Coast Guard, the, and National Security

Federal agency now under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that consists of the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard and is responsible for overseeing shipping in U.S. coastal waters. There is no Naval National Guard because of a constitutional provision against states maintaining ships of war during peacetime, although New York and Maryland have naval militia units. During wartime, the Coast Guard becomes a part of the U.S. Navy.

The U.S. Coast Guard is the smallest armed service in the United States and the fifth smallest of the seven uniformed services (U.S. Army, Navy, Air [Page 134]Force, Marines, Coast Guard, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Corps, and Public Health Service Commissioned Corps). Known originally as the Revenue Marine and then the Revenue Cutter Service, the Coast Guard was founded as part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury on August 4, 1790, eight years before the U.S. Navy. At that time, the Coast Guard functioned as the sole military naval force in the United States, and it was authorized by Congress to protect the collection of federal revenue, prevent smuggling, and enforce tariff and trade laws. Its responsibilities later came to include the enforcement of slave laws, piracy interdiction, environmental protection, charting of coastlines, and the exploration of and law enforcement in Alaska.

In 1915, an act of Congress merged the Revenue Cutter Service with the Life-Saving Service, at which point the Coast Guard received its present name, along with an expanded role in maritime safety and defense. The nation's lighthouses became the responsibility of the Coast Guard in 1939, as did the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation in 1946. The Coast Guard later became part of the U.S. Department of Transportation and then, in March 2003, part of the Department of Homeland Security.