for the sedition acts in 1798. what that does is actually tries to prevent criticism of the government and the president. >> find c-span's, the weekly, on the free c-span radio app under the podcast app or wherever you go for podcasts. >> coast guard commandant admiral carl shorts talk to journalists about you dealing with including maritime securi security, drug interdiction and natural disaster response. he spoke at a conference hosted by the military reporters and editors association for about one hour and ten minutes. [inaudible conversations] >> hello, everybody. we've ironed out a few technical difficulties. take you for your patience.

i'm a reporter with cq roll call and if you are tweeting its # mr e2018. now to introduce our next speaker is the person who led the charge to getting him here and that is managing editor of military .com who is the vice president of mrd. >> thank you very much. it's my great pleasure to introduce our next speaker admiral carl scholz new at his post as of june 1st as a commandant of the coast guard so this is one of relatively few public engagements in front of the media and hopefully it will be the first of many for mre. i believe that for us defense reporters inside the beltway we are guilty of a sin of omission

when it comes to the coast guard. they are not in the pentagon and they have a separate budget and sometimes i think they can be overlooked for that reason but in the last year and half the coast guard has committed attention like never before. the service rescue thousands and musters hurricanes in texas in the caribbean and set new maritime drug interdiction records in regions including u.s. army command and played a pivotal role in the international partner in south and central america and successfully, recently made the case for much-needed new heavy icebreaker in arctic operations. admiral scholz has had a role in all of that. prior to becoming the coast guard 26, that he served as commander of the coast guard entire atlantic area where last year he oversaw all those hurricane operations for four different hurricanes. he made time to be the media and

liaison with the president who said he's impressed. he also served as director of the department of homeland security joint task force east which gave him purview of the southern border as well as the caribbean and central america. there is very little he has not actually touched in spirals and did a tour as director of governmental and public affairs at coast guard headquarters in dc and previously served at various times as a liaison to the house of representatives and the us department of state bureau for international narcotics and law-enforcement. looking for a question that will stomp him good luck with that. without further ado i'd like to introduce admiral scholz. [applause] >> good morning. technical difficulties was because we are a small service again with paper slides that

were supposed to be hold up but were not sophisticated enough to elaborate we jumped on board and will embrace dod modern technology today. thank you for the privilege of being here today. it's a privilege to be with part of the defense colleagues and media that tracks and works in a space more closely on a day-to-day basis. john, to you we are excited i hope this is educational and there's a lot of things the united states coast guard does that the average citizen does not appreciate. my intention is to walk across it today and heighten your awareness and report to the question and answer period. we are fortunate to be part of the greatest military that exists in the world across the globe today. we attract and this is all service and i believe the best and brightest america has to offer. to secure a better nation for the next generation and it is truly a privilege to serve alongside our dod rather. i'm service chief, not part of the joint chiefs but chairman

allows the customer to sit with the joint chiefs because we bring unique capabilities to the american military might picture. we are a unique skill set and when you cobbled them together it enables us as a nation to base all challenges in complex. the coast guard that is really what i hope today will shed light on and other nations try to duplicate us. look at coast guard or the world you will see many have white chips with orange and blue or diagonal racing stripes and if you look at a lot of the worlds coast guard they tend to be similar. they might have a white hole with a blue stripe but that's a form of emulation and that's the greatest form of flattery. i state with quite strong conviction that i think we are, in fact, the world's best go-cart. that's a high standard and we focus on that each and every day. what hope talked about has been a little of our branding. you heard a lot about the coast guard and the role of first responders with hurricane florence and michael and

carolinas in the florida panhandle and appreciate the media's effort to highlight the work of the men and women of the coast guard and interagency partners in federal management agency in civil authorities that dod brings capability against but there is a human element to the stories in the media denies job of shedding light on that. all heroic men and women have been rightly recognized in this past year. 2017th atlantic base hurricane season arguably was one of the most significant or challenging in my adult life and potentially in the last century. it really had a not presented an opportunity for the united states coast guard to shine. we search thousands of people, ships and aircraft, personnel, deployable specialized force capabilities and saved over 13000 lives in this combined 2017, 2018 hurricane response effort here. not just about the rescue but we repaired navigation only and if

you go back to 2016 hurricane matthew the bounce up the atlantic seaboard was pretty devastating in haiti and took about 40 lives in north carolina. i don't diminish that was not effective. that's from created hundreds of navigation discrepancies along the eastern seaboard. want to find out how important those navigational aids are to the economy of the nation, 36 hours in responding to matthew when the governors from florida, succulent in north carolina and virginia were all on the phone wondering when the ports would get back open. the ports are that critically link to the country's economic prosperity. there really is an increasing crescendo of demand on the united states coast guard today. the threats are not regionally focused or locally containable. networks, peer competition, hostile nationstates and adversaries wish to do us harm and respect borders. the homeland is no longer a thing to worry.

as my service secretary honorable person nielsen said the home game and the away game are no longer distinct. they are one in the same. this poses, gated obstacles to national security and the coast guard is part of that illusion. as challenges to a nation security prosperity and global influence grow and become more complex the need for a ready and responsible start has never been more needed. from the public we serve him from our own department from federal state and local partners from the geographic combatant commanders spread across the globe. the coast guard we are back the smallest of the firearm services but we ate small force with unique authorities and capabilities. all respond to disasters and rescue mariners in distress we cannot, regular commerce on the lotteries and operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 355 days a year to keep our nation secure. it is those efforts that are so

often overlooked and is an armed force -- the piece, to focus on his global strategic competition is surging and i think the national strategy and national defense strategy speaks to that. adversaries are becoming more sophisticated in the maritime environment is growing increasingly complex in the coast guard provides unique solutions across the full spectrum of operation from security cooperation up to and including armed conflict coast guard like the department of defense will continue to operate under secretary mattis' paradigm of cooperate where we can and compete where we must. we ideally complement the unmatched military heart power and drive in asserting american values influence below the threshold of armed conflict. in alignment with our sister services in the affirmative defense we deploy globally influence, behaviors, fortify alliances and challenge threats for far from the american soil.

