Page 16: of Marine News Magazine (January 2019)

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INSIGHTS the course of a distinguished 35-year Coast Guard career.

Less than one year after taking command of the nation’s ? fth, uniformed military service, Schultz has plenty on his plate, much of which concerns the almost 40,000 brown water commercial assets that dominate the landscape of the U.S. merchant marine. Listen in as we kick off the

New Year with INSIGHTS from perhaps the waterfront’s most important regulatory professional.

Admiral Karl Schultz

Let’s start with the Icebreaker: beyond the McMurdo

Commandant, mission. Do we really need it if there’s going to be per- manent water in the Arctic, as the scientists tell us?

U.S. Coast Guard

We’ve talked about the Arctic as a place where we need to have more focus as a nation, because the Arctic is evolv- ing and developing. The Arctic is no longer an “emerging” dmiral Karl L. Schultz assumed the duties as the area; it is a “now” area. I talk about a 6-3-1 strategy for the 26th Commandant of the United States Coast Coast Guard, in terms of ice breakers, and that 6-3-1 strat-

A Guard on June 1, 2018. He previously served from egy is that we need 6 breakers; a minimum of 3 are heavy

August 2016 to May 2018 as Commander, Atlantic Area icebreakers. The lexicon we’re employing today is “Polar where he was the operational commander for all Coast Security Cutters” for those heavies, the big breakers, and

Guard missions spanning ? ve Coast Guard Districts and then the 1 is really “1 now.” It’s going to take us, best case, 40 states. Previous operational assignments include Sector 6 plus or minus years to go from IOC – Interim Operat-

Commander in Miami, Florida, as well as command tours ing Capability – to FOC and actually doing missions, and aboard Cutters VENTUROUS, ACACIA and FARAL- that ? rst breaker will replace the 42-year-old Polar Star.

LON. His senior staff assignments include Chief of the 42 years old today, plus 6 or 7 years, you’re talking about

Of? ce of Congressional and Governmental Affairs; Con- a half century-old ship. I think we can bridge Polar Star’s gressional Liaison to the U.S. House of Representatives; life another … half decade plus, because we’re going to

Liaison Of? cer to the U.S. Department of State, Bureau have to. But it’s pretty dire. It’s that urgency of the 1 in the for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs; 6-3-1 strategy. We need to get going now. The President’s

Assignment Of? cer at the Coast Guard Personnel Com- proposed ’19 budget has 750 million dollars for the ? rst mand; and Command Duty Of? cer in the Seventh Coast Polar Security Cutter. That budget, as part of Homeland

Guard District Operations Center in Miami. Schultz grad- Security appropriation, is in debate. I’m guardedly opti- uated from the Coast Guard Academy in 1983, earning a mistic because our President asked for it. There’s recogni-

Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering. In 1992, tion about the Arctic as a priority. There’s one-third of the he was awarded a Master’s Degree in Public Administra- world’s untapped, natural gas up there. It’s not real deep tion from the University of Connecticut, and in 2006, water up there, a couple hundred feet or less where you completed a one year National Security Fellowship at Har- can extract some of that. There’s a trillion dollars in miner- vard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Sum- als that we care about, so we’ve got a lot of equities in the ming up, there isn’t much that Schultz hasn’t tackled over Arctic just in terms of natural resources. You’ve got expe-

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