Vice Adm. David Pekoske was promoted to the Coast Guard’s second-highest post – vice commandant – in August 2009. A 1977 graduate of the USCG Academy, he also has a master’s degree in public administration from Columbia University (1989) and an MBA from MIT (1997). In his 32-year career, he has held six operational unit commands and served in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts and the Great Lakes. He received his first star in 2004 and his third in 2008, when he was appointed commander, Pacific Area/Coast Guard Defense Forces West.

J.R. Wilson: You have called modernization a top priority for the Coast Guard; in your new job as a primary service-wide integrator/implementer, how will you pursue that?

Vice Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, Vice Adm. David Pekoske: I plan to keep on moving modernization forward as quickly as I can. The central tenet of modernization is to focus the roles and responsibilities of key leaders in the field and headquarters and the processes around which they work. Implementing modernization is an imperative; to be always ready for what we see as the future operating environment, we must modernize.

The commandant develops our strategy and works our relationships with our key stakeholders, both here in Washington, around the country, and indeed around the world. My role as vice commandant is to manage the business of the organization; I implement the commandant’s strategic intent via our senior leadership which, when modernization is complete, will be the deputy commandant for Mission Support (DCMS), the deputy commandant for Operations (DCO), the operational commander (OPCOM) and the Force Readiness Command (FORCECOM). Our current geographic-based structure is outdated and was built for a time before rapid means of communication or requirements for service-wide response. The common theme is rather than taking a regional approach to operations, we are taking a service-wide view. At the end of the day, we are convinced this will result in improved mission performance and operational effectiveness across the board. In the short term, we need Congress to provide the authorization in law to make changes to our core leadership structure.

What do you consider to have been the highlights of the past year or so for the USCG?

We commissioned our first National Security Cutter, Bertholf, the first major ship commissioning in decades and desperately needed in our inventory. We brought on the superb CASA aircraft, modernized our helicopter fleet and let the contract for our new fast response cutter, a model contract for acquisition. We are seeing much-needed new capabilities come into the Coast Guard inventory.

We also scoped our requirements for operation in the Arctic. We worked with tribal leaders and other partners to understand what it will take to operate there in the decades ahead.

What are the requirements there?

We continue to support scientific research. As the ice continues to melt, water space opens and the oil and gas industry explores vast fields, we will see a greater need for Coast Guard marine inspection. Cruise ship traffic is on the rise and we will have a responsibility to ensure safety. As shipping routes emerge, so will the need for navigation services and consideration of a traffic separation scheme in the Bering Strait. As one of the most pristine environments on the planet, if there is any sort of environmental issue, we will need to respond – and the operating requirements are unlike any we have faced elsewhere. Fish stock protection, law enforcement, homeland security and nearly every mission that the Coast Guard performs around the country will be in demand.

What goals and challenges do you see for the Coast Guard in the year to come?

To maintain our motto to be always ready, we must continue our efforts to recapitalize the service – this is critical. Some of our cutters were commissioned more than 40 years ago – that’s old for any ship, especially those that must operate in adverse weather conditions. A key challenge and priority going forward is to get legislative authority to fully implement modernization, giving us the organizational structure and processes we need, including authority for our most senior organizational positions.

What changes – in terms of priority, resource allocation, etc. – do you foresee in the Coast Guard’s 11 primary missions?

Performance in one of our 11 missions reinforces our performance in another mission and they are all inter-related with our core roles of safety, security and stewardship. Through marine inspection, we develop expertise on vessel construction, operation and crew expertise. This helps us better perform search and rescue and security missions. Security is an all-hands operation for the government, industry and every citizen. Working alongside industry on inspections establishes relationships that allow us to leverage capabilities in other missions.

But we are more than just multi-mission, we are an integrated-mission Coast Guard. We represent a huge value proposition to the American taxpayer. Mission priorities have changed over time and will continue to change as national priorities evolve, operational environments change, and as the tactics of others change. When smuggling organizations change tactics, our counter-drug mission tactics respond as quickly, if not quicker.

Security has clearly become an enhanced priority since 9/11. We will look at what the administration and Congress establish as national priorities and operate accordingly. Mission focus is not static and we will always be looking to adjust both the priority of missions and the resourcing they receive.

We acted on the industry demand for additional focus on marine safety, capacity and skills of our workforce to inspect commercial vessels. It has become a higher priority. As we investigate marine accidents, we self-evaluate to determine how we might prevent such accidents in the future.