the coast guard is unique instrument of national security and power at home. and power abroad. we serve globally and all seven continents and bridge the gap for homeland security and homeland defense intersect and that's an important point. coast guard seamlessly integrates in today's join for support, as i mentioned, all six of the three geographic combatant commanders on a near daily basis. we provide commanders with approximate 40% of all our major cutter time, 210 or bigger ships. in about 18000 patrol vote hours as well as an average of aircraft supporting mission daily. looking to the future i expect increased coordination amongst the armed forces. over the past decade coast guard embarked on a transmission program to capitalize our votes and aircraft and support systems are committed to the recapitalization of our fleet and i just callout the national security cutters.

the best response cutters and offshore patrol cutters and awarded a contracted in september to start to building out a fleet of 25 offshore patrol cutters. waterways and polar security cutters. these new assets are game changers for our service. our moderately combined with enhanced to our aviation assets improve real-time medications and our ability to execute our missions. with these interoperable problems we seamlessly integrate in today's joint force. these new capabilities coupled with our authorities, scotia and partners keep the coast guard a perfect compliment to expeditionary strike forces around the globe. we anticipate more out of hemisphere to plymouth. bottom line coast guard advances our national security and due to nontraditional threats and governmental issues facing many nations the coast guard truly is a partner of choice for both traditional navies and global coast guard. we shape how countries conduct their time monument and established governance within

the international order. cooperative initiatives come in many forms, regional associations, bilateral agreements and security cooperation activities and those are just to name a few. these efforts foster a more secure a maritime environment. we provide where i had the privilege to serve as director of operations at that cocom where we detected in monetary capabilities here in the western monsieur. we combat transnational crime and work while building the interdiction and crisis responsibilities of western partner nations. almost every ship working in us southern command responsibly is, in fact, the united states coast guard cutter. provide constant presence five-six ships, some days as many as nine, ten ships, on person teams, specialized versus predominately in the pacific ocean but to a lesser degree in the caribbean reason. with these assets we patrol an area that is larger than the entire united states and i say

an equivalent paradigm would be patrolling the united states with five police cars. that's how fast that region is. the adversaries are pushing further out west of the galapagos. that area is as big of the united states expanding to be the size of the north american continent. right now can western monsieur just south of our border governments are facing to ministering due to drug fueled violence throughout the region. violence and instability weakens the rule of law and hinders legitimate commerce and terrorizes citizens of the many to face the ravens in the safe havens are typically here in the united states. seven of the ten most dangerous countries in the world measure by annual homicide rate and that's a number that looks at how many murders for every hundred thousand citizens are at our southern neighbors were spread across our southern neighbors geography. recently washington post in an article that discussed the current murder crisis in atlanta. 400 deaths a day spread across let america in the caribbean

noting the silence truly triggers the immigration crisis we are seeing. transnational criminal network networks -- they rival legitimate fortune 500 companies raking in some $64 billion or 64 billion annually. as a market their commodities families and communities are to report when those drugs arrive on the streets and the various pushback is there any rule of off your home. not only at our back door but within our living rooms now. our maritime border to the south is exploited by these organizations who invoke fear and violence as part of their daily business models. your coast guard with a push forward strategy is on the front lines of this hemispheric fight. combating these networks requires presence and draws on the coast guard's unique global authority to attack illicit traffic trafficking where the most vulnerable and that is at sea.

large quantities of drugs captured at sea reduce the violence when those drugs reach the central american in advance into the united states. the image by me as a self provide submersible summary. it was carrying 20 pounds, 6 tons of cocaine and these vessels aren't readily hard to detect but with our moderately and integrated intelligence we are interdicting record amounts of drugs. disrupting below the pure cocaine in source owns off of ecuador, colombia and panama is our government's most efficient means for dismantling the criminal transnational networks. by removing cocaine in bulk we prevent the smugglers from reaching the shores of guatemala, of seven or, next go where those are broken up and become almost undetectable into the united states. this is critical. it truly is, as i mentioned, disassociates the violence from the drugs when we interdict large quantities at sea. coast guard working with our

interagency partners inducted the most aggressive campaign undertaken in recent history turning, networks within the united states apart from our borders. over the last three years we removed over one point to million pounds of unkept cocaine, one point to million pounds and delivered almost 18 million smugglers for prosecution. in the evidence obtained at sea hopes are homeland security investigations drug investment agency and federal bureau of investigation partners open up window into the past and cancerous world providing us with key intelligence and enabling our partners to target and dismantle major criminal networks and complete the interdiction cycle. these criminal networks undermine social order and increase violent crimes and sow seeds of illegal migration and darkly contribute to a starkly high and increasing drug related deaths. drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death here in the united states. it outnumbers firearms, motor vehicles and homicide. it cost more american lives in

more than 70000 last year on an annual basis. more lives are lost then during the entire vietnam war. the impacts of this are wide-ranging and caustic to the nation with white house counsel of economic advisers recently raised its estimate of the drug academics cost to over 500 billion. without question unequivocally the criminal organization selling drugs directly threatened our national security and american way of life. control of our borders is essential element for national security. we put out those borders thousands of miles away from our coastline. the most regional stability and reduce pressure on our southern border. beyond the western monsieur the coast guard plays a critical role in ensuring open and prosperous and inclusive world order. in collaboration with the end of pacific man were coming encouraging cooperation are free

