Page 12: of Marine News Magazine (February 2015)

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INSIGHTS

HAW. He rounded out his education with a degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and in 2005, completed a National Security Fellowship at Harvard Uni- versity’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Today, he leads one of the U.S. Coast Guard’s most important, but probably least understood mission sets. As the Coast

Guard attempts to keep pace with both the emerging tech-

Rear Admiral nologies on the waterfront and the workload demands of this diverse department, RADM Thomas is the point man on whose desk the buck stops. This month, he weighs in

Paul F. Thomas on all that for MarineNews readers.

Assistant Commandant for

Give our readers a brief SITREP on the state of the coast Guard’s present day Marine Safety, Credential-

Prevention Policy , ing and Prevention department(s).

The Coast Guard’s Prevention program remains world

U.S. Coast Guard class and we are taking every initiative to maintain and improve our service to the nation and to the maritime in- dustry. The Coast Guard has one of the most robust staffs

Rear Admiral Paul Thomas is the Assistant Comman- dant for Prevention Policy overseeing three Coast Guard of engineers, economists, environmental specialists and technical writers in all of Federal government. This staff directorates: Inspections and Compliance, Marine Trans- allows us to develop standards and regulations for mari- portation Systems, and Commercial Regulations and Stan- time safety, security and environmental stewardship. We dards. The programs include waterways management, nav- igation and boating safety, ports and facilities, merchant have a highly trained, geographically distributed work force to conduct inspections and examinations in the ? eld mariner credentialing, vessel documentation, marine ca- sualty investigation, commercial vessel inspections, and that ensure compliance with those standards and provide industry a level playing ? eld. And, we have professional port state control. A longtime specialist in Marine Safety, investigators at our ? eld units who engage when there are

Security and Environmental Protection, he has served in accidents or violations of law to ensure accountability as myriad safety billets, including Commanding Of? cer of appropriate, but also, more important, to provide feedback

Marine Safety Unit Galveston, TX, and as the Director of that improves both our standards and compliance process-

Inspections and Compliance at Coast Guard Headquar- ters. The U.S. Coast Guard Academy graduate has also es. We do all of this on the foundation of very healthy spent time as Fifth Coast Guard District Chief of Staff, interagency, industry and international partnerships. This is a very unique and powerful combination of authorities

Executive Assistant to the Assistant Commandant for Ma- and capabilities, and it allows the Coast Guard Prevention rine Safety, Security and Stewardship, Military Assistant to program to safeguard the entire Maritime Transportation the Director of Net Assessment in the Of? ce of the Secre-

System; including vessels, marine facilities, mariners, and tary of Defense, Commanding Of? cer in USCGC CAPE the waterways themselves.

ROMAIN and Operations Of? cer in USCGC BLACK-

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