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History of the
Coast Guard Legal Program
The Coast Guard Legal Program Begins
The Coast Guard legal program began as the Military Discipline Branch in the Office of Operations after an Act of Congress of May 26, 1906, created a military discipline system for the Revenue Cutter Service. The branch remained in the Office of Operations following the creation of the Coast Guard on January 28, 1915 with the merger of the Revenue Cutter Service and the Lifesaving Service. The function of the branch during these early years was primarily to review the several types of Coast Guard courts, to prepare actions for the Secretary of Treasury, and to perform other matters of military discipline. Edward P. Harrington served as the head of the Military Discipline Branch and held the title of chief legal officer.
The Legal Division is Created
The Revenue Act of 1934 placed all legal duties and functions of the Department of the Treasury in the newly created Office of the General Counsel of the Treasury Department. As a result, a Legal Division was established as a part of the organization of Coast Guard Headquarters with the division chief designated chief counsel. Organizationally, the Legal Division was part of the commandant’s staff, and the chief counsel worked under the direction of the assistant commandant. Joseph P. Tanney, who had succeeded the retiring Harrington in 1931, became the first chief counsel.
The Revenue Act of 1934 and the efforts of Herman Oliphant, the first general counsel of the Treasury Department, substantially enlarged the functions and responsibilities of the Coast Guard Legal Division that was created in 1934 by creating a legal advisory service to provide legal opinions, both formal and informal, to the Coast Guard administrative officers. Over time the General Counsel assigned regularly other legal work concerning contracts, real estate, legislation, regulation review, and other matters affecting the Coast Guard to the Legal Division.
Kenneth F. Harrison assumed the position of chief counsel in 1938 upon Tanney’s resignation to enter the private practice of law. Harrison was assigned to the Coast Guard by the General Counsel of the Department of the Treasury where he had been serving since his employment from the War Department in 1930.
Coast Guard Law Expands in World War II
The outbreak of war in Europe was swiftly followed by the Neutrality Act of 1939. This act, together with the transfer of the Lighthouse Service to the United States Coast Guard in the summer of 1939, resulted in a considerable increase in the functions and duties of the Coast Guard and its Legal Division. These additional responsibilities required an increase in resources, and several attorneys, stenographers, an clerks were assigned to the Legal Division and the position of assistant chief counsel was created. A short time later, when President Roosevelt declared a State of Limited National Emergency and activated the Espionage Act of 1917, a Port Security program was established with extensive organization, regulations, and responsibilities. The size of the United States Coast Guard continued to increase, and the passage of emergency legislation, such as the Coast Guard Reserve Act, added to the duties and responsibilities of the Legal Division.
The transfer of the Coast Guard to the U. S. Navy on November 1, 1941, created several legal challenges, particularly regarding the transition from the Coast Guard disciplinary system to that of the Navy under the Articles for the Government of the Navy. The sudden entry of the United States into World War II on December 7, 1941, resulted in a rapid expansion of the Coast Guard to carry out its war missions. Almost all of the attorneys in the Legal Division were civilians at the time. Most were commissioned in the Coast Guard Reserve during the war - including Harrison who, having served as an officer in the Army Reserve for sixteen years before World War II, was appointed as a lieutenant commander on May 30, 1942. He rapidly advanced in grade, first to commander sixteen days later, and then to captain in May, 1943.
Coast Guard regulations in 1940, for the first time provided for a law officer a as a member of the staff of each District Coast Guard office. As these positions were filled, law officers were also provided to captains of each major port and the major independent units such as Supply Depots and Training Stations. The Legal Division at Coast Guard Headquarters faced difficult problems during the first year of World War II. Besides the increased demands for opinions, legal advice, and other legal functions, the recruitment and indoctrination of law officers and the formation of a service-wide legal organization for the first time required considerable time and attention. The Legal Division was required to provide the full range of advice and opinion not only to the administrative officials at Coast Guard Headquarters but also to District Coast Guard offices.