and open to us. we are expanding and deepening our network of allies like minded partners throughout the region to enhance maritime governors and bolsters stability by building partner capacity and theater security cooperation. coast guard helps mature of the nation's inherent capability and to please their own waters and supports cooperative enforcement of international laws strengthening free and open access to maritime feelings of communication. for example, we support the -- nations developing their own coast guard and actively combat predatory operators that have long-term benefit for those they claim to assist. wherever the coast guard deploys ripping will base orders to the maritime commerce and provide examples to countries around the world. we go department of defense partners and just included the successful to anything -- packed. the world's largest multinational naval exercise. we sent one of our flashes national security to serve as commander of carmine task force

and a maritime security response team based out of san diego to provide our best tactical solutions and contributions to that exercise. and currently were in operational planning phase for a long-range patrol supporting me and don't take in 2019. in this role because will build maritime capabilities and expand emerging relationships and western pacific to provide that foundation for an adaptive and stabilizing framework to counter operations in the region. looking over to central command are 110-foot island class patrol boats and interdiction teams conducts security operations daily. we been there since 2003 and patrol vote forces southwest asia. we commit six cutters to support the navy busily commander and now sent organization that falls under central command. our unique access to foreign territory further has

cooperation and access. over the last two years long coast guard patrol boats have conducted in that region 731 -- this is a volatile region we supported over 35 joint exercises preparing our gulf cooperation council for the arabs date partners and coalition forces to deal with the increasingly dynamic environment. just this week i spoke to the centcom commander indicated he relies on those highly capable for starting to provide critical security in that dynamic region. for the coast guard to continue eating this demand the cutters will need to be with cap lies and ships are more than 30 years old. fortunately, congress has recently recognized as google services and provided funds for the first two of those six levels. we'll have a new -- that will truly up our game.

to continue to that effort we need the funding for the four additional vessels and fully complement our capabilities in the region. additionally, maritime engagement teams support essential commanders theater campaign plans to security cooperation, engagement on maritime law-enforcement and tactical techniques and procedures. from 2010 until 2015 that maritime engagement trained 40 countries in his efforts improved joint interoperability and build skills to develop over the region. while the coast guard many women are operating others are operating 1500 miles south of the border and still more in my letter to patients primary response presence in the arctic and antarctic is the united states coast guard. we have enhanced maritime awareness and facilitate modernized government structures and promote broad partnerships to security needs in the spinal and emerging region while we focus on creating a playful and collaborative -- were responding to the effects of increased

competition in the strategically important by latitudes. more than one century the coast guard has been a visible us presence in the arctic ensuring sovereignty for america resources but her current role has never been more crucial in the arctic holds vast resources in the maritime geostrategic elements is on the rise. an estimated 30% of the world on discoverable oil reside there. as does 30% of undiscovered natural gas and 1 trillion worth of minerals set to be derived from the arctic sea floor. the bering sea alone with more than 50% of fish and shellfish in only consumed or harvested by the united states. moreover, the arctic has critical shipping lanes and in 2017 a record 9.74 million tons of goods were transported on the noticing route about russia. that number will only increase.

looking south for six decades the antarctic treaty has been the cornerstone of government promoting international cooperation in ensuring non- militarization in suspending territorial claims. in the next three decades several crucial elements of this treaty will come up for renewal including the current ban on commercial drone. regions believe to have an approximate 200 billion barrels of oil in numerous mineral deposits as well. in addition to being the largest single depository of freshwater on the planet. with increased activity in the arctic and the impending renewal of key components mounting russia in chinese operations but friends the future is now in the polar regions. as a nation we are behind the power grid. assisting presence is imperative to ensuring our nation security, asserting our sovereign rights and protecting our economic interests today and well into the future. our competitor, russia, drives

20% of its gross domestic product from activities in the arctic and building up original soviet basis already in place in antarctica. additionally, russia continues to expand its already robust fleet of polar i.c.e. breakers and according to a 2017 congressional research service report russia has a total of 46 ice breakers, including power vessels and asked stanley expanding their fleet with 11 ships under construction. don't forget china. they are also investing in the region and their presence, china's play in the long game to reshape the global balance of power to clear itself a near arctic state. china recently issued its own arctic policy and attempting to establish access and characterize the region as a global commerce. investing significantly in the arctic including the russian lng project on the peninsula. it was officially incorporated into their one belt, one road initiative and additionally

china is a growing presence in the antarctic with five bases with one ship under construction plans to announce another china's influence in high g region is only increasing. the coast guard builds trust and prevents complex among countries with interest in the polar region. uses diplomacy, cooperation in formal and oral, through mechanisms such as the arctic coast guard forum in the north pacific coast guard form an international maritime organization and bilateral relationships. however diplomacy and cooperation are empty without the maritime awareness and this means presence. presence in the arctic equates through influence. our nation currently has two operational icebreakers. one heavy and one medium and that heavy is a polar more than 30 years old. we've only had one heavy operational polaris icebreaker and we are well behind other nations. in those regions given the strategic geostrategic importance we absolutely have to

up our game. because card cannot meet the nation's needs without the necessary tools and that starts with the polar security cutter. we recently renamed our new heavy icebreaker acquisition the polar security cutter to denote its future national security and economic interest in these polar regions. i talk about polar security acquisitions through a lens called the 631 approach. you plan to fill six icebreakers at least three of which are heavy but we can be in the high latitude the way the nation needs us to unless we get after building that first one now. that is the one to continue investment reflects her interest in standing as an arctic in articulation and affirms the coast guard's role in providing a short axis to the polar region for decades to come. if we don't own the averment today our competitors absolutely will tomorrow. fiber, when we talk about keeping our nation secure we can't overlook cyber in our

