Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
House subcommittee hears Coast Guard cite record drug seizures, warns of persistent readiness and staffing gaps
Summary
Rear Admiral David Baratta and GAO's Heather McLeod told a House subcommittee the Coast Guard has achieved historic drug interdiction results and is tackling 'dark' tankers and IUU fishing, but both witnesses said mission performance is limited by maintenance, acquisition delays and workforce shortfalls.
Chairman McDowell convened the House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee to review the U.S. Coast Guard's law enforcement missions, hearing testimony from Rear Admiral David Baratta and Heather McLeod of the Government Accountability Office.
Rear Admiral Baratta highlighted recent enforcement results and the service's operational posture, saying the Coast Guard's crews and partners "yielded historic results, removing more than 500,000 pounds of cocaine and denying criminal networks access to over $3,400,000,000 in revenue." He told the panel cutters, aircraft, boarding teams and partnerships enable interdictions of drugs, migrants and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
The admiral described operations…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
