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US Coast Guard


Self Description

February 2007: "The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is a military branch of the United States involved in maritime law, mariner assistance, and search and rescue, among other duties of coast guards elsewhere. One of the seven uniformed services of the United States, and the smallest armed service of the United States, its stated mission is to protect the public, the environment, and the United States economic and security interests in any maritime region in which those interests may be at risk, including international waters and America's coasts, ports, and inland waterways.

USCG has a broad and important role in homeland security, law enforcement, search and rescue, marine environmental pollution response, and the maintenance of river, intracoastal and offshore aids to navigation (ATON). It also lays claim to being the United States' oldest continuous seagoing service. The United States Coast Guard has about 40,150 men and women on active duty."

Third-Party Descriptions

April 2010: "Officials initially seemed to underestimate the threat of a leak, just as BP did last year when it told the government such an event was highly unlikely. Rear Adm. Mary E. Landry, the chief Coast Guard official in charge of the response, said on April 22, after the rig sank, that the oil that was on the surface appeared to be merely residual oil from the fire, though she said it was unclear what was going on underwater. The day after, officials said that it appeared the well’s blowout preventer had kicked in and that there did not seem to be any oil leaking from the well, though they cautioned it was not a guarantee."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/01/us/01gulf.html

February 2007: Even as contractors built patrol boats with buckling hulls and a large new cutter with structural flaws, a U.S. Coast Guard review gave their performance high marks last year, extended their deal for nearly four years and paid them a multimillion-dollar bonus, government investigators said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/07/AR2007020702334.html

Relationships

RoleNameTypeLast Updated
Owner of (partial or full, past or present) National Pollution Funds Center (NPFC) Organization May 13, 2010
Research/Analysis Subject US Naval Institute (USNI) Organization Oct 22, 2006
Organization Head/Leader (past or present) Adm. Thad W. Allen MS, MPA Person Feb 18, 2007
Organization Executive (past or present) Craig Bennett Person May 13, 2010
Employee/Freelancer/Contractor (past or present) Eugene "Gene" R. Fidell Esq. Person
Organization Head/Leader (past or present) Admiral James M. Loy Person
Organization Executive (past or present) Vice Admiral Roger T. Rufe Jr. Person Dec 31, 2006
Employee/Freelancer/Contractor (past or present) Rep. Gene Taylor Person Jun 7, 2007

Articles and Resources

Date Fairness.com Resource Read it at:
Jun 30, 2010 The Good Driller Award

QUOTE: as long as we continue to drill for oil and mine for coal, we must do everything we can to make those industries safer. That includes not just tough, well-enforced regulations, economic liabilities and criminal penalties for companies that prove too dangerous, but also positive incentives and public rewards for those that put safety first.

 New York Times
Jun 17, 2010 Interior inspector general expected to fault oil spill probe

QUOTE: Elected officials should consider imposing ethics rules on oil and gas companies that do business with the federal government, the Interior Department's acting inspector general plans to tell the House Natural Resources Committee...

 Washington Post
May 24, 2010 In Standoff With Environmental Officials, BP Stays With an Oil Spill Dispersant

QUOTE: While the Corexit products, made by the Nalco company of Naperville, Ill., are the time-tested old faithfuls of oil spill treatment, they were developed in the 1980s and ’90s, and critics say that less toxic and more effective products are now available....Complicating the standoff between the company and regulators, there are many methods for estimating the toxicity of chemical oil dispersants and no single standard prevails.

 New York Times
May 22, 2010 Obama Gives a Bipartisan Commission Six Months to Revise Drilling Rules

QUOTE: Mr. Obama tapped two prominent former officials to lead the commission — Bob Graham, the former senator from Florida, and William K. Reilly, the former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency — and gave them six months to come up with a plan to revamp federal regulation of offshore oil drilling.

 New York Times
Apr 30, 2010 BP Is Criticized Over Oil Spill, but U.S. Missed Chances to Act

QUOTE: BP officials said they did everything possible, and a review of the response suggests it may be too simplistic to place all the blame on the oil company. The federal government also had opportunities to move more quickly, but did not do so while it waited for a resolution to the spreading spill from BP...

 New York Times
Oct 21, 2008 Official Portraits Draw Skeptical Gaze--Cost to Taxpayers Vaires but Can Reach Nearly $50,000

QUOTE: investing taxpayer money in the time-honored art of official portraiture has become increasingly controversial. In a throwback to the Jimmy Carter era, some fiscal watchdogs and government scholars suggest that high-quality photographs would be a more cost-efficient way to honor departing dignitaries, especially because most portraits are largely inaccessible to the public.