world relies inexorably upon information technology, cybercrime are expected to settle business with a whopping a 20-dollar price tag just over the next five years. the demand for cyber knowledge and oversight is no longer on the horizon but upon us. the coast guard in alignment with the permit of defense provides tremendous value in the cyber domain because of our broad authorities and law-enforcement agency. members of the national intelligence community and as an arm service. we operate across the spectrum of .com and .gov domains and leading the international maritime organization on cyber security standards. in our ports and waterways the exposure of technological create but also create vulnerability in automation and integrated it systems. were leveraging long established relationships to effectively counter these cyber scripts. our nation security is

inexorably linked to our prosperity and it's one of the longest deepwater ports in the entire world providing the nation's tremendous competitive advantage. the marine transportation or mts contributes over 4.6 trillion to our nation's economy on an annual basis. it sustains 23 million jobs and reckless supports 90% of our demonstrate. the nation's waterway are the lifeblood of our economy and by far the most efficient means of transferring the goods that keep this economy moving. case in point, one barge on waterways is equivalent to 15 railcars. or 50 trucks on a highway and we think about it those numbers are staggering and just our economy would be devastated by a well executed attack on our ports and waterways. that's why the national security imperative to protect this asset

and the men and women of the coast guard have a critical role in keeping our waterways our nation safe and secure. two weeks ago we released our maritime outlook and her ten year vision for sustaining economic prosperity. in the sizes three lines of effort. modernizing navigation and mariner information systems and transforming workforce capacity and strengthening partnerships. similar to the other armed forces the coast guard faces a significant budget challenge and leave lost purchasing power, 10% worth, and the last eight year period in deferred maintenance and a strained and undersize workforce in our needs to rebuild the readiness are ever present. all of our services the coast guard and department of defense services have faced severe readiness challenges. of the 26, net it's my top

priority. the key to success is always been our people and the cornerstone of readiness and a diverse workforce of active duty reserved with civilian and -- for many women called the disaster and deployed abroad in the defense of our country and protect our sovereign interest in the polar regions. they secure our borders and thwart dangerous criminal networks. they're here in the home and protecting and facilitating those trillion dollars of economic activity i spoke to. the coast guard intersects two of our nation's most important strategic goals through building our armed forces, protecting our nation's borders. you would think given the incredible return for the united states coast guard we have no trouble securing a budget that will meet the needs of the service and improve that readiness but annualized appropriation for operation support is not getting pace with our current acquisitions. the national security memo raised operating in support dollars for the defense to the level of 12% in fiscal year 2017 and 18.

however, coast guard grows about 4% in that same period of time. this is about the challenge of being an arm service outside of the department of defense. coast guard's facing less than 2% increase in the ons part of our budget with fiscal year 19 and one of those agencies yet to be given a budget operating under continuing resolution. we were shortsighted in the past and i make these needs widely known and i take some response will be for that as a senior leader but we have to advocate now for the critical operation and support money to maintain, train and equip our people and assets in the future but it's crucial we receive an annual increase the level of about 5% on that operation support side of our budget to improve readiness and meet demand. we must find ways to garner continued support for capital asset funding and maintain about 2 billion-dollar annually. this is absolutely right for the security of our nation and in fact, everything because does

relates to the security and prosperity of the united states. right in line with the national security strategy which states and i quote, to succeed against the growing threats we face we must integrate every dimension of our national security and must compete with every instrument of our national power. we need to stop thinking in terms of just defense spending and nondefense spending and need to stop you about security and nonsecurity because many of the asymmetric threats to our security today are real in here. we are no longer looking over the horizon that 90% of the coast guard funding classified as nondefense discretionary the coast guard, military service has to fight for funds against all other nondefense discretionary requirements. we are the only service trapped under budget control limits and moreover our defense operations funding is a grown since 2002, stuck at 340 million. yet we spend more or proximally a billion dollars in only on defense-related operations. in closing, one of the five

services the coast guard is a first responder, along with an agency, maritime regulator and a member of the intelligence committee but first and foremo foremost, and armed force with a action and operational legitimacy we continue to lean in to answer the nation call. we feel a unique role, omitting our sister services in the apartment of defense and together your armed forces are on the front lines everyday safeguarding the security and prosperity of our great nation. as we have for the last 228 years we will continue to adapt to emerging national demands and the dynamic international environments. we are proud of our legacy of service is america's coast guard. we will build on the legacy and rest meet the challenges faced as we deliver a ready, relevant and responsive coast guard to our nation, department and combatant commanders across the globe thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. [applause]

>> as the introducer i will take the privilege of asking the first question and i might take maternal privilege and ask a question or two today. i will start things rolling and wrangle out here. you mentioned the state we are in with the heavy icebreaker and i know the polar star just came out of drydock and is getting old, 42 years old now. >> that's getting old. it is all. >> my question is with the new polar security cutter coming out do you anticipate a gap between when the first one will be ready to operate and when it will become absolutely crucial to take the polar start off like you. >> short answer is we are hoping to get that first polar security funded here in 2019 budget. the presence budget included it

have another 50 million-dollar line item we all know the 2019 budget outside of the department of defense is hhs remain under a continuing resolution. i stated i'm guardedly optimistic that the funds will be there but in terms of the gap, the polar star we are keeping up polar star alive and hope to be able to bridge that gap until the first polar security cutter -- actually, a couple security cutters. on an annual basis it goes down to -- and breaks into antarctic here to support the operations in the south pole. that remains a one mission challenge for that 40 plus -year-old cutter. the first polar security cover will take over that mission and be a second hall that will take us or enable us to push -- i talk about influence but more presence up to the arctic and work in both by latitudes. short answer is i think we can bridge the gap and will enter a four, five year extended will be

