Internal memo: Obama’s pick to run Coast Guard wants to cut back on counterterrorism programs

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Coast Guard pick wants to refine homeland mission

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s pick to lead the Coast Guard proposed major cuts to the agency’s counterterrorism mission over the next five years.

An internal November 2009 memo from the nominee for commandant, Vice Admiral Robert J. Papp Jr., said that starting in 2012, he would slash funding for programs in the agency’s homeland security plan. This would include patrols and training exercises.

The memo, marked “sensitive — for internal Coast Guard use only,” was obtained by The Associated Press.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the memo was a draft of an internal document that was leaked to the public. She said the Coast Guard and the administration do not support slashing the agency’s homeland security mission, and no decision has been made on the agency’s budget or how it will be spent.

Papp’s outline is significant because it offers major changes for the more than 200-year-old agency that took on substantial homeland security duties after Sept. 11, 2001. Obama’s 2011 proposed budget cuts for the Coast Guard have already caused outrage from some lawmakers.

Papp would scale back the Coast Guard’s counterterrorism priorities in favor of running traditional search-and-rescue operations that save people in imminent danger on the water and maintaining the maritime transportation system, according to his memo.

He said he wants to eliminate teams that are trained to respond to and prevent terror attacks. These teams also train other Coast Guard forces on counterterrorism operations.

Papp said the strike teams were created after Sept. 11 “to fill a perceived void in national counterterrorism response capability.” He says in the memo that other federal agencies are better at this type of mission.

He also calls for cuts to the Coast Guard’s largest homeland security operation, which patrols critical infrastructure and other sensitive security structures on or near waterways. And he would decrease the number of specialized units stationed in key coastal areas where an attack could be devastating.

Obama has already proposed closing five of the 12 specialized units in 2011.

“In view of the fiscal horizon, we must make bold and systematic strategic decisions,” Papp wrote in the memo, dated Nov. 10, 2009. Obama announced his intention to nominate Papp on Dec. 22.

Coast Guard spokesman Ron LaBrec said the memo was written in response to a Coast Guard headquarters request to identify potential areas for budget cuts down the road. LaBrec said it is part of a departmentwide review of homeland security missions leading to spending proposals for 2012. But he said the memo does not represent Papp’s own preferences or priorities.

Tom Gavin, the spokesman for the administration’s Office of Management and Budget, said the White House is not involved in the internal budget considerations for 2012.

In the memo, Papp also outlined cuts he would make to the number of ships doing daily counternarcotics operations in the Caribbean. Currently, about six ships carry out that mission daily, according to Papp’s memo.

He wants to trim the number back to an average of 4½ ships a day, while keeping the Coast Guard cutters that perform anti-narcotics operations in transit zones to respond to specific intelligence about drug trafficking.

“What I offered above is just a fraction of what is needed, and I’m prepared to go further,” Papp wrote in the memo.

Rep. Pete Olson, R-Texas, told Napolitano she should reconsider Papp’s nomination.

Napolitano answered questions Thursday from House lawmakers about the 2011 budget proposal.

Olson said Papp’s ideas would put the American public at risk. Napolitano refused to talk about the memo because she said it was an internal draft document.

The Coast Guard was transferred from the Transportation Department to the newly created Homeland Security Department in 2003. In times of war, the Coast Guard may be transferred to the Department of the Navy. It has 42,000 active-duty volunteers.

A date has not been set for Papp’s Senate nomination hearing.