How did the Coast Guard evolve into all of these multiple missions and where do you see it going in the future?

We’ve been evolving since our founding over 219 years ago. There is a national need for an organization that is agile, nimble, and can provide a wide a range of maritime services for our citizens.

It is our broad mission set that makes us so effective. For a ship approaching a U.S. port, one service ensures compliance with global safety requirements, evaluates security, provides safe navigation aids and knows that ship’s capabilities if a search, rescue or environmental response is required. One service does it all and coordinates the efforts of any others that become involved.

How do you see the Coast Guard’s role in working with the navies and Coast Guard equivalents of other nations?

The Coast Guard is a unique model of safety, security and protection of resources that is replicated around the world. We share model procedures and laws with interested countries to help them balance the demands of military service with law enforcement, maritime safety, fishery protection, maritime border security and pollution response and how to build relationships with other military services, state and local governments, industry and the rest of the world.

With increased demands for homeland security, maritime law enforcement, being the primary interface for Foreign Military Sales and training for most of the world’s navies, support to Department of Defense in Southwest Asia, etc., the Coast Guard has been thinly stretched for several years – with no end in sight. Is the government demanding and expecting too much of this one, relatively small, organization?

We’re small, but we deliver a pretty powerful return. Every one of those operations reinforces the conduct of our missions around the globe. Operations in SW Asia have a direct benefit to our security missions in the U.S. While stretched, the real challenge is completing tasks with an outdated infrastructure. Think about where we are today and what we do around the world; then think what we could do if we had the ships, the C2, the aircraft and shore facilities we need combined with a modernized Coast Guard business process. That’s a very powerful combination. We are stretched because people find value in what we do – and if people like what they see, they need to invest in it. There is a huge return on that investment.

As someone who has worked a wide range of Coast Guard posts, in the field and administrative, what more do you believe needs to be done to improve USCG operations?

Recapitalization of our major assets is the most important thing we need to do to improve our mission performance and overall service capabilities. We also have had great success at working alongside partners to enhance the overall capability of the government. When working in a port, we try to foster good working relationships with our partners at the state and local level. Offshore, we’re always looking for ways to operate together with our DHS and military partners. We can do a lot more together than we can individually to solve problems. That also holds true with our international partners and improving our own organic capacity to impact mission success.

What is your “wish list” for the Coast Guard’s future, from new technologies and equipment to manpower and training?

I hope we can replace our major cutters, aircraft and command and control, and build out our coastal capacity with our new fast response patrol boat – and do so at a quick pace. I look for us to develop a shore-side C2 system for visibility of what’s going on in our waterways and off the coasts to best allocate resources. I hope we continue to develop intelligence capabilities, so that deployed resources have the best information on where to go and what to do to get the job done.

As a small service that operates in remote locations, I wish our support system for our people and their families was commensurate with what we ask them to contribute. We need to have childcare, good housing and good health care. The quality of our workforce is the absolute most important thing for us. We attract and retain the best people and develop them as individuals so they can achieve their full potential. But we also have to provide for their family well-being or we won’t be able to retain them. Likewise, we need to provide the equipment they deserve to do the job we ask them to get done.

Do you expect to expand the forum concept to develop new organizations for the Southern Hemisphere?

The regional forums have gone a long way toward breaking down barriers and building respect between countries and we’re much better operating with each other as a result. We want to see these kinds of forums all around the world. Shipping is a global enterprise, as are safety, security and protection of the environment. So to the extent we can bring countries together to cooperate on those, the global community will benefit.

Over the past decade the North Pacific Coast Guard Forum has become a model for the North Atlantic Forum and others. We encourage this model to take hold. The U.S. need not be a member of or lead these, but we can show them the benefits realized and offer best practices that apply to their region of the world.

Any final thoughts?

I really want to emphasize the quality of our people and their value to the nation. We must continue to train them and provide the tools they need for their jobs. Our value is in our integrated mission sets which give the taxpayer a valuable return and while we would always like to do more, the reality of budget constraints forces us to prioritize our efforts.

I’ve never been more optimistic about our future. We have the highest quality and motivated workforce we’ve ever had and the demand for our services has never been greater. Our partnerships with state, local, inter-agency and international stakeholders are maturing for the benefit of everyone – which is why modernization and recapitalization of our service is so important to provide an organizational structure to best operate in the 21^st century.

Photo credit:

• U.S. Coast Guard

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