call service let extension program to get polar star across that gap. if we get funds here in 2019 for that first polar security cutter i'm guardedly optimistic we can put that thing into water on 2023, early 2024 and have it out to an operational mission within a year, your half. thank you. >> [inaudible] drug interdicti interdiction, poor safety, the arctic challenges, what happens when you go up to the hill and spent time of their? what happens when you testify or meet with members individually and they see everything that you do and how much bank the american taxpayer gets for the buck -- what is the response about from the members about greasing your budget? thank you. >> thank you for the rest of it

having spent a little time working legislative for the coast guard to be seven of the last 15 years on capitol hill the coast guard almost to the member on both chambers is very much appreciated and understood. where it becomes challenging we do sit in that discretionary nondefense part of the budget so we compete with a lot of national priorities and we have an array of 11 statutory missions so it's not an easy three bullet elevator speech when you talk about coast guard so for the alaska delegation there interested in the emerging or the reality of the arctic today as well as the coast guard inexorably woven into the fact that the fabric of alaska but other places in the country we don't rescue people from land both locations. and left it in remote areas the coast guard is the only folks to get the people and get them to higher-level medical care. there are different relationships across the 50 states and different regions of the country but they almost without exception the congressional interest here for

the coast guard and the favorable want to go up there. i tried to articulate the importance of where we been successful in recent years since the 2018 on the best refunded art efforts at $2.69 billion we never been north of 2 billion before. when i spoke of my remarks of a 2 billion floor stable protectable, recapitalization funds going forward those funds we can continue our recapitalization program to get into recapitalizing airplanes. where we have not been as successful as on the operating side of the budget. when you tie the building of a national security cutter which happens at hii in mississippi and tie that to former senator cochran's congressional cloud as a senior appropriate or there is momentum and you maintain momentum. on the operating side we can tie that to an industry based in state across the country and find it harder to advocate for those dollars. yes, sir.

>> admiral from -- magazine. since canada has recently legalized marijuana do you anticipate someday having to interdict drugs coming across the great lakes or on the ocean seaboard's? >> to be frank, we have been working drugs right across the canadian border for my entire coast guard career to some degree. illicit activities across the northern border and its marijuana, sometimes south to north and cigarettes north to south and a bunch of different things. we've been involved with that with our romantic ready investigations and partners and a program with the rcmp with a ship write or type it extensively work on that the border and the legalization gets trickier is for my border patrol colleagues with cbp officers at the checkpoint. on the federal level marijuana is still illegal drug so how do

you work the land border aspects? we been working across border and what i think it changes here for legalization of canada -- i'm not sure if it will have to watch and see how that unfolds. >> cindy, defense. i want to learn more about your work in to pick on. you mentioned from back in the test worst man which i think is interesting in itself and the ship was able to do that technically in terms of the crew skill but generally what you doing in the pacific especially south china sea with partner nations to try to, as you said, push back below the level of use of military force. >> i appreciate the comment. the question -- today and we been for previous years were doing international training with the viennese and vietnam is

doubling down on the development of their coast guard. vietnam has a very unique geographically strategic situation there and sitting adjacent to to china and we are helping them develop their coast guard. they are developing a very fast pace and parting and training with indonesians and other regional partners. that is one aspect of it and the indo pick him commander has requested capabilities in this current fiscal year and will not get into the here because of security purposes but were looking to respond to that. have you take the unique prosperity's as a laundress agency and sending a whitehall coast guard cutter there is different access that a coast guard cutter may have been sending a great all combat it so how does that indo -- commander use that leverage in that theater. do i suspect will do operations?

i don't know. with return ship over the commander that's for his use but i'm my suspicion is if we were to send a ship there they would leverage the unique authorities, capabilities and training our men and women to have an influence in place like oceana where i mentioned were small island nations with large exclusive economic zones derived with protein source and drive their economic most of their economy from those fees and how do we help them protect their sovereign interest. those are the roles i suspect the coast guard will be most value in the region. >> [inaudible] that's not a best use of a coast guard cutter with its unique authorities. >> i would say a coast guard currently is a warship i would think there's allied partners and others that are supporting that that'll be the discretion of the commander where we send a vessel and the use that as he sees that fit in advancing his

theater campaign plan as regional strategy. >> as you mentioned there has been a buildup or interest of where the chinese intend to put bases or installations all over the world and wondering their drug interdiction operations in the south region pacific the caribbean have you been monitoring or seeing any slow buildup or at least their intent from the chinese to build up and position in the silence? >> harkening back on my time at us southern command in my recent time at the atlantic forces commander i think we clearly see chinese influence in the hemisphere. look at china siblings in the north and south or to the panama canal you look at the piece in the chinese version of hospital ship operating in the hemisphere and clearly there is interest there or investment in the latin america continent and other parts of the world.

ma'am. >> megan -- news. in the arctic region i know it's been assumed that the polar security cutter would be the primary us presence in that region but the navy right now has an carrier for the first time in a while i was wondering as you develop the polar security cutter if you're comfortable with the level of command-and-control medication between the coast guard and us navy or if there will be development alongside the ship to collaborate with those in the regions. >> we focus on being interoperable and connected with art navy and defense partners on things we do. clearly, as a 12 billion-dollar organization we have to make choices that are right size to her budget but i believe the national work schedule, polar

security cutter will have the ability and interoperability with our 80 or whoever they find themselves in joint operations across the. >> have you looked at what the construct might look like with your icebreaker along the worship's? >> right now we been singularly focused on bridging and giving that polar star maintenance wife down to the antarctic and keeping our eye on the ball and working with the navy and we call integrated project office. the navy has been helpful as we look to inquire that security cutter. they are more extensive experience buying large capital asset ships that help us drive down technical risk, cost risk, schedule risk so as a traffic partnership and they been supportive of our efforts so it's a joint collaboration before we spent the first dollar on the polar security cutter. i look forward to that continued collaboration of operation.

