Breakdowns and personnel problems hamper Coast Guard anti-drug operations

According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), large quantities of illegal drugs continue to enter the United States because challenges are making it more difficult for the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) to fulfill one of its core missions: combating illegal drug smuggling by sea.

In a new report, the GAO says the USCG has failed to meet its annual drug enforcement performance goal for the past 10 fiscal years. In fiscal year 2023, the agency intercepted more than 212,000 pounds of cocaine and 54,000 pounds of marijuana.

Although the U.S. government recognizes the illegal drug trade and criminal smuggling organizations as a significant threat, challenges in readiness, resource availability, procurement, and personnel shortages continue to make it difficult for the U.S. Coast Guard to combat the drug scourge.

The USCG relies on its medium-sized cutters for its counter-narcotics mission, but the aging vessels have failed to meet operational availability goals in recent years due to their declining physical condition. Coast Guard aircraft face a similar dilemma, failing to meet the agency's 71 percent availability goal from 2018 to 2022.

The USCG has proposed plans to replace the aging fleet of short-range helicopters with a medium-range fleet, but implementing the modernization program is fraught with challenges because of questions about how the medium-range helicopters will work with the current fleet of counter-narcotics operations helicopters.

According to GAO, the USCG's declining readiness is exacerbated by ongoing challenges with its planned $40 billion procurement programs to modernize its ships and aircraft. While the agency is implementing plans to replace medium-range cutters with new offshore patrol cutters, procurement delays are expected to create gaps in operational capability until at least 2039. Delivery of the first offshore patrol cutter is already four years behind schedule and will now not occur until 2025.

GAO has also raised concerns about the agency's budget decisions that have prioritized acquisitions. Specifically, GAO alleges that the Coast Guard has made short-term budget decisions that obscured the trade-offs necessary to balance the long-term financial viability of its asset portfolio.

Another major challenge is the severe shortage of personnel. Since October last year, the agency has reported a staffing shortage of almost 10 percent, partly due to missed recruitment targets in recent years, which in turn leads to a reduction in operational activities. Due to the staffing shortage, the agency has been forced to remove several cutters from active service, including three medium-range cutters that form the backbone of its counter-narcotics operations.

“The challenge for the Coast Guard to balance its diverse mission priorities has grown as it must accomplish more with its limited resources. Therefore, it is critical for the Coast Guard to address long-standing challenges to its counternarcotics mission, including better managing its procurement efforts to replace aging assets and infrastructure and assessing its personnel needs,” the GAO stated.