Guardians,
I am watching the benefit concert for Haiti and was prompted to write this post.
As we move into the second week of our response in Haiti, senior leadership at Coast Guard Headquarters, in the Department of Homeland Security, and across the federal government are pulling together to support this critical mission. I thought it would appropriate to provide an overview of how the response is being coordinated. This is the first of what will be a series that describe how we are involved.
As many of you know, we in the Coast Guard have a long and valued relationship with the government of Haiti and in particular, the Haitian Coast Guard. My first visit to Haiti was in 1973 when I was a Search and Rescue Controller in the Rescue Coordination Center in San Juan. I have returned many times and have visited the Haitian Coast Guard Base at Killick. We have trained with our Haitian counterparts, worked to save lives, and share a common culture of service to our nations. Because of that relationship we know that the Haitians are a proud and wonderful people.
In an event of this magnitude there are always questions about who works for whom. It really isn't a question of who works for whom. It is a question of how we work together to create a better present and future for Haiti. That said, we deploy forces and we have command and control structures that allow us to be effective as a force. Here is how we all work together:
Haiti is an independent, sovereign nation. They have the last say on anything and everything. The family of nations supports Haiti. Prior to the earthquake, that support was provided largely through the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti. The acronym in French is MINUSTAH (Mission des Nations Unies pour la stabilisation en Haïti ).
Following the earthquake the international community rushed to aid Haiti and that effort required coordination to be effective. In the Coast Guard we are use to constructs like the Incident Command System (ICS), which is how we coordinate domestic responses with federal state and local governments. We also interact with the Department of Defense in their planning and execution construct, the Joint Planning and Operation Execution System (JOPES). The United Nations operates under functional organization similar to ICS but they call their staff components "clusters." Our (US) interaction with the United Nations is through the State Department and through our Chief of Mission in Haiti, Ambassador Ken Merten.
In the days following the earthquake there has been an incredible convergence of effort and coordination. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is the lead federal agency for the United States' response in support of Haiti. USAID's roots lie in the Marshall Plan that rebuilt Europe after World War II. In consultation with the State Department USAID supports Ambassador Merten in leading the response.
USAID is led by Rajiv "Raj" Shah who was confirmed to his position on 24 December 2010. I have worked with Raj over the last 10 days and he has impressed everyone with his compassion, commitment, and energy. He has led his team decisively and has partnered with all of us. He is a true "shipmate" and "Guardian." I am proud to work with him. On scene in Port Au Prince, USAID is represented by Ambassador Lewis Lucke, a former USAID senior leader. He is the Disaster Relief Coordinator.
In support of Ambassador Lucke, the Department of Homeland Security has deployed a multiagency incident management team to support the United States effort. The DHS team is led by Damon Penn from FEMA and RDML Roy Nash from the Coast Guard. This team brings the technical support that I relied on during the Hurricane Katrina response and the doctrinal structure of the Incident Command System.
In this effort FEMA Director Craig Fugate and I have been joined at the hip in Washington in support of Secretary Napolitano and the United States effort. We attend meetings at the White House together and seek each other's counsel and advice. We have provided our best advice to Secretary Napolitano and Deputy Secretary Lute. Our component partners in CBP, TSA, ICE, and USCIS have been terrific partners as well (we will have more posts on this effort).
The DOD forces in Haiti report to U.S. Southern Command under the command of my good friend General Doug Fraser. Joint Task Force-Haiti is commanded by LTG Ken Keen the Deputy Commander of the U.S. Southern Command. He is supported by components commands from each service. In his absence RADM Rob Parker (USCG) is the Acting Deputy at SOUTHCOM. I will have a separate post on our relationship with DOD in a subsequent post.
The Disaster Relief Coordinator (Ambassador Lucke) and Joint Task Force Haiti (LTG Keen) support Ambassador Merten as Chief of Mission.
Beyond on the United States response organization, there are numerous non-governmental organizations (NGO), the United Nations, and other nations eager to help. We will have more on these organizations in future posts. The total effort is a combined coordinated activity that supports Haiti.
Where is your Coast Guard, where are our Guardians in this complex and needed effort? We are literally and metaphorically everywhere. From the first responders from USCGC FORWARD who led the way in, to the logisticians keeping our cutters on station and working through multiple engineering casualties, to the ad hoc security teams that secured Haitian ports, to the many air crews who lifted, medevaced, and saved, we have been everywhere we can be. My morning brief tells me that we have 62 personnel on ground, 719 manning cutters, and 56 deployed air crewmembers. That brief comes with a listing of each Guardian by name that is deployed in theater. We know who you are and we honor your service … we wish we could be there as well.
Watching the many talented people perform tonight during the "Hope for Haiti Now" Concert I am reminded of a similar concert that took place following Hurricane Katrina. I am also reminded that these events as terrible as they are, remind us of our humanity and those things that connect us. The recurring vision of the hand reaching down to the hand reaching up is our past, present and future. From the surf of Cape Hatteras and Cape Disappointment, to the beaches of Guadalcanal and Normandy, to the awash decks of the PRINSENDAM and PENDLETON, to the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans and the street of Port Au Prince, our mission endures and each generation proves again we are Guardians.
Very proud of all of you tonight.
ADM A