>> good morning, sir. i'm susan, independent journalists. i've seen a fair amount of what you do while covering hurricanes for people magazine. i'm listening to what you're saying and the message i get from when i do my coverage by listening to you is a very busy and getting busier. ... at one point, ten, 15 years ago

we had options go to 10,000. when you look at the battle rhythm of these atlantic basin hurricanes and honestly its storms we have c-130 flying out looking at the region for the recent super typhoon that just went through the region so we're not using with atlantic basin storms, we've been treated with that part of the globe come hurricanes approaching hawaii recently. we are busy. there's an unprecedented level of demand on the coast guard. from a force numbers stanwood as whitfield these new capabilities, we had some measurable growth in the out years, i've taken the baton from my predecessor, working on a force planning construct, then some manpower analysis, requirements to the hill of numbers. arguably the coast guard could be a bigger coast guard. we have to put that in the suit of choices, budget decisions residing within the department of homeland security.

i've got to right size my budget to sort of what our allocation of that 48 billionth of plus or minus homeland budget is pick in terms of recruiting, we are drawing tremendous talent. we're running about 3800 young men and women through a recruit training center in new jersey. back in 2012 we throttled down to less than 1500 in the sequestration year. we are at the highest level of recruits we pushed through. the caliber is fantastic. the brand is strong. i talk about mission ready total workforce. when you talk about a ready coast guard that's a handshake agreement with me and young women that come in. i will be an organization looks like america, that has professional opportunities, growth opportunities. i need to focus on with the blended retirement that's in thick for our newest coast guard men and women. they will have choices and the 20 year model of yesteryear to

earn derived benefit or retirement in the military is a different model. with unemployment at 3.7, we're in a competitive space. our brand is drunk so getting great young men and women and we have to make sure we treat them right. we have to show them an exciting palette of missions and a commitment to their families compare healthcare, those types of things. i think we're in a good place but i suspect on my watch ovulating the brick work for the practical reality of when retirement eight, ten years from now when john mayer and mooney joined it making a career decision about whether they stay and would offer them a bit of the kicker to sign up, continuation pay for four more years or if they take their skills and jump to the private sector. i want to be an report of choice. i want that to be a difficult decision for young men and women. i don't expect i going to stay in the coast guard but i want our brand, our commitment to them as parts of our armed services to make the difficult decision.

>> admiral, china has the world's largest coast guard that they had been fairly heavily militarized and some accusations that they been using their coast guard more to enforce their claims to total control of the south china sea. what was your level of cooperation or conflict with the chinese coast guard? >> so the chinese coast guard was moved position under the people's liberation army navy here in the not-too-distant future. that was an interesting group. we do enjoy a level of cooperation with china. this past summer we actually had collaboratively work to come we had a chinese shipwright afford one of our large cutters, the alex haley, , and she was operating a few hundred miles off the coast of japan, what a high seas drift operation. the types of nuts they put out nine or so columbus of knitting

and the haul up and ravage everything from ocean floor. gets trapped and everything gets killed. that's illegal under u.n. resolution high seas drift netting, the net sites is limited come to open, about 2.5 km is a legal maximum. this ship this ship was in direct violation of u.n. resolution and with the chinese ship writer aboard it turned out come we approached the vessel. we engaged in the vessel, turned out it appeared to be a chinese vessel. we worked through the people's republic of china. we boarded that vessel and would interdicted that vessel, turn that over to the chinese government for prosecution. they will circle back when the prosecution occurs. there is collaboration, cooperation at the level and in the north pacific coast guard forum that's one of those forums i alluded to. we do enjoy a collaborative and cooperative relation to some degree. i think as we look at the role

that the chinese coast guard is playing, you mentioned an increasingly aggressive enforcement arm of pla. we have to consider that carefully. we are about c, open c lines of communication, a world order that enables global maritime trade. we are watching those relationships carefully. >> good morning, admiral. question about what you guys do in central america. i know you mentioned you pushed the u.s. border, thousands of miles south. is there any concern cutting aid to the very countries that you're trying to cooperate with to interdict drugs, that would sort of curtail your mission or your ability to successfully do what you do down there, if a to this countries from the u.s. is going to be cut? >> so i would say on what we do, the push part, pushing the

borders 1500 miles out, i think you're you're the talk about a wide net significant. that translates to send some of the instability that hits the central america quarter. if you look at regional stability and getting after this, , probably a whole of government solution that is required. aid is a part of that. i'm not going to comment. there's many discussions about the space. there was a central american prosperity as you get a conference here in the nation. i think all those conversations across the security and the prosperity think are underway. there are some recent changes to government. there will be a new president in mexico in the early part of december and you alone can president down there. a lot of the coca that turns into cocoa, cocaine rather, that's one of those drugs that we spend a lot of work energy there. the president is doubling down. he's committed to i think a 50% reduction in eradication of the

coca leaf in the next five years. that's very tough talk. we are encouraged by that's i think it's in the form time to look at the whole of government effort and getting after that problem set i really unfold in the central american corridor there they are from the north coast of the indian producing regions of south america through the central american corridor that manifests itself to violence in central america and puts drugs american street. more than 70,000 deaths last year exceeding automobile accident. that's a big number and we don't stop to think about that but that's a significant threat to our nation. >> carla with voice of america. two quick questions. one since you mention the centcom region. can you just give us your thoughts on the stead of the arabian gulf now? when other was that big iranian plant exercise back in august but it's been relatively quiet

