Cutting the Coast Guard torpedoes our national security
By Seth Cropsey, opinion contributor — 09/11/19 12:00 PM EDT
Of the six elements of seapower, the most influential thinker on the subject, Alfred Thayer Mahan, listed geography first. The U.S. is surrounded by water on three sides. This, arguably, makes the seagoing services — the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard — the most strategic members of the U.S. defense.
They are America’s first and best protection against invasion, as central to containing distant crises as they are to projecting power within and beyond the Western Hemisphere.
Ironically, the oldest of these services, the Coast Guard, is the most politically neglected and is on the chopping block today as Congress deliberates the fiscal year 2020 budget.
https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/460844-cutting-the-coast-guard-torpedoes-our-national-security
