By Carlo Munoz
To avoid a maritime Mumbai-type attack against American-flagged ships in U.S. waters, the Coast Guard wants to bolster its antiterrorism capabilities, specifically among its Special Mission Units, a top service commander said this week. Rear Adm. Paul Zukunft, assistant commandant for Marine Safety, Security, and Stewardship for the U.S. Coast Guard, said the service is well-equipped to carry out counterterrorism missions, such as monitoring and surveillance of shipping lanes and conducting port security operations.
But in situations in which those counterterrorism efforts are breached, and an actual attack does occur, the Coast Guard’s assault and security response forces are ill-equipped to handle the increased sophistication and intensity of modern-day terrorist attacks.
The brunt of that mission falls on the service’s Special Mission Units, consisting of Port Security Units, Tactical Law Enforcement Teams, Maritime Safety and Security Teams and the Maritime Security Response Team. Characterized by Zukunft as “a tier below SOF” or U.S. special operations forces, the MSRTs main mission is maritime assault, which the team uses SOF-like tactics such as precision small-arms fire and close-quarter combat to “freeze the scenario” and act as a “stop gap that buys time” for other allow time for other U.S. forces to arrive.
While extremely capable–MSRT members have undergone basic underwater demolition and SEAL training with Naval special warfare teams in Coronado, Calif.–Zukunft said the capability gap in Coast Guard antiterrorism operations lies in the numbers.
Since its formation in 2004, the Coast Guard only has one MSRT in the field to respond to a growing slate of terrorism threats on the sea. With only one team on station to conduct such specialized missions, the Coast Guard will be at a distinct disadvantage should an attack like the recent one onboard the C.V. Quest or the hjacking of the MV Maersk Alabama in 2009 occur in U.S. waters.
Zunkunft did not go into details on what kind of cooperation with DoD or the other services would be needed to close that operational gap, but did note that something would have to be done sooner rather than later.