The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) is upgrading its ability to respond to all manner of maritime-related threats with the creation of a new Special Missions Command (SMC).
The SMC will bring the all the USCG’s Maritime Security Response Teams together under a single operational commander to provide oversight and improve readiness, mission effectiveness, and interoperability.
Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Kevin Lunday explained: “The creation of the Special Missions Command is a vital evolution for our service.”
He added: “We are forging our most elite operators into a single, razor-sharp instrument of national power. The Special Missions Command is not an administrative change; it is an investment ensuring these elite teams are the best trained, equipped, and organized force possible, ready to protect the Homeland and support the Joint Force.”
The SMC will coordinate Tactical Law Enforcement Teams, which focus on counter-trafficking and criminal networks, Maritime Security Response Teams, which act as first responders to maritime terrorism and other high-risk threats, and Maritime Safety and Security Teams, which provide port, waterway, and coastal security.
It will also oversee Port Security Units securing strategic shipping, critical infrastructure, and high-value assets in expeditionary warfare environments, and Regional Dive Lockers, whose teams carry out a range of missions including ship maintenance and repair, often in extreme environments like the remote polar regions.
The SMC will also take in oversight of the National Strike Force, which provides technical experts and specialized equipment to Coast Guard and other federal agencies to prepare for and respond to complex crises including oil and hazardous substances spills, and CBRN (chemical, biological, radiation and nuclear) incidents.
The SMC will be located at the Coast Guard C5I Service Center facility in Kearneysville, West Virginia, and is expected to be formally commissioned at the start of October .
- You can read more details on the U.S. Coast Guard website