Executive Order 9083, which became effective on March 1, 1942, transferred the major functions of the former Bureau of Maritime Inspection and Navigation to the Coast Guard. This move resulted in an extensive field of new legal activity for the Legal Division. For the first time, the Coast Guard was vested with the authority to regulate certain phases of an industry - namely, the administration of vessel inspection and navigation laws. These statutes encompassed a system that had grown piecemeal for a 150 years; they were difficult of construction and interpretation, particularly in view of the special considerations and adjustments resulting from the emergency conditions arising from the war. To handle this new workload, a special section in the Legal Division was created and designated the Admiralty and Maritime Section.
At this time the Legal Division at Coast Guard Headquarters was organized into eight sections reporting to the chief counsel. The sections were: Opinion, Port Security, Admiralty and Maritime, Contracts, Real Estate, Courts and Boards, Legislative, and Patent. In addition, there were several special assistants to the chief counsel who were assigned special projects and tasks not falling within the cognizance of any particular section.
The Office of the District Law Officer in each district was organized along the same lines as that of the Legal Division at Headquarters, except that in the small offices the work of several sections was combined. There were no legislative or patent sections on the district level. During World War II, the staff of the Legal Division was composed of approximately twenty-five non-lawyers assigned to legal work in the field offices that included law offices in fifteen Coast Guard districts.
With the end of World War II and the resulting massive demobilization, the civilians that had been commissioned as reserve officers reverted to their civilian status and many returned to private practice. Captain Harrison returned to civilian status in April 1946, but retained his commission in the Coast Guard Reserve, eventually being appointed the Reserve’s first permanent Rear Admiral on June 28, 1956.
The post-World War II period contained few legal billets for active duty Coast Guard officers with law degrees. In late 1947, for instance, of the twenty-one people assigned to the Legal Division in Coast Guard Headquarters only three were commissioned officers, the remaining eighteen were civilians. There were no field personnel whose time was fully devoted to the handling of the legal matters that arose in the various Coast Guard district offices. The legal section headed by the district law officer that had existed in each district office during World War II had been consolidated in July 1947 into an organizational component headed by the "Legal and Intelligence Officer." This office was responsible to the district chief of staff for the performance of all duties other than those duties concerning legal matters, for which the Legal Officer reported to the chief counsel. In the performance of legal duties, he advised the district chief of staff, but was responsible to the Legal Division and the chief counsel at Coast Guard Headquarters. Coincidentally, a Coast Guard Reserve Voluntary Legal and Intelligence Unit 05-8 was established in 1949 and was commanded by Harrison in his Reserve capacity until 1960.
During the late 1940’s some lawyers returned to active duty in the Coast Guard after a brief period as civilians in private practice. Despite the scarcity of legal billets for military lawyers following World War II, many landed in quasi-legal billets, such as Marine Inspection and Investigation Offices, Captain of the Port Offices, and Port Security Units.
Uniformed Law Specialists Are Created
The arrival of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) in 1950 created an immediate need for legal officers in the Coast Guard districts. The requirements of the UCMJ resulted in the establishment of a single legal billet in each Coast Guard district as the staff legal officer. To fill these billets, the Coast Guard used some of the lawyers commissioned during World War II. However, the service felt the need for career-oriented lawyers, so the Coast Guard instituted a program of postgraduate education in law for its regular officers. In 1949-1950, prior to the effective date of the UCMJ, five Coast Guard officers entered law school. Each year thereafter, varying numbers of officers received assignments to law schools, with the number stabilizing at two per year by the mid 1950’s and continuing until 1969. The increased legal responsibilities and workload resulting from the UCMJ also caused a number of military lawyers to be added to the Legal Division at Coast Guard Headquarters as "Special Assistants to the Chief Counsel," who remained Rear Admiral Harrison. Enactment of the UCMJ also required a Judge Advocate General for the Coast Guard for the first time and Congress assigned that duty to the General Counsel of the Department of the Treasury, although many of the duties were subsequently delegated to the Chief Counsel.
