Interview with the USCG Commander of the Atlantic Area

Vice Adm. Kevin E. Lunday 
Commander, Atlantic Area and Defense Force East
Tuesday, April 4, 2023 
9:30-10 a.m.

Lunday assumed the duties as Commander of Coast Guard Atlantic Area in May 2022 and is responsible for directing Coast Guard forces and operations across all mission areas in five districts from the navigable inland waterways east of the Rocky Mