U.S. Coast Guard officials are pushing back on Rep. Duncan Hunter’s idea to move the service out of the Department of Homeland Security and into the Pentagon.
In March, Hunter, R-Alpine, sent a letter to President Donald Trump, asking the president to support a reorganization that would move the service into the Department of Defense with the other branches of the military.
“First and foremost, the Coast Guard is a military force. It deserves to be housed in a department that recognizes the importance of its mission,” Hunter wrote in his March 16 letter to Trump.
Published reports say Coast Guard leadership, including the Commandant of the Coast Guard Adm. Paul Zukunft, are pushing back on Hunter’s call to move to the Pentagon. While a military service, the Coast Guard also has a law enforcement role.
Coast Guard commanders said they are happy with being part of Homeland Security, which also has Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Protection.
Zukunft talked about the Coast Guard’s role as a law enforcement agency during a speech in San Diego, in February. The Coast Guard has a Tactical Law Enforcement Team in San Diego. They often work with the Navy, which, like other branches of the armed forces, traditionally cannot act as law enforcement on its own.
“But they can when they have a Coast Guard Law Enforcement Team embarked,” he said.
A form of the Coast Guard has been around nearly since the early days of the country. They did not officially become the U.S. Coast Guard until 1915. It was put under the control of the U.S. Navy during both World Wars. For most of their history, the Coast Guard was under the Treasury Department, though it has moved around. The service was under the Department of Transportation until after Sept. 11, 2001, when they became part of new Department of Homeland Security.
This was the second letter the congressman sent to Trump regarding the Coast Guard. Hunter spearheaded a letter signed by several congressmen that urged Trump to not cut the Coast Guard’s budget. A rumored cut of more than $1 billion had circulated widely just prior to Trump’s budget outline was announced in March.
