The head of the United States Transportation
Command (TRANSCOM) last month urged Congress to
reauthorize the U.S. Maritime Security Program (MSP).
In the strongest possible terms, U.S. Gen. John W.
Handy declared his support for the MSP and explained in
detail how the program benefits America. Gen. Handy
appeared before the Merchant Marine Panel of the House
Armed Services Committee on Oct. 8. U.S. Rep. Duncan
Hunter (R-Calif.) chairs the panel.
TRANSCOM is responsible for all of the U.S.
military’s sealift assets.
The MSP program, set to expire in 2005, helps
maintain a fleet of militarily useful U.S.-flag
commercial vessels crewed by American citizens.
Participating ship operators agree to make their vessels
and other transport-related resources available to the
Department of Defense in times of war or national
emergency.
“I wholeheartedly support reauthorization of MSP
beyond expiration of the current authority on September
30, 2005,” Handy told the panel. “The MSP is a vital
element of our military’s strategic sealift and global
response capability. As we look at operations on
multiple fronts in support of the war on terrorism, it
is clear that our limited defense resources will
increasingly rely on partnerships with industry to
maintain the needed capability and capacity to meet our
most demanding wartime scenarios. That makes MSP
reauthorization even more important as we look toward
the future.”
This summer, SIU President Michael Sacco led a group
of maritime union officials in urging Congress to extend
the program by an additional 20 years and expand the MSP
fleet to at least 60 vessels. The maritime labor
delegation pointed out that the nation can’t afford to
wait for MSP reauthorization, in part because operators
need time to plan for replacement tonnage and other
considerations to sustain the program beyond 2005. At
the same time, if the MSP weren’t renewed, the
government would face the daunting, multi-billion dollar
prospect of replacing the assets currently available
through the program. The latter scenario, though it
seems very unlikely, would require planning that already
would be late if it began today.
After submitting his testimony, Handy answered
questions from the panel. Rep. Jo Ann Davis (R-Va.)
noted that some foreign crews refused to deliver U.S.
materiel during the Persian Gulf War.
“A viable U.S. mariner capacity precludes those sorts
of things from becoming a reality,” the general
answered. “Every endeavor that we can take as a nation
to secure and sustain a viable U.S.-flag shipping and
mariner capability, from a [Defense Department]
perspective we absolutely, categorically support—no
questions.”
In other discussions with the panel, Gen. Handy
stated that America must maintain a shipbuilding
capability. He also described sealift as “by far the
greatest contributor to our force projection capability
over the long term.”
The general was asked if America has the mariner pool
needed for an activation. He answered, “As a nation, we
ought to be concerned about our mariner pool. Today, we
probably have the mariners we need to operate the ships
that we would activate (in war while still maintaining a
commercial presence). A lot of the discussions about MSP
reauthorization ultimately have an impact on mariner
availability—the lack of viable U.S. shipping determines
the success or availability of the mariner pool.”
Segments of Gen. Handy’s testimony follow:
“MSP is a cost-effective program that assures
guaranteed access to required commercial U.S.-flag
shipping and U.S. Merchant Mariners, when needed. The
alternative to MSP is, ultimately, reliance on
foreign-flag vessels manned by foreign crews during
crisis. MSP provides the security of resources we must
have in a very uncertain world fraught with asymmetric
threats. MSP ensures the development and sustainment of
critical strategic partnerships favorable to the United
States. And, MSP helps ensure the viability of America’s
merchant mariner pool needed to activate the Reserve
Fleet. MSP makes sense. We can’t afford not to invest in
MSP. I strongly advocate for swift reauthorization.
“MSP is a critical component of our strategy which
recognizes and relies upon significant augmentation from
the U.S. commercial sealift industry to support the
warfighter’s needs. We limit our organic fleet to those
assets that the commercial sector cannot provide. Only
33 percent of the vessels we may require reside in our
organic fleets. The remainder of the sealift capacity
needed to transport military equipment and supplies
comes from the commercial sector. Looking ahead, the War
on Terrorism could eventually push our baseline
requirement for commercial sealift even higher.