reporting license then so i just like to get your status update on the security situation there. and then second question, we were told by the cno earlier this year that russian submarines are probably in the atlantic at a rate that is not been seen since the cold war. i was one if you'd seen any of these, if they meet over to the coast guard terrain and territories, of what you've seen the russian activity. >> regarding the centcom theater, , i would tell you the arabian gulf remains very dynamic, and you heard the number, i think 700 or something boardings here. that is a dynamic area. iranian presence. i'll say persistently aggressive behavior as we escort our army vessels, use army vessels, navy vessels in the region. we pay attention. i think the threat remains high. on the kindest to coming the centcom commander in those parts of the world. we are a sporting fires

capability. we bring that maritime law enforcement expertise, the broad authorities, we cultivate the navy fleet of vessels over the work under the authorities to cut think there's question probably best answered a respected geographic support commanders here where coast guard provides some of the niche capability. >> russia? >> undoubtedly, i think we see russia, you know, meddling in a lot of different places in more aggressive than in recent years. within my department, homeland security, we have a midterm election coming up and we got coast guard cyber professionals working with the department of homeland security is hunt and incident response teams. working with our dod colleagues under u.s. cyber, to make sure we have secure elections so there's russian -- i'm not going to touch russia. that's not in my lane and something i think that on an appropriate person to speak to. but i do think we see different

behaviors out of russia here little bit and we will continue to support the department where appropriate and the department of defense where appropriate. >> good to see you again. during your remarks you made a pitch for additional funding. what ideally would you like to see? do you want to see larger strength for your service? would you describe your first right now and straight under the current budget packages that you have? what more would you like to see, i guess, resource wise coming into the organization? >> what i think would be if i want to adopt sort of a soundbite would be stable, predictable funding on the capital front, what we call, now it is pci under our nomenclature and that's about a $2 billion trajectory going forward. that will allow us to maintain a

healthy recapitalization recon ships and other systems. the real kerry that is of most concern to be an invention under one priority is writing his, readiness of the coast guard, readiness of our people is about a 5% steady growth rate there. i mention post post bca, loss % purchasing power, kind of flat rate can even a detriment on the operating side. we need to get a steady trajectory, 4% to 6% annually. that would keep us healthy. that would allow the service chiefs to ensure him to living equity coast guard to the sect of homeland security, to the combatant commanders to support their needs for coast guard capability. that's where i'm at, around 5% on the operating side. >> 5%? >> on operating budget we are about $7.34 billion coast guard some not going to do public math but it would be about a 5% and could increment.

>> and that's less about hardware, less about equipment. this is more of the personal cost? >> on the hardware side, we have a high water mark of 2010, the omnibus, 2.60 9 billion. that put. that put money in for a tenth and 11th national security cutter. additional c-130. money to start the contract on the opc. we've been doing well. i mention that's a trivial to the political interest and how you buy capital assets and rebuilt things like that. it's that operating piece that i really most concerned about because it's harder to go to the hill and articulate that dollar that doesn't come to poverty a gift what can't you do with that. we're going to deliver a ready coast guard. its choices. at the end of the day you talked about, you mentioned about personal growth. i could make a very strong case for a bigger coast guard. i will run the coast guard i

have picked some of the new platforms, if we may not have predictable funding, to bring some associated growth that one of the rallies, maybe it's a, we are replacing fifty-year old medium congress, almost 40-year-old cutters that would be 60 six your chips by the tie replacement. there's additional cost on all ships but the new ships are tremendously capable but a 419-foot national security cutter with a crew of 120 sailors that replaced a 1960s, \70{l1}s{l0}\'70{l1}s{l0} package 378-foot high endurance cutter that had 135 shipmates, the 175 shipmates, the new ships are technologically sophisticated. a lot more of maintenance is done with contract support. it cost me almost 200% to sustain a national security cutter than the 378 ships it replaced just because they are bigger, more capable. it's the ship we need but there's a certain, new assets have tell, we call support tellico with them.

just getting the procurement funds without the operating funds kind of tried you to a challenging space. >> john grady with u.s. and i news. a question going back to columbia and drug flow. now, the new president said he's going to be cracking down and eradicating product coming in to your predecessor said that he was intercepting approximately 20% of what the coast guard was able to identify coming in. what is the percentage now? and then a follow-up question. are you seeing a drop in precursors of opioids coming from china? >> so on the first question i would say we provide in gain

capability that the department of defense through enterprise called joint interagency task force south provide the detection monitoring. that unit falls under the u.s. southern command. it has situational awareness on probably 80% of the maritime drug activity in the eastern pacific, and maybe slightly less degree and looked in the caribbean. about 75, 80% of the drug flow on the oceans is in the eastern pacific right now. we are able to action about 25% of that. in the cases where we have the ability to action that, intelligence, we are successful 85, 90% of the time. so there is a capacity conversation. with more capacity you can remove more drugs. that's a set of choices. in terms of the precursors from

china, that's not, you know, the focus on that is, it's a little more in the warehouse of the drug enforcement agency, joint interagency task force west. i don't have the precursor numbers on the but i think china clearly, you can tie china to that precursor chemical conversation, , absolutely. you can tie china to the opioid conversation. i don't have those numbers you with me today, sir. >> i was just wondering, what's the future of your aviation fleet look like? you need more rotorcraft or more fixed wing? what does the future look like? >> so with it are aviation fleet we've with life rotary wings and fixed wings. today in our fixed wing we are a mix of c-130 h miles, c-130 j models. we are marching toward a recapitalized fleet of all

c-130js. we got funding and 18 budget for 15th of what we need to think about 22 so we are on a good trajectory there. i think we're optimistic, there might be a 16th in the '19 budget. we have call the 235, a medium range patrol aircraft, and we are on a trajectory to buy i think it was 36 of those. and then we had an arrangement, ideal that felt out what didn't, but it's come to fruition with the united states air force. so it picked up a fleet of 14c20 seconds. that's a twin engine, looks like a small c-130. it's a twin-engine aircraft. we are working, there's bit of a worldwide parts shortage on that so we're fielding those c 27 spirit week at the first couple cutter or station in sacramento. we got mine in '18 budget for assembly that will put down in mobile in a building alphabet assimilated.