The Legal Division Becomes the Office of the Chief Counsel & the First Military Chief Counsel is Appointed
When the Office of the General Counsel of the Treasury Department was created and the Legal Division in Coast Guard Headquarters was established in 1934, the chief counsel and his staff in the Legal Division operated under the supervision of the general counsel of the Treasury Department. The transfer of the Coast Guard to the newly created Department of Transportation in 1967 provided an opportunity for change in the Legal Division’s organizational alignment.
When the Coast Guard was transferred the Legal Division was woefully under resourced and its organization had not appreciably changed over time. At the same time, there was no established office of the General Counsel in the newly created Department of Transportation. A call went out to all of the modal administrations to provide personnel to staff the new department until permanent personnel could be hired. Captain William L. Morrison, a military attorney who was then serving as Deputy Chief of Staff for the Coast Guard following a number of command and legal tours, was assigned in April, 1967, as Assistant to the General Counsel. Captain Morrison’s assistance in organizing the General Counsel’s office which included a study of other general counsel offices and the legal offices of the new modal administrations, provided him a unique perspective to assess the Legal Division. Coincidentally, the Administrative Management Division of the Coast Guard instituted a study of the Legal Division in 1968. Recommendations of the study led to reorganization and realignment of the Legal Division, including its elevation to office level and making-the Office of Chief Counsel-responsible directly to the Commandant. The Office of Chief Counsel now consisted of six divisions: Maritime and International Law, Regulations and Administrative Law, Procurement Law, General Law, Military Justice, and Claims and Litigation. The Regulations and Administrative Law Division also was responsible for the Coast Guard legislative program. It quickly became clear, however, that legislation should be handled separately, and so a Legislation Division was soon created.
The 1968 reorganization also established the position of chief counsel as a military billet with the same rank as other office chiefs-rear admiral. On January 1, 1969, William L. Morrison, who had been appointed a rear admiral in January, 1968, and reassigned to the Coast Guard, was assigned as chief counsel in 1968, succeeding Rear Admiral Harrison who retired in 1968 at the age of 68. The Chief Counsel would remain a military billet from that time forward. The Assistant Chief Counsel remained civilian. Mr. Rue Helsel became the Deputy Chief Counsel in 19XX.
The creation of the Office of Chief Counsel in 1968 came at a particularly fortunate time, for it coincided with the Military Justice Act of 1968, which radically changed the military justice system, creating the Courts of Military Review, military judges, and greatly expanding the role of attorneys in the military justice system. As a result, the Coast Guard field legal corps expanded rapidly. Civilian attorneys were offered reserve commissions to fulfill short-term needs, and the post-graduate program was expanded from two to ten students per year to provide a larger cadre of career law specialists.
Although the need for additional attorneys to fulfill the mandates of the Military Justice Act of 1968 abated by the mid-1970’s , the number of military lawyers assigned in the field and, to a lesser extent, in the Office of Chief Counsel, continued to rise. This need was principally due to two acts: the Magnuson Fisheries Conservation and Management Act in 1976, which established the 200-mile Fisheries Conservation Zone (precursor to the Exclusive Economic Zone) and expanded the Coast Guard’s role in enforcing fisheries laws; and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1973, which greatly expanded the Coast Guard’s role in environmental protection. The post-graduate training for career military attorneys continued, but the rate slowed to about six per year by the early 1980’s.
In addition to implementing the reorganization of the Office of the Chief Counsel, Rear Admiral Morrison served as the legal advisor to the first United Nations Law of the Sea Conference. Other judge advocates would participate in the development of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, including future Judge Advocate General John E. Crowley, Jr. After Rear Admiral Morrison was assigned to district command in 1973, he was succeeded by Rear Admiral R.A. Ratti (1973-1976), Rear Admiral G.H.P. Bursley (1976-1978), Rear Admiral C.F. DeWolf (1978-1981), and Rear Admiral E.H. Daniels (1981-1986).
