IN MY VIEW.A SOUND INVESTMENTSir: Regardless of the merits of Capt. Mark Johnson's well-written piece, "The Coast Guard Alternative" (NWCR NWCR National Weight Control Registry NWCR Nuclear Weapons Correction Report , Winter 2000), the fact remains that the Coast Guard is unable to keep up with the missions it already has, because of a lack of funds and decrepit de·crep·it adj. Weakened, worn out, impaired, or broken down by old age, illness, or hard use. See Synonyms at weak. [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin d equipment. It is sad that while the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. ponders financial and military aid to Colombia and arms deals to Taiwan, the Coast Guard is relegated to plying Plying, in textile manufacture, is the activity of twisting, intermingling, or otherwise intimately combining two or more fibers or yarns into a combined yarn or fiber. Plying Yarns America's coastal waters in thirty-year-old cutters and aging aircraft. The situation has deteriorated so much, in fact, that Coast Guard commanders have cut back their operations by as much as 10 percent in an effort to save wear and tear on equipment and personnel, both of which have been stretched to the limit. Perhaps the Coast Guard's capabilities should be modernized before its mission is expanded any further. In fact, the Coast Guard has undertaken its largest acquisition effort, to do just that. Called the Deepwater Program, it will provide the service with upgraded equipment and a means to tap into the technology it needs. For example, Bath Iron Works Bath Iron Works (BIW) is a shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine. Since its foundation in 1884 by Thomas W. Hyde, Bath Iron Works has built private, commercial and military vessels. , part of the industry team in the Deepwater effort, is one of the nation's premier shipbuilders and the lead designer and builder of the Navy's Aegis-equipped Arlegih Burke-class destroyers. Such advanced radar systems would give back to the Coast Guard its edge in the drug-interdiction effort. While any recapitalization Recapitalization Restructuring a company's debt and equity mixture often with the aim of making a company's capital structure more stable. Notes: Companies often want to diversify their debt-to-equity ratio to improve liquidity. effort is expensive, the Coast Guard has proven time and again that it is a sound investment for the nation. In 1999 a]one, the Coast Guard seized more money in drugs than its own annual budget of four billion dollars. Syracuse University's Maxwell School  The of this article or section may be compromised by "peacock terms".You can help Wikipedia by removing peacock terms. recently named the Coast Guard one of the best managed and most fiscally responsible federal agencies. But the bottom line is this: the Coast Guard is one of the nation's most visible means of defense along American borders, and as such it deserves a financial--and moral--commitment from the Congress and the White House to ensure it remains fully mission capable in the years ahead. PHILLIP THOMPSON Senior Fellow Lexington Institute, Arlington, Virginia |
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