we're stepping out on feeling those c 27th. our fixed wing will be an amalgamation of 235, probably in the high teen numbers. hopefully we'll have the c27 chase omission dies in the not-too-distant future. on the road beside we are watching department of defense closely with future vertical lift. reply a fleet of 60, actually it's 98 what we call aerospatiale dolphin helicopters. there is no more of those been made so that fleet of 98 is what we will have. we are probably looking to fly those more than 30,000 30,000 . so we are into what we call the inmate 65 echo upgrade. that's our next iteration but we have to keep those things in air for a while yet. probably into 2030. on the larger rotary wing with level to call the jayhawks, the inmate 60s similar to the seahawks and the army version of the black hawks. again would be doing a strategy

and pushes out to about 3000 300 hours. that's have been flown 30,000 hours per we have sent out a a program we get some 60 seahawk from the navy. sometimes 80% out to bash but ten of $12,000. we have aviation logistics center down in north carolina. it sums like watching the show overall on the velocity channel with a ticket cardin put down to the carcass, the wire and rebuild it. we brought a handful and under that program. our supplemental funding for the hurricanes put money in there for 360. >> will bring three more on pornographic or fleet is 60. it is that is a 46 like to grow that fleet. because there's number 65, we need to press in on that gap, 2015 to early 2030 timeframe. things will happen and we will have some type of incident where an aircraft will suffer some type of mechanical problem that is irreparable. so the '60s i think are the

long-term solution but we will be bridging the next decade and a half with those dolphins and those seahawks, excuse me, those jayhawks. what you see in rotary wing is what you see for a while but we are doing upgrades on them. >> time for two more questions. >> you mention the cra couple of times. we dodged that bullet on the dod side of house -- >> i mentioned what? >> the continuing resolution. setting aside how much money you get, whether you actually get it is another question. how bad is the impact of the cr on your capital programs and your operations programs where you said you were more concerned? >> the continuing resolution probably not a good reflection of things but we've been operating on contending resolution so much in the last couple of decades that's almost a normal order. it is for advantageous for a

service to start your year with your appropriate budget on the first of the fiscal year on one october the we are probably from adept at that nothing reality. that process is that process. having worked legislative affairs for the coast guard, there's things in terms of major acquisitions that you can't start under a cr. it was important for us to get that opc, offshore patrol cutter, awarded before the end of the last fiscal year. i think we awarded that on september 20. we are where we are on that. when you start to take crs and that passports to a conversatin about government shutdowns then it becomes a concern from the workforce, are civilian employees that don't come to work and live in that uncertainty. we are more capable, ready relevant responsive coast guard when we get a budget on time and it gets rid of some of that uncertainty. >> hello. lucas robinson. i do ago the "new york times"

had a story about detainees on coast guard ships and that they were on the ships for weeks and months at a time. a year later they were picked up in drug operation for a year later those detainees are being transferred more probably to law enforcement or does this problem still exists? thank you. >> first and foremost i would say perception of whether it's a problem or not. that was probably some detainees in some cases that had been in ships or few weeks, and those were exceptions, not the norms. we tried to bring folks that are violating the laws to justice as swiftly as possible. when you're operating in places like the far reaches of the eastern pacific out past the galapagos, there's a time spaced distance component. we treat folks to gain at sea for violating international law. we treat them humanitarian to get i feel very confident in that, and we try to bring them in any reasonable amount of time.

one thing that has benefited us in the last year through cooperation with the department of justice is we had a change that allowed us in the past, we would have to present detainees wherever they were presented here and the united states, that u.s. attorneys region, that's where they would be prosecuted. doj has worked with us a bit so if we bring folks into miami,, they could be moved to san diego if there's a case that's worked out at the san diego u.s. attorney's office. that is been very helpful. in the past trying to triage those offloads to get to the right attorneys offices obligated the space. i would assure you we treat those detainees humanitarian. she manager at sea. we try to get them in as recently as we can, while he continued to keep those chips on station to do the mission. i'm sort of telling that story i think think with a little politicized story to start with. all right. thank you very much.

>> thank you, sir. thank you very much, admiral. we would appreciate it. before we let you go i wanted to give you a little memento for your appearance. your choice of an mrt mode, souvenir, with a lot of money, to stay or to go. >> i think i'm going to take it to go. thank you very much. >> good to see you. around of applause for the admiral. thank you. [applause] >> so were going to break for lunch now and general dunford should be here to start around 1:00. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> booktv will be in prime time on c-span2 this week for three nights followed by a four-day thanksgiving holiday weekend.

>> , cup thanksgiving weekend on the c-span networks, on c-span thursday at 8 p.m. eastern supreme court justice elena kagan followed by chief justice john roberts.

>> deputy defense secretary patrick shanahan explained the trump administration plan to create a youth space force as a six the bridge of the armed forces. he spoke of the military reporters and editors association conference for about one hour. >> welcome. my name is john donnelly