The Coast Guard Realigns
Rear Admiral J.E. Vorbach became Chief Counsel during Coast Guard “realignment” that began in 1987 to add 500 billets to meet the expanding "War against Drugs" when the Coast Guard was unable to obtain congressional approval to augment the force. Rear Admiral Vorbach was the driving force at the United Nations Conference for the Adoption of a Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances met in Vienna from 25 November to 20 December 1988. The United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances was adopted on December 19, 1988.
Realignment resulted in closure of the district offices in New York City and San Francisco, withdrawal of some support functions from the remaining ten districts, and consolidation of logistics functions in two new Maintenance and Logistics Commands (MLC’s) in New York City and Alameda, California. Among the legal functions transferred to the new MLC’s were claims, defense advocacy, real property, contract law, and civilian personnel law; the personnel needed to perform these functions and support the legal needs of the MLC commanders and their units nationwide were also transferred. As a result, the number of attorneys in the Coast Guard remained unchanged, although their distribution changed substantially. However, the number of legal support personnel declined by 15 percent, primarily at the district level.
The ultimate effects of realignment probably were not what anyone expected. First, the loss of clerical personnel meant that there were far fewer people to maintain the office law libraries, act as court reporters for courts and boards, or perform ordinary clerical tasks. As a result, the chief counsel successfully convinced the chief of staff to purchase computers for every lawyer and support staff assigned to the districts and MLC’s, together with a suite of hardware and software that put the legal program at the forefront of the Coast Guard’s office automation effort. Each attorney was given word processing, E-mail, and calendaring software. Every computer came equipped with the modem and software necessary to use both LEXIS and WESTLAW, and each office was equipped with a laser printer, color daisy wheel printer, and a scanner. All of the computers within each office were networked, and every legal office was linked via E-mail, giving attorneys from Boston to Honolulu and Juneau to Miami the ability to exchange documents and pleadings.
A second effect was that the MLC Pacific Legal Staff, believing that its defense advocacy branch was under staffed, soon entered into a memorandum of agreement with the Navy Legal Services Office (NLSO) on Treasure Island under which the NLSO would provide all of the Coast Guard’s defense advocacy needs in exchange for the Coast Guard providing two attorneys to the NLSO to perform military justice work for the Navy. The pilot program, begun in 1988, has been formalized with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Chief Counsel of the Coast Guard and the Judge Advocate General of the Navy with the Navy, providing for 4 Coast Guard attorneys to be detailed to Naval Legal Services Offices and/or Trial Services Offices in Seattle, Norfolk, and Washington, DC, in return for the Navy providing the Coast Guard defense advocacy services nation-wide.
In 1991, the new chief counsel, Rear Admiral J.E. Versaw, made several changes to the post-realignment legal program in order to relieve the workload in the district and MLC legal offices. First, he moved the MLC Atlantic Advocacy Branch to the Fifth District Legal Office in Portsmouth, Virginia, and entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Navy Legal Service Office in Norfolk similar to the one already in place in on the west coast concerning defense advocacy. Second, he centralized the household goods claims processing function in the Second District Legal Office. Third, he added attorney billets to several district offices to bring their complement of law specialists to at least three, partly to put a necessary second clerical person at the smaller districts, and also to revitalize the Legal Assistance program, which had very nearly died due to realignment.
Prior to 1994, the Legal Assistance program, which provides legal advice to Coast Guard members and families on personal legal matters (such as estate planning, financial issues, and separation and divorce), was an unfunded and resource-limited program within each district legal office. In conjunction with the Coast Guard’s growing Work-Life program, funding was obtained in 1995 to hire six full-time civilian legal assistance attorneys. Located in district offices in Boston, Norfolk, Miami, New Orleans, Alameda and Seattle, these attorneys breathed new life into the program. Later in the 90’s, three more attorneys were hired in Cleveland, Honolulu and Alaska, giving all districts an dedicated Legal Assistance attorney.
