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As far as addressing those challenges, we’re trying to communicate that a bit steady 5% rate increase annually in our waterfront. is there anything speci? cally that you through our new Maritime Commerce operating assistance support money. We are hoping to do an award for de- see a need to address these increasing Strategic Outlook. That gives you a healthy Coast Guard; tail design and construction in 2019. Po- technological challenges? that keeps me from losing sleep over the lar Security Cutter I think is a more apt I would say budgetarily. We have Budget struggles are ubiquitous as we readiness of the organization. name. As we are an operating agency in made good progress on our recapital- discussed earlier. Can you update our the Department of Homeland Security – ization side of our budget, but the op- readers on how you see the budgeting I know there are multiple ship, boat there’s not a lot of other thinking in the erations and support side – which is the process today? and air wing capital expenditure pro- Department of Homeland Security that people side – has been ? at-lined since I mentioned previously that we’ve grams, but one program I wanted you thinks about heavy icebreaking in the the Budget Control Act of 2011, we’ve had some good, steady progress on the to drill down a bit more on was the ice- Arctic. But when you think about the se- lost 10 percent purchasing power over capital budget, (and in fact) 2018 was a breakers. There’s obvious intense in- curity of the nation – the national inter- much of the last decade. banner year – the biggest budget we ever terest among my readers on the status ests up there – presence equals in? uence. And when I talk about a marine sci- had, around a $2.6- billion line for acqui- of the icebreakers, recently renamed We have Russia with a ? eet of approach- ence technician, a prevention workforce, sitions. I think for us to be continually the Polar Security Cutter? ing 50 icebreakers there, and I believe that’s a people business. If you’re not successful on the acquisition side, we We have not built an icebreaker do- they are deriving 20 plus percent of their investing in your people – either in the have to be at about $2 billion a year. mestically in more than 40 plus years. economy out of the Arctic. They’re go- number of people, the training for those The proposed ’19 budget has us a little We are running the nation’s sole, heavy ing back to military bases they haven’t people, the advanced school for those bit below that, but if we can maintain ice breaker, the Polar Star, a 42 year been in years; they are very focused people – it gets challenging. So I think that trajectory, then we can keep the mo- old ship. She makes an annual sojourn there. The Chinese have been up in what what I’ve talked about is a little different mentum. down to McMurdo Station (Antarctica) I’ll call the North Slope every year since than the previous leadership. When I talk Important also is that operating bud- to break the ice, bring in the replenish- 2016 and on-and-off since 2009, paying readiness I talk people – people are part get. We have been ? at-lined for eight- ments so they can get through to the next attention to what we’re doing up here. of the readiness conversation, and readi- plus years. The President, in his ? rst winter. That’s a strategically important (We’re not up there much). We also ness is my number one priority. That Presidential Decision Memo, talked place for the United States. The rest of have the Healy – which is our medium eroding ? scal operating budget has put about strengthening the support for the year, that ship gets back home and icebreaker here – doing research there us at a point where we need to be paying DOD, for the military forces, the armed we basically send it to a shipyard for and supporting a couple customers such attention to readiness. forces. We are one of the armed forces, multiple months. She just sailed here in as the National Science Foundation and even though we don’t sit in DOD (and I the last 48 hours on her way back to Se- NOAA.

Can you discuss how the Coast Guard don’t think we should sit in DOD), but attle. The crew will have a little bit of The Arctic, in my mind, is a competi- is evolving to facilitate the ? ow of com- we would love to bene? t from that injec- time to turn the ship around and she’ll tive space, with many untapped natural merce on the waterways, in the ports, tion of resources. be sailing sometime in November for her resources, and we need to assert our in the harbors? So DOD in ’17-’18, as I understand annual trip to McMurdo. So that ship is sovereign right there. That’s a presence Yes, and your timing is interesting it, got about a 12% push in their operat- gone from its home port last year, some- piece, and right now, we’re not there. because we just rolled out a new Mari- ing expense budgets, while we received where north of 250 days. We are stretch- My philosophy – my strategy – is time Commerce Strategic Outlook. As about a 4% in that same period. In the ing the life of that ship out until we get talk about a “6-3-1 Approach”. We need you know, Greg, in your familiarity with ’19 budget, that increment is less than the ? rst of these Polar Security Cutters a minimum of six icebreakers – that’s the industry over decades like myself, it 2%. The Coast Guard needs about a – the heavy icebreakers – down at the consistent with my predecessors – that’s is about a $4.6 trillion of revenue-gen- erated activity annually that happens on

America’s waterways. So that’s your 361 ports, it’s your 25 thousand miles of nav- igable channels, your 95 thousand linear miles of coastline, and 23 million jobs.

There is a lot of activity in that space.

GLOBAL EMERGENCY RESPONSE, And at the end of the day we are fo- cused on three lines of effort: Facilitat- ing lawful travel and transportation on

WRECK REMOVAL, & MARINE SERVICES secure waterways, so there’s a homeland piece of the secure waterway, there’s the

COMPLIANCE: ALASKA APC | OPA90 SMFF | CHINA SPRO economic piece there, and then there’s a modernizing piece. You know, we have 50,000 aids to navigation out there, a constellation of aids to navigation that enable water movement up through the heartland waterways. We are moving into things like electronic aids to naviga- tion, but we’re dealing with a regulated community that has an appetite for how quickly you can change. So we’ve got to modernize the aids to navigation system, we’ve got to look at marine information systems and modernize that. And then it’s partnerships – we do none of this work alone. So I think we play a pivotal role on enabling that giant economic engine. I think it aligns well with the President’s 24HR EMERGENCY RESPONSE +1.954.764.8700 | RESOLVEMARINE.COM focus on infrastructure and prosperity, so www.marinelink.com 51

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