 Washington Post
Jul 02, 2008 Prince William helps bust $80m drug smuggling boat

QUOTE: Britain's Prince William has helped the U.S. Coast Guard bust a drug smuggling boat carrying cocaine worth a minimum of $80 million. William, who is serving in the Royal Navy, helped make the bust last weekend when he spotted a speedboat found to be carrying nearly a ton of cocaine in the Atlantic Ocean, Britain's Ministry of Defense said Wednesday.

 CNN (Cable News Network)
Aug 27, 2007 Surfers block Hawaii Superferry

QUOTE: The U.S. Coast Guard used force to secure waters around the harbor where swimmers and surfers created a human blockade that had prevented the Superferry's 350-foot-long vessel, the Alakai, from entering the harbor.

 Honolulu Advertiser
Aug 01, 2007 Ahoy! Got a license to ply US waters? US officials, wary of terrorist use of small craft, float the idea of licenses for recreational boaters.

QUOTE: The US government, eager to improve boating safety and plug holes in a largely unguarded coastline, is considering requiring all states to license boaters or possibly mandating that all boaters obtain a federal photo ID.

 Christian Science Monitor
Jul 21, 2007 Military Medical Breach Revealed: Unencrypted Data Sent Via Internet

QUOTE: A government contractor handling sensitive health information for 867,000 U.S. service members and their families acknowledged yesterday that some of its employees sent unencrypted data -- such as medical appointments, treatments and diagnoses -- across the Internet.

 Washington Post
Jul 09, 2007 Job Vacancies At DHS Said To Hurt U.S. Preparedness: A Fourth of Top Positions Not Filled, Report Says

QUOTE: The Bush administration has failed to fill roughly a quarter of the top leadership posts at the Department of Homeland Security, creating a "gaping hole" in the nation's preparedness for a terrorist attack or other threat...

 Washington Post
Feb 08, 2007 Coast Guard Failed to Properly Oversee Contracts, Officials Say: Questions Rise About Contractors Handling National Defense Business

QUOTE: Even as contractors built patrol boats with buckling hulls and a large new cutter with structural flaws, a U.S. Coast Guard review gave their performance high marks last year, extended their deal for nearly four years and paid them a multimillion-dollar bonus, government investigators said.

 Washington Post
May 03, 2006 Hill Impasse Spurs State Action on Immigration

QUOTE: For the most part, the new state measures are designed to get tough on illegal immigrants, on employers who give them jobs and on state officials who give them benefits...At the same time, though, some states are moving in the other direction -- making life easier for immigrants, legal or otherwise.

 Washington Post
Feb 12, 2006 Katrina Report Spreads Blame: Homeland Security, Chertoff Singled Out

QUOTE: Hurricane Katrina exposed the U.S. government's failure to learn the lessons of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, as leaders from President Bush down disregarded ample warnings of the threat to New Orleans and did not execute emergency plans or share information that would have saved lives...

 Washington Post
Aug 02, 2005 Tide Surges Against Cruise Industry's Wastewater Disposal

QUOTE: Critics of the cruise ship industry say the Environmental Protection Agency and the Coast Guard don't do enough to regulate the disposal of millions of tons of waste generated annually... A large ship (3,000 or more onboard) can generate over a week 210,000 gallons of sewage...

 Washington Post
Jul 05, 2005 Oops, I Made an Oil Spill ...: What should I do?

QUOTE: A research vessel ran aground in a Hawaiian marine wildlife reserve on Sunday and appears to be leaking oil... What happens when your ship spills oil?

 Slate
Jun 01, 2003 Staffing the Homeland

QUOTE: U.S. intelligence and security agencies are hoping to people the ranks with some cross-cultural emissaries who might serve as a buffer between the gray-suited old guard and the unknown "other."

 ColorLines Magazine
Oct 31, 2002 Renewed Calls for Revising Policy on Haitians

QUOTE: The sudden appearance of more than 200 Haitians in the waters off Miami on Tuesday has reignited a debate about the treatment of Haitian refugees and posed yet another political headache for Gov. Jeb Bush in the final days of his re-election bid.

 New York Times
Oct 30, 2002 As Cameras Roll, Haitians Dash From Stranded Boat to Florida Shore

QUOTE: In Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood, people took to the streets with signs demanding that the detainees be allowed to remain in the United States.

 New York Times