Two other significant changes occurred in the early 1990’s. First, as a result of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, Congress passed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 which greatly added to the Coast Guard’s regulatory responsibilities. Additional attorneys were added to the Coast Guard to write more than eighty major regulatory packages needed to implement the Act, and a legal division was established at the National Pollution Fund Center, which was created to administer the fund set up by the Act. Second, in response to increasingly complex legal issues related to compliance with environmental laws, the chief counsel created the Environmental Law Division at Headquarters.
The early 1990’s saw the Coast Guard Legal Program reaching out to counterparts in the Intelligence Community regarding sharing of criminal information especially relating to Coast Guard mission execution, including fisheries violations and illegal trafficking in drugs. The practice area in intelligence law was created by there efforts. Rear Admiral Versaw cemented these relationships with frequent visits to Intelligence Community Chief Counsels and General Counsels and participation in Intelligence Community conferences,.
The Coast Guard Streamlines
In 1996, the Coast Guard underwent a dramatic restructuring to accommodate budget reductions. Referred to as “streamlining,” this restructuring resulted in the elimination or consolidation of numerous activities. The Second District Legal Office in St. Louis was disestablished when the district merged with the Eighth District in New Orleans. With the closure of Governors Island, the Maintenance & Logistics Command Atlantic Legal Division moved with the command to Norfolk, Virginia and established an Atlantic Area Operational Law Branch in Portsmouth. Perhaps the most significant change was the elimination of the Fifth and Eleventh Districts, along with their legal staffs, resulting in expansion of the MLCLANT and MLCPAC missions to include servicing Area staff elements that administered the former districts. At Headquarters, the Office of the Chief Counsel became just the Chief Counsel as the existing legal divisions at Coast Guard headquarters became Offices.
During this same period, the legal program added five new billets located at Marine Safety Offices in New York, Hampton Roads, New Orleans, Houston and Los Angeles/Long Beach. A result of work among the legal, marine safety, and Administrative Law Judge programs, these billets were intended to provide needed on-site legal services to the investigations and suspension and revocation process. Other staffing changes included moving a military billet from the department of justice aviation and admiralty branch office in San Francisco to the Environmental Enforcement Section of the Environment and Natural Resource Division in Washington, assigning a military attorney to the State Department’s Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, establishing a military billet at the Defense Institute for International Legal Studies in Newport, Rhode Island, to export the Model Maritime Service Code, and adding two civilian attorneys to the Office of Procurement Law to support the newly established Integrated Deepwater System office.
A major change in 1997 was the centralization of hearing officers in a Coast Guard Hearing Office, an independent command subordinate to the Chief Counsel. This restructuring was intended to improve the adjudication of thousands of civil penalties assessed as a result of boating safety boarding’s, pollution incidents, and other violations. Previously, hearing officers had been located in Portsmouth, New Orleans, and Alameda.
Rear Admiral John E. Shkor, the only officer to serve two tours as Chief Counsel, from 1993 to 1996, and 1998-1999, and the only officer who, having served as Chief Counsel, was promoted to vice admiral, presided over the dramatic changes following enactment of the Oil Pollution Act, and shepherded the legal program through the difficult changes of streamlining. Rear Admiral Paul M. Blayney, who served from 1996-1998, also played a significant role during this turbulent time. During this period Mr. Robert S. Horowitz became Deputy Chief Counsel. Rear Admiral Jay S. Carmichael served as Chief Counsel from 1999-2001.
