DHS Efficiency Review Turns One: More than Spare Change

As we mentioned yesterday, in honor of the first anniversary of DHS’ Efficiency Review this week, we’re going to spotlight a few of the outstanding DHS employees making a big difference in changing the way we do business here at DHS.

Sometimes, it’s the simplest changes that make a big difference.

U.S. Coast Guard Lieutenant Ryan Murphy recently came up with one such idea – an ingeniously simple energy-saving efficiency. Ryan realized that, by installing timers on vending machines to automatically turn them off at night when no one is using them, his base, Coast Guard Base Support Unit Honolulu, might lower its utility bills.

Ryan got the idea after examining sales records for each vending machine on the base and measuring their energy consumption over time. He found that several vending machines were consuming a great deal of power but had very low sales revenue. He also realized that the machines were not being used at night.

As a result, Ryan removed some machines from service, relocated others, and, using seed money from the Coast Guard’s Facility Energy Efficiency Funds, outfitted all remaining machines with inexpensive occupancy sensors that allow the machines to power down after hours. Additionally, because the machines would not be operating at night, he removed the lighting systems from the remaining machines, further reducing their daily energy consumption.

Sure enough, Murphy’s base now expects to lower its utility bills by $6,000 a year as a result of this clever innovation.

Sensible and easy-to-implement, Ryan’s efficiency is a great example of the many creative ways DHS employees are saving time and resources across the Department.

Guardians Report In from Haiti – Video Interviews

Cross-posted from the Coast Guard Compass.

Click on the image to watch the video on YouTube. (U.S. Coast Guard video by Petty Officer 2nd Class Eric J. Chandler)

In this Coast Guard video recently released out of Haiti, you can hear first person accounts from several responders as they talk about their roles and experiences while responding to Haiti after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the capitol of Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010.

This comprehensive video summary highlights response personnel and assets from participating agencies with action b-roll and field video interviews.

In the video, you will hear from:

• Petty Officer 1st Class Marcel Leroy, Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Team Miami
• LCDR Mark Shepard, Coast Guard Gulf Strike Team in Mobile, Ala., and currently assigned to the MTSRU
• Lieutenant Commander Maarten Veenstra, Commanding Officer of the Dutch Navy Ship Pelikaan
• Lieutenant Lyle Serber, Operations Officer of Coast Guard Tactical Law Enforcement Team (TACLET) South in Miami, Fla.
• Marshal Few, the Security Manager/FSO with the Department of the Army
  Petty Officer 3rd Class Alvin Abraham, Coast Guard Sector Miami currently onboard the CGC Oak
• Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Edwards, Maritime Safety and Security Team New Orleans

Watch the video on CGVI or on YouTube.

Announcing the 2009 Coast Guard Video of the Year Winners

Cross-posted from the Coast Guard Compass.

Results are in! The winners of the first annual Coast Guard Video of the Year Award are…

Drum roll please…..

First Place

With an average rating of 4.64 (out of a possible 5) stars, Coast Guard Cutter Sailfish wins first place for their video featuring the dewatering of the fishing vessel Blue Diamond about 90 miles off the coast of New Jersey. The 87-foot CGC Sailfish is homeported in Sandy Hook, NJ.

“The entire crew is pumped to win this contest!” said the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Junior Grade Steve Davies. ”When Chief Goss was taking the pictures and video during the rescue, he was just thinking about the families and friends of Sailfish. We hadn’t thought about posting anything online, but then the First District Public Affairs staff put a great video together and posted it online for everyone to see. It’s a great feeling to get some recognition for the work we did that day. The Coast Guard did a lot of great things in 2009 and we were just lucky the case was successful, the three fishermen and their vessel were saved, and that we were able to capture some of it on film.”

Click here to read more on the rescue and watch our winning video (or watch the extended version of the rescue operation here).

CGC Sailfish places first in the 2009 Coast Guard Video of the Year contest. Click the image to watch the extended version of the rescue operation.

Second Place

With an average rating of 3.53 stars, Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) 409, a Tactical Law Enforcement Team South (TACLET South) unit located in South Florida, won second place for a Navy video of the LEDET capturing suspected pirates as part of Combined Task Force 151.

“It was a great working relationship between the LEDET and the crew of USS Gettysburg,” said Lieutenant Dave Ratner, Commanding Officer of TACLET South. “It is a big honor to be involved in showing the public the Coast Guard’s involvement in non-traditional, overseas missions and our efforts to help combat the international piracy efforts.”

Click here to read about the mission and watch our second place video (or watch an extended version of the operation here).

