May 17, 2007
COAST GUARD'S BOTCHED MODERNIZATION PROGRAM HURTS NATIONAL SECURITY,
SAYS THE CONGRESSMAN WHO OVERSEES THE MARITIME FORCE - "60 MINUTES" SUNDAY
"Deepwater" Program's Direction by Contractors Working on the Plan was
Like Asking "the Fox to Develop the Security Plan For the Henhouse" says
Ex-Coast Guard Officer
The country is less secure and the U.S. Coast Guard is in
worse shape now than when it began its $24 billion "Deepwater"
refurbishment plan years ago, says the chairman of the congressional
committee overseeing the maritime force. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.)
tells Steve Kroft the plan - managed by contractors who also worked on
the contracts -- is a "mess" that undermines the Coast Guard's crucial
role in homeland security. Kroft's report will be broadcast on 60
MINUTES Sunday, May 20 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television
Network.
"[The Coast Guard] says they're not [in worse shape] but I
think they are," says Cummings. "Here it goes to the national security
of this country...particularly after 9/11...It pains me, it really
does," he says of the plan that is supposed to make the Coast Guard a
better defender against terrorism.
One of the weaknesses caused by Deepwater is the loss of
eight patrol boats due to a botched lengthening process. "When I went to
see these ships that were supposed to be extended from 110 feet to 123
feet...I knew something was wrong," says Cummings. "What you see is a
lot of buckling in the floor," he says. Although Cummings offered to
show 60 MINUTES the problem boats, the Coast Guard refused to allow the
broadcast to accompany or speak with members of Congress at its
Baltimore yard. After a cost of nearly $100 million, the boats will be
decommissioned.
Other Deepwater problems range from radios for small boats that weren't
waterproof and failed under testing in a rainstorm to serious questions
about the structural design of what will be the Coast Guard's largest
ships, National Security Cutters. Already $800 million has been spent
on the 418-ft. ships, despite the fact that engineers see design flaws
they believe could cause premature metal fatigue and even structural
failure. Flaws aside, one has been christened and another is being
built. Part of the money spent, $38 million, was wasted on a
since-rejected composite hull design that the former head of the Coast
Guard's Engineering and Logistics Center says was so heavy, it needed
four engines instead of two to propel.
Could the composite idea be a contractor's desire to utilize
a shipyard it re-fitted to construct composite hulls? "One can sure
make that inference," says retired Coast Guard Capt. Kevin Jarvis, the
former head of Engineering and Logistics. This question of conflict of
interest is at the center of what Jarvis believes was fundamentally
wrong with the way the Coast Guard handled Deepwater. Too big to handle
itself, the program was given to a joint venture of defense contractors
Lockheed Martin and Northrup Grumann to manage, which then "contracted"
the job out, mostly to its own companies.
"People say that this is like the fox watching the henhouse
and it's worse than that," says Jarvis. "It's where the government
asked the fox to develop the security system for the henhouse, then told
them 'By the way, we'll give you the security code to the system and
we'll tell you when we're on vacation.' It was...that bad," he tells
Kroft. To watch this clip, click on the link:
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=2822975n
Both the Coast Guard and Integrated Coast Guard Systems, the joint
venture of Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, declined to be
interviewed for this story.
* * *
Press Contact: Kevin Tedesco 212
975-2329 k..._at_cbsnews.com
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Received on Sat Mar 02 2024 - 00:57:27 CST