Coast Guard Law Responds to 9/11 & the Judge Advocate General is Designated
On September 11, 2001, Rear Admiral Robert F. Duncan was serving as Chief Counsel during the attacks on New York and Washington. The attacks prompted a sweeping reallocation of legal resources to support the unprecedented demands of homeland security. An aggressive and higher CG operational tempo placed increased burdens on operational lawyers to support new and more complex missions while maintaining support to existing operations In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, Coast Guard attorneys drafted and published essential orders and rules, including requirements for 96-hour advance notice of vessel arrivals and naval vessel protective zones. Coast Guard attorneys joined Department of Defense attorneys in assisting families of the victims of the Pentagon attack. Other judge advocates detailed to a Criminal Investigative Task Force and the Office of the General Counsel of the Department of Defense participated in the earliest efforts to build war crimes cases against combatants apprehended around the world. Rear Admiral Duncan led the Homeland Security Strategic Task Force established by the Commandant to pave the way for fundamental doctrinal changes.
Coast Guard attorneys played a leading role at the twenty-second Assembly of the International Maritime Organization which convened in November 2001. At the urging of the United States delegation, led by the Commandant, the Assembly adopted Resolution A.924 (22), Review of Measures and Procedures to Prevent Acts of Terrorism which Threaten the Security of Passengers and Crews and the Safety of Ships. The resolution called on IMO committees to review, on a high priority basis, existing instruments to determine whether other maritime security measures were appropriate. This resolution, adopted in record time, led to a variety of other actions by the IMO. In April 2002, the IMO began a review of the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, 1988, and its Protocol. In December 2002, a Diplomatic Conference on Maritime Security adopted amendments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) to enhance maritime security, including a new chapter on ship and port facility security and a complementary International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code.
New legislation resulted in dramatic increases in the need for legal support to regulatory programs. To meet this need, additional attorney billets were sought and obtained. On November 25, 2002, Congress enacted the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 which created a comprehensive regime for ship and port security. Coast Guard attorneys played an integral role in drafting the legislation, synchronizing many of its provisions with international measures that would be adopted the following month at the IMO. The Maritime Transportation Security Act triggered the most ambitious and extensive in Coast Guard history; the rulemaking was also adopted in the most abbreviated period in our history: interim rules were published in seven months, the final rules were published on October 22, 2003, becoming effective on November 1. This rulemaking, begun by the Maritime Safety and Security Council under Rear Admiral Duncan, was concluded by Rear Admiral John E. Crowley, Jr., who became Judge Advocate General in 2003.
The Homeland Security Act was enacted on the same day as the Maritime Transportation Security Act. Coast Guard counsel played an important behind-the-scenes role during negotiations on Capitol Hill concerning the transfer of the Coast Guard from the Department of Transportation to the Department of Homeland Security, ensuring that the Coast Guard transferred intact and that its military maritime multi-mission character would be preserved.
Prior to the Homeland Security Act, the Judge Advocate General of the Coast Guard was the General Counsel for the Department of Transportation, making the Coast Guard the only Service with a civilian official serving in that position, and only service with its judge advocate general outside the Service’s command and control structure. The Homeland Security Act amended the Uniform Code of Military Justice to afford the new Secretary of Homeland Security the discretion to designate any official to serve as Judge Advocate General of the Coast Guard, and, on March 1, 2003, the date on which the Coast Guard transferred to the new department, Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge designated the Chief Counsel and Deputy Chief Counsel as the Judge Advocate General and Deputy Judge Advocate General of the Coast Guard. Rear Admiral Duncan became the first military Judge Advocate General of the Service. Mr. Calvin M. Lederer, who succeeded Mr. Horowitz in June 2002, became Deputy Judge Advocate General. On July 12, 2006, Coast Guard law specialists became judge advocates when the Coast Guard Maritime and Transportation Act of 2006 became law.