LEDET 409 places second in the 2009 Coast Guard Video of the Year contest. Click the image to watch the extended version of the joint operation.

Third Place

With an average rating of 3.35 stars, Coast Guard Air Station Astoria won third place with a video featuring the rescue of a paraglider from a cave on the shoreline of Cape Lookout. The rescue swimmer, AST3 Robert Emley, and his flight crew were featured as the Guardians of the Week a few days after the SAR case. Amazingly, this rescue was just one of five missions in 12 hours the air crew conducted that day.

Click here to read about this daring rescue and watch our third place video.

AirSta Astoria places third in the 2009 Coast Guard Video of the Year contest. Click the image to watch the video of the rescue operation.

All of the video nominations were fantastic, but the top three winners were determined by the public’s vote using YouTube’s rating system of one to five stars. The winning units will receive an HD Flip video camera in a waterproof case to enhance their ability to capture and share imagery of their operations.

Congratulations to all of this year’s top 11 videos! Excellent job using video to highlight the missions and stories of America’s Guardians.

The next contest featured on the Compass blog will be the People’s Choice Award for this year’s Coast Guard Photo Contest. Click here for details.

Admiral Allen to testify on National Ocean Policy

cross posted from The Coast Gaurd Compass



For well over two centuries, the Coast Guard has worked to safeguard our Nation and its citizens, to secure our maritime borders, and to serve as a responsible steward of our oceans, our coasts, and the Great Lakes. – Admiral Thad Allen, Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard

The Coast Guard has a centuries-old tradition as America’s primary federal maritime law enforcement agency. Over the years, the missions have changed, but the Coast Guard’s roles have remained the same: maritime safety, security and stewardship. Tomorrow, Admiral Allen will discuss the merits of a National Ocean Policy and improved governance framework as he testifies before Congress as a member of the Obama Administration’s Ocean Policy Task Force. This initiative represents a significant opportunity to employ a “whole government” approach to manage the use and protection of our marine resources and maritime waterways with an emphasis on sustainability and predictability.

Guardians are no strangers to big picture approaches to the governance of our nation’s waterways. For nearly two decades, Guardians have participated in scenario-based strategy development exercises aimed at forecasting the threats and opportunities to the Coast Guard’s missions through the Evergreen Process and as recently as 2007 issued a Coast Guard Strategy for Maritime Safety, Security and Stewardship which called for a national policy to “address concerns ranging from increased use of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) to new uses in the Arctic.” More recently, Coast Guard cutters have assisted researchers at NOAA by deploying global drifter buoys to help us better understand our oceans while the polar icebreaker Healy has been involved in multiple initiatives to map and better understand the changing Arctic landscape.

Log on to Coast Guard Compass tomorrow morning for more on Admiral Allen’s appearance on Capitol Hill and check out the Commandant’s Twitter page to follow his testimony live.

For more information on the Coast Guard’s role in the Ocean Policy Task Force, please visit Admiral Allen’s blog posts on the establishment of the Task Force, the Task Force’s Arctic Awareness trip, marine spatial planning, and the Ocean Policy Task Force’s Interim Report.

Statement of Secretary Napolitano on Thursday Night's Aircraft Collision

The Secretary issued the following statement this afternoon on the tragic aircraft collision last night:

"My thoughts and prayers, along with those of the entire Department of Homeland Security, are with the men, women and families of the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Marine Corps today. We are providing every available resource to fully support the multi-agency search effort underway to locate survivors of this devastating accident. As we hope for the best, we are reminded of the danger and personal risk that the courageous men and women of the Department of Homeland Security and our Armed Forces confront everyday in order to ensure the safety, security and resilience of our great nation."

Loss of Coast Guard C-130 and Marine Helicopter

cross-posted from the Coast Guard's iCommandant Blog

I sent the following e-mail to all Coast Guard personnel:

To the Men and Women of the United States Coast Guard:

I am deeply saddened to report that one of our C-130 aircraft, CG-1705 out of AIRSTA Sacramento, crashed last night about 15 miles east of San Clemente Island off the coast of San Diego. CG-1705, with seven Guardians onboard, was searching for an overdue 12-foot pleasure craft when there was a collision with a Marine Corps AH-1 Cobra helicopter at 1915 Pacific local time. There were two personnel on the Marine Corps helicopter which was conducting a separate training exercise.

The Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Navy have been working collaboratively overnight and throughout today in response to this tragedy. I want to ensure our workforce is kept fully apprised as well.We have been and continue to actively search for survivors. Two Navy surface vessels were on scene almost immediately after the accident. Several Navy and Coast Guard aircraft, along with a Customs and Border Protection helicopter, are flying sorties in the area while multiple cutters including the BLACKFIN, BLACKTIP, EDISTO, PETREL, GEORGE COBB, and JARVIS are conducting surface searches. One of the Navy ships is remaining on-scene as well. No personnel have been found at this time but we will continue to work with our Marine Corps and Navy partners in this massive effort.

While we continue the search, we will fully support the men and women of AIRSTA Sacramento and their families. We are actively assisting the local field units to respond to this tragic event so they can focus on the ongoing search. This includes flowing resources and critical incident stress management teams where they are needed, supporting our fellow families and Service members, coordinating a joint military investigation, and working with our Department, the interagency, the Congress, and the media to keep people informed.

I know many of you want to know the names of the people who are missing. We are following the appropriate notification procedures and working closely with our sister Services and the impacted families to ensure the proper steps are followed. We will release that information as soon as possible.

I will provide further updates as they become available. I encourage all Coast Guard members to keep these missing Guardians and Marines in your thoughts during this difficult time and to continue looking after your shipmates.

Admiral Thad Allen
Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard

(File Photo) A Coast Guard C-130 Hercules aircraft, similar to the one involved in a collision with a Marine AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter, Oct. 30, 2009, is pictured in this Coast Guard file photo. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Cindy Beckert.

Laying the Keel

From the Coast Guard Compass:

It was a big day yesterday for the third National Security Cutter (NSC), Stratton. The Coast Guard and industry partners not only laid the keel, marking the beginning of the ship’s construction, but also announced the cutter would be sponsored by the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama.

As the cutter’s sponsor, the First Lady’s initials were ceremoniously welded into the keel during yesterday’s events. Serving as Stratton’s sponsor is an extension of Mrs. Obama commitment to supporting America’s men and women in uniform and their families. The NSC Stratton is also the first white-hull patrol cutter to be named after a woman in 20 years and only one of about 10 Coast Guard cutters with a female namesake.

More at the Coast Guard Compass. They have some great video, too.

Secretary Visits Coast Guard Unit

Secretary Napolitano paid a visit to the Coast Guard cutter Frank Drew in Portsmouth, VA, today to see maritime security capabilities firsthand and check out the Coast Guard’s Maritime Security Response Team (MSRT) in action. What's the MSRT? Well, first things first: these guys don't mess around.

The MSRT was originally created as part of a response to weapons of mass destruction threats, and they now train – and train, and train – for the full spectrum of maritime challenges, from domestic law enforcement operations to counterterrorism. The MSRT utilizes canine explosive detections teams, tactical delivery vessels, and multiple specialized resources in their efforts. Today, they demonstrated a vertical insertion – very quickly boarding and controlling a boat by fast-roping in from an HH-60 helicopter. Suffice it to say: very cool stuff.

Shots from the Scene

On Friday, we posted about the Coast Guard cutter Bertholf's drug bust last Wednesday off the coast of Guatemala. The Coast Guard just posted some great photos and infrared video on their blog. Check them out.

Some Coast Guard Crossposting

A great story over at the Coast Guard Compass on a first for the recently christened cutter Bertholf:

Late Wednesday night, the crew of the cutter’s first drug bust and disrupted a major drug smuggling operation in international waters. Two suspected drug smuggling boats, four suspected smugglers and a bale of cocaine were seized as evidence some 80 miles off the coast of Guatemala.

Head over to the Coast Guard Compass for the rest. We can't wait for the pics and video.

Secretary Napolitano Tours USCG Cutter

The Secretary just wrapped up a tour of the Coast Guard Cutter Aquidneck, a 110-foot patrol boat operating in the Persian Gulf. She was joined by Vice Admiral Robert Papp, Commander, U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area and Defense Force East, and Captain Douglas Heugel, the Section Chief for Patrol Forces Southwest Asia. Vice Admiral Papp essentially oversees half the Coast Guard's operations worldwide.

The trio toured the boat and spoke to the crew of the Aquidneck about their mission and concerns for the department. The Aquidneck, led commanding officer Lieutenant Fred Bertsch, is currently deployed to the Persian Gulf and supports US Navy operations in the area.

Secretary Addresses Coast Guard Personnel

Just after touching down in Kuwait, Secretary Napolitano spoke to Coast Guard personnel stationed in Kuwait. She thanked them for their service, mindful of the fact that they will be on duty and away from their families on July 4th.

Most Americans will take time this weekend to celebrate our nation's independence. Let's remember the men and women of our armed forces who will continue the work to secure America's interests abroad.