J. Papp in two separate speeches said he was worried that the service would not be able to finish the planned fleet of eight NSCs, and that it had been a fight to keep these prized programs alive.

The National Security Cutters replace the 378-foot high-endurance cutters that were built between the 1960s and early 1990s. The third NSC was delivered to the Coast Guard last fall. Shortly after, the contract for the fifth was awarded to Huntington Ingalls Industries.

"I want to get all eight;" Papp said at the Surface Navy Association conference. "But each one's going to be a challenge."

The cutters are likely to be in competition for money with the service's Offshore Patrol Cutter. The Coast Guard wants to build 25 of these to replace medium-endurance cutters that are between 25 and 40 years old, some older.

The Coast Guard originally had planned for as many as 16 NSCs and 35 OPCs, Papp said. "We're not going to get there."

Both these programs are intended for deep water operations. The future of the nation's maritime security depends upon ships such as the National Security Cutter that are effective away from the shore, Papp said at a Center for Strategic and International Studies conference hours before the budget was released.

The service is in good shape with a substantial fleet of patrol boats to deal with threats close to the shore, he said. He also feels comfortable with the assets the service has in the nation's ports. But there is a security layer he worries about.

"So if you 're inspecting overseas and you have good resources in the ports, you want some sort of middle layer to be able to intercept any threats before they get into your ports, ' Papp said. "Unfortunately for us, that is the most...