Another dramatic development affecting the Coast Guard after 9/11 was passage of the Intelligence Authorization Act of 2002, which amended the National Security Act of 1947, to place the intelligence element of the Coast Guard within the Intelligence Community. Although Coast Guard lawyers had been participating in Intelligence Community working groups in the 1990’s, Coast Guard membership prompted creation of organic legal billets in the program that was transferred from the Assistant Commandant for Operations to its own organization under an Assistant Commandant for Intelligence, and, later, Criminal Investigations. A military lawyer was assigned to assist this transition and became the first legal advisor to Ms. Francis Townsend when she was appointed the first Assistant Commandant for Intelligence (Ms. Townsend would later become Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism). As the intelligence program would grow, so would the number and sophistication of military and civilian counsel supporting it. Civilian legal positions were created to support two new Atlantic and Pacific Maritime Intelligence Fusion Centers. A senior civilian intelligence counsel was hired to support the Assistant Commandant for Intelligence. Evolution of Coast Guard intelligence also created opportunities for out-of-specialty assignments, including Field Intelligence Support Teams and the Intelligence Coordination Center.
In June 2002, the Integrated Deepwater System contract was awarded to Integrated Coast Guard Systems, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Northup Grumman. This contract was intended to launch a $24 billion recapitalization of Coast Guard vessels, aircraft, and command, control, communications, computers and intelligence. Although the award followed 9/11, the Deepwater program had been planned since the mid-1990’s. Coast Guard procurement counsel participated in every aspect of the program design and the award process. Subsequently they would participate in the sweeping revision of the program to accommodate post 9/11 requirements, down-stream procurements, and the Coast Guard’s response to reverses that would occur in the program.
The year 2002 also saw appointment of Vice Admiral Thomas J. Barrett as the first judge advocate to serve as Vice Commandant of the Coast Guard, and the second judge advocate after Vice Admiral Shkor to serve as a vice admiral. Other judge advocates have served in other flag positions throughout the Coast Guard. At one point in 2004, six Coast Guard flag officers were judge advocates, including the Judge Advocate General. Many other judge advocates have served in command at sea in small and large cutters and ashore, as well as in staff positions at all levels of the Coast Guard.
In August 1, 2003, the Judge Advocate General established Legal and Defense Services as a staff element to manage the legal assistance program and provide legal assistance in the National Capitol Region, and provide all physical disability counsel representation and criminal appellate defense, as well as manage trial defense billets and oversee other criminal defense services provided to the Coast Guard by the Navy. This moved the appellate defense function out of the Office of Military Justice and responsibility for legal assistance out of the Office of Legal Policy and Program Development. Over time, the number of appellate defense counsel increased and a Chief of Legal Assistance for the Coast Guard was created to support civilian legal assistance attorneys who had been hired for all district and MLC offices.
Professional development of attorneys was enhanced from 2004 through 2006, with the first Coast Guard military attorneys attending the Army Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School in Charlottesville, Virginia, to earn a master of laws (LL.M.) degree and serving year-long follow-on fellowships at the Center for Law and Military Operations. The decision to invest in the Charlottesville LL.M. rather than a subject-matter specific LL.M. was intended to provide a broader experience for officers to better prepare them for future leadership positions and exposure to judge advocates in other services.
Coast Guard Law Responds to Hurricane Katrina
On 29 August 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast region and more than fifty Coast Guard attorneys – active, reserve, and civilian – from across the nation deployed to support the Coast Guard response to Katrina, and later, Hurricane Rita. Attorneys assigned the 8th Coast Guard District, now commanded by former Judge Advocate General Robert F. Duncan, supported the initial lifesaving and pollution response. In succeeding days and weeks, a Coast Guard attorney deployed as the legal advisor the Vice Admiral Thad Allen, the Principal Federal Official, and he and other Coast Guard attorneys solved numerous operational problems On the operational front, Coast Guard attorneys, from a variety of disciplines, provided real time/on demand advice to the legal staff of the Primary Federal Official (PFO) for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and supported Coast Guard, DHS and federal interagency actions in response to a wide range of issues, including authority for inland search and rescue operations; law enforcement and force protection while escorting convoys of supplies; authority for removal of debris and pollutants; authority for forcible evacuations; facilitating the waiver or extension of certification, manning and licensing requirements for crews of commercial vessels; waiver of user fees associated with vessel inspection and licensing applications; applicability of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to floodwater removal operations; execution of a temporary waiver to the Jones Act allowing foreign-flagged vessels to supplement U.S. vessel movement of petroleum products in the Coastwise trade; interpretation of the applicability of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to foreign vessels chartered to assist in the survey and repair of damaged oil and gas platforms; advising on the use of the Oil Spill Liability Trust fund or the Stafford Act to pay for pollution response; and evaluating the safety and security regulations applicable to cruise ships utilized to provide temporary housing. Legal assistance and claims teams fanned out across the 8th and 7th Coast Guard districts to support Coast Guard people, 60 percent of whom in Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi suffered catastrophic losses. Legal teams provided legal assistance to over 1000 clients and assisted with approximately 600 personal property claims. Attorneys in the field and at headquarters supported Congressional, Government Accountability Office, and Inspector General investigations; and creatively resolved numerous operational issues.
