About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

1 (July 22, 2005)

handle is hein.crs/crsmthabaqv0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 
                                                               Order Code  RS21019
                                                               Updated July 22, 2005



 CRS Report for Congress

              Received through the CRS Web



          Coast Guard Deepwater Program:
       Background and Issues for Congress

                            Ronald O'Rourke
                     Specialist in National Defense
              Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade  Division

Summary


     The Deepwater program is a $24-billion, 25-year acquisition program to replace
 or modernize 93 Coast Guard ships and 207 Coast Guard aircraft. The Coast Guard's
 FY2006 budget requests $966 million for the program. Some Members of Congress
 have strongly criticized the Deepwater program on several grounds. The House version
 of H.R. 2360, the FY2006 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations bill,
 reduces the FY2006 Deepwater funding request to $500 million; the Senate version
 reduces it to $905.6 million. This report will be updated as events warrant.


 Background'

    Introduction.  The Coast Guard Deepwater program, known formally as the
Integrated Deepwater Systems (IDS) program, is a project to replace and modernize the
Coast Guard's aging fleet of deepwater-capable ships and aircraft. It is the largest and
most complex acquisition effort in Coast Guard history. The issue for Congress is
whether to approve, reject, or modify the Administration's funding requests and overall
approach for the program. Congress' decisions on this issue could affect Coast Guard
capabilities and funding requirements, U.S. homeland security operations, and the U.S.
shipbuilding and aircraft industry.

    Deepwater   Missions. The Coast Guard performs a variety of missions in the
deepwater environment (which generally means waters more than 50 miles from shore),
including the following: drug interdiction, alien migrant interdiction, fisheries
enforcement, search and rescue, the International Ice Patrol in northern waters; overseas
maritime intercept (sanctions-enforcement) operations, overseas port security and defense,
overseas peacetime military engagement; general defense operations in conjunction with
the Navy; marine pollution law enforcement, enforcement of lightering (i.e., at-sea cargo-


Congressional  Research  Service + The  Library of Congress


1 For additional background information on the Deepwater program, see the program's Internet
page at [http://www.uscg.mil/deepwater/].

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most