DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Coast Guard and local law-enforcement boats from
Charleston, S.C., participate in escort training procedures
with a merchant ship on the Ashley River. Safety and security is one of the five core priority areas of the “National
Strategy for the Marine Transportation System.”
“It has been great in this new format, and Secretary
Peters really supported this development,” said Brohl.
“It’s the Cabinet gathering together and recommending
to the president — and there is a lot to be said for that.”
The hands-on leadership behind the CMTS is through
its coordinating board, with the added involvement of
numerous representatives from agencies and departments with an interest in maritime issues.
The coordinating board, which meets quarterly, is
chaired on an annual rotating basis by one of the four
lead CMTS agencies. MARAD Administrator Sean
Connaughton is the committee’s 2008 chair, and Rear
Adm. James Watson, the Coast Guard’s director of prevention policy for marine safety, security and stewardship, will serve as chair in 2009.
The bulk of the work carried out by the CMTS is left
to its Integrated Action Teams (IATs), which meet on a
regular basis throughout the year. There are nine IATs
staffed by MTS-related agencies and department representatives, and each IAT focuses on specific MTS initiatives that complement the overarching mission to
enhance the efficiency of the MTS.
One IAT initiative is the development of the CMTS
national strategy, a two-year effort which has been led by
the Coast Guard; navigation technology integration and
coordination, led by NOAA; a Harbor Maintenance Trust
Fund Review team, led by NOAA and the Army Corps of
Engineers; and federal maritime data and coordination,
led by MARAD.
Brohl pointed to the navigation technology integration and coordination IAT, noting the advantages of
working within the CMTS forum.
“What is good about this IAT is that even though the
Coast Guard and NOAA and the Army Corps talk to one
another, this forum allowed for a more thought-out plan
of ‘What do we need to do? What are the navigation
technologies that could be integrated?’” she said.
Consequently, according to Brohl, there are now
concrete discussions on how to combine NOAA’s
Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System, or PORTS,
navigation tool, which provides mariners with live
geospatial information and forecasts, with Coast
Guard-managed Automatic Identification System
broadcast technology.
Shedding light on how federal funds are used has
been the focus of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund
review team IAT, Brohl said. The Harbor Maintenance
Trust Fund, established about 20 years ago, is a funding
source from a federal harbor maintenance tax imposed
on shippers based on the value of goods being shipped
through ports. The tax is placed in a trust fund to be
used for maintenance dredging of federal navigational
channels. It nets about $4 billion per year, and about
$800 million is spent per year, according to Brohl.
Brohl said that, early on, “we found out that almost
none of us had it clear in our minds what it really was
and how it functioned within the budget, and that it is
under the budget and not an independent pot of money.”
“This is a major funding source utilized primarily
by the Army Corps of Engineers to maintain the depth
of federal waterways,” said Magnuson. “As they don’t
get enough of the fund, the waterways are not being
used to the full extent authorized by Congress, and,
therefore, that perpetuates some inefficiencies.”
Magnuson said that through IAT, the Army Corps
was able to “appeal to their brethren on the CMTS,”
and because the Office of Management and Budget is a
member, there have been discussions during the past
year about the fund and making the case that more
money should come from it.
Brohl stressed that “the CMTS does not take the place
of any agency or department.” Still, “because there is no
FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] of maritime,” she
said, the CMTS has a place in what has historically been
a disparate regulatory community “where different agencies weren’t talking to each other.”
“As compared to airway systems and highway systems, we are so decentralized as to our programs and
authorities because Congress passed different laws at
different times for different reasons and was going to
different agencies to administer them,” said
Magnuson. “The only way to make sense of this federal family of authorities having to do with marine transportation is to have a CMTS. That’s why we exist.”
“It’s about process,” Brohl said. “It’s about the left
hand and the right hand knowing what is going on, so
ultimately the agencies and departments are better
informed.” ■