At the same time, Captain William D. Baumgartner, who would become Judge Advocate General in 2006, led efforts at a diplomatic conference from October 10-14, 2005, to finalize amendments to the maritime terrorism convention: the 1988 Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation. Coast Guard judge advocates deployed to Iraq to participate in the prosecution of terrorists in the Criminal Court of Iraq; one judge advocate served as command cadre in the Patrol Forces Southwest Asia.
Coast Guard Law Today
Coast Guard judge advocates and civilian counsel today continue their support of maritime safety, security, and stewardship.
Emphasis on mission execution resulted in 2006 in the establishment of an Operations Law Group in the Office of Maritime and International Law, which consolidated legal support to headquarters operations elements, and coordinated the activities of field “associates” advising operators. The Operations Law Group led the design and execution of an annual Missions Law Course for operations law judge advocates and civil counsel that was run for the first time in Charlottesville in 2006. A Prevention Law Group was subsequently established to support marine safety and environmental protection.
With Coast Guard units being deployed to support Department of Defense operations worldwide, Coast Guard attorneys expanded their operational expertise and developed new skills in maritime operations, international law and the law of war. They helped train units deploying to the Northern Arabian Gulf, Guantanamo, the Mediterranean, and other locations. One judge advocate served as executive officer of the Patrol Forces Southwest Asia, the squadron of six patrol boats deployed early in Operation Iraqi Freedom and which later protected Iraq’s oil platforms. The need for close working relationships with interagency partners intensified. A judge advocate was assigned to the legal staff at the newly established United States Northern Command in Colorado Springs. Starting in 2006, judge advocates deployed to support prosecution of insurgents in the Central Criminal Court of Iraq, and to support other military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan
In 2007, new judge advocate billets were added to the Seventh and Thirteenth Districts to support new commands established to protect the transits of high-value naval vessels in the Pacific Northwest and the South East.
As Coast Guard Intelligence continued to grow between 2007 and 2009, additional judge advocates were added to support the Coast Guard Investigative Service, the Coast Guard Counterintelligence Service, and the Coast Guard Cryptologic Command.
Judge advocates have routinely deployed in support of homeland security contingencies, including hurricanes and national special security events. Numerous judge advocates deployed to support overseas training missions, particularly those conducted by the Defense Institute for International Legal Studies.
Coast Guard attorneys, military and civilian, continue their intimate involvement in international and maritime law, leading initiatives to counter piracy, ensure environmental protection, and secure the maritime transportation system.
The Coast Guard continues to obtain judge advocates from the funded advanced education program and the direct commission officer program. The funded law program, part of an larger Advanced Education program, annually selects between six and eight high performing junior officers to attend law school while on active duty. Coast Guard officers have attended schools throughout the country, including schools like Harvard and Stanford. Direct commission judge advocates often bring with them significant civilian legal experience. They attend a Direct Commission Officer Course, a five-week program to introduce them to the Coast Guard. Their initial training includes time underway on Coast Guard cutters. All judge advocates attend the Basic Lawyer Course with new Navy and Marine Corps judge advocates.