“MSP reauthorization is, without question, the
linchpin in our wartime U.S. commercial sealift
capability, through its integral support of the
Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement (VISA). VISA is a
three-phased program that enables time-phased access to
militarily useful U.S.-flag commercial dry cargo sealift
capacity. VISA is cost-efficient because it
contractually provides assured access to commercial U.S.
sealift assets, mariners, and intermodal capacity when
required, releasing the American taxpayer from otherwise
bearing the procurement, overhead, and maintenance costs
of a profoundly larger organic military capability. Our
current organic military fleet is much improved over
just 10 years ago and is structured to support our surge
requirements in time of conflict. However, the bulk of
large-scale sustainment sealift in times of major
conflict resides with the commercial sector that we also
depend on for day-to-day support of peacetime
requirements. That is what makes the VISA-MSP link such
a perfect fit. MSP and VISA are truly complementary
force multipliers. We need both MSP and VISA. MSP’s
guaranteed access to vessels, combined with VISA’s
capacity and supporting global intermodal
infrastructures fulfills the sealift requirements to
meet war fighter needs
.
“We need MSP now. MSP in its current construct offers
great return on investment, supporting a sizeable and
capable fleet of 47 U.S.-flagged vessels for relatively
little annual cost. If we fail to reauthorize or make
program participation unattractive, the potential
erosion and eventual disappearance of a viable
U.S.-flagged fleet and, ultimately, the U.S. Merchant
Mariner pool, would force increased and potentially
total reliance on ships of foreign registry, entrusting
precious military cargo to non-U.S. crews in times of
great crisis
.
“While MSP offers guaranteed capability, it also
provides the security we, as a nation, must have to go
it alone.’ While foreign companies dominate the world
maritime market, MSP ships sail under the U.S. flag, are
crewed by U.S. mariners, are operated by U.S. companies,
and are subject to U.S. laws. As a warfighter and as a
concerned American this is what I must have, and I have
it in MSP. Currently, MSP comprises both Section 2 and
Documentation Citizens. Both Section 2 and Documentation
Citizens must execute the same contingency contracts
with DOD committing vessels to VISA Stage III and
thereby assuring us we will have access to their
vessels. This is important because VISA Stage III is our
highest sealift mobilization level and provides
government access to all 47 ships enrolled in MSP. As a
warfighter, my requirements are met by both Section 2
and Documentation Citizens.
“We simply cannot, as a nation, fight the fight
without the partnership of the commercial maritime
industry. We rely on the commercial maritime industry to
provide the primary source of manpower to crew our
organic vessels. Our nation’s organic sealift
capability, in the form of highly capable prepositioned,
fast sealift ships , large medium speed roll on and roll
off ships (LMSR), and Ready Reserve Force (RRF) ships
which provide emergency and surge response capabilities
to globally deploy our combat and support forces, would
literally be useless without the support of the
commercial maritime industry. As such, MSP supports not
only our commercial wartime sealift, but is absolutely
essential to providing the labor pool of U.S. Merchant
Mariners for our organic fleet. This is a huge aspect of
MSP. Given that the events of 9/11 have forever changed
how we view the world, the absolute, unequivocal
necessity for U.S. mariners, ready and able to crew a
guaranteed fleet of U.S.-flagged vessels in times of
crisis, mandates MSP reauthorization
.
“We need MSP reauthorization soonest. Guaranteed
access to U.S.-flag shipping, the viability of the U.S.
Merchant Mariner pool, and the associated security
requirements mandate MSP reauthorization. An improved,
long-term program, adequately funded, which provides
stability for the government and industry is the right
approach from the warfighting perspective. MSP
reauthorization now is a national security imperative of
the highest magnitude.”
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