Executive Order 13115

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1.

(a) The Interagency Task Force on the Roles and Missions of the United States Coast Guard is established.

(b) The Task Force shall be composed of one representative from the:

(1) Department of State;

(2) Department of Defense;

(3) Department of Justice;

(4) Department of Commerce;

(5) Department of Labor;

(6) Department of Transportation;

(7) Environmental Protection Agency;

(8) Office of Management and Budget;

(9) National Security Council;

(10) Council on Environmental Quality;

(11) Office of Cabinet Affairs;

(12) National Economic Council;

(13) Domestic Policy Council; and

(14) United States Coast Guard.

The Secretary of Transportation shall select from among the Task Force members a Chair and Vice Chair for the Task Force.

(c) The members of the Task Force shall be officials or employees of the Federal Government.

Sec. 2. Functions.

(a) The Task Force shall report to the President through the Secretary of Transportation, and shall provide advice and recommendations regarding the appropriate roles and missions for the United States Coast Guard through the Year 2020. While the Task Force will comprehensively review all Coast Guard roles and missions, it will give special attention to the deepwater missions, which are those that generally occur beyond 50 nautical miles from U.S. shores.

(b) The Chair shall consult with the Secretary of Transportation, Commandant of the Coast Guard, and, as appropriate, other heads of departments and agencies. The Chair may invite experts to submit information to the Task Force and hold field briefings or visits.

(c) The Chair may acquire services or form teams to carry out the functions of the Task Force. The Task Force and/or the Task Force staff may travel as necessary to carry out the Task Force's functions.

Sec. 3. Methodology.

(a) The Task Force will seek to identify and distinguish which Coast Guard roles, missions, and functions might be added or enhanced; might be maintained at current levels of performance; or might be reduced, eliminated, or moved to other private organizations or Government agencies. The Task Force also will consider whether current Coast Guard roles, missions, and functions might be better performed by private organizations (by contract or otherwise), public authorities, local or State governments, or other Federal agencies. The Task Force will provide explicit reasons for its recommendations.

(b) The Task Force will establish explicit criteria for screening roles, missions, and functions to determine how and by whom they would be best performed.

(c) For those roles, missions, and functions that the Task Force recommends be performed by the Coast Guard, the Task Force will advise as to how they might be performed most effectively and efficiently.

(d) The Task Force will consider the impact on Coast Guard roles, missions, and functions of future prospects in various areas, including technology, demographics, the law of the sea, marine pollution, and national security.

(e) The Task Force shall review each of the Coast Guard's law enforcement and national security missions and functions according to the methodology described in this section. However, in conducting that review, the Task Force shall assume that the Coast Guard will remain a law enforcement agency and an armed force of the United States.

Sec. 4. Administration.

(a) The heads of executive departments and agencies shall, to the extent permitted by law, provide the Task Force such information with respect to the roles and missions of the Coast Guard as it may require to carry out its functions.

(b) The Coast Guard shall support the Task Force administratively and financially.

(c) The Secretary of Transportation shall appoint a Staff Director for the Task Force.

(d) Assigned staff shall possess a balanced and broad base of experience to include persons of experience in national security, military operations, foreign and domestic policy, international affairs, economic policy, environmental protection, and law enforcement. Staff members may include military members on active duty, Reserve members of any component, and Federal civilian employees.

Sec. 5. General.

(a) The Task Force shall exist for a period of 6 months from its first meeting unless extended by the Secretary of Transportation and, at the conclusion, submit a written report as discussed in section 2 of this order.

(b) The recommendations of the Task Force will be considered in determining the appropriate level of investment in the Coast Guard's Deepwater Capability Replacement Project, a system of cutters and aircraft with an integrated command, control, communications, and sensor infrastructure. The Task Force may provide an interim report for use in preparation of the Federal budget for Fiscal Year 2001.

William J. Clinton The White House, March 25, 1999.

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:01 a.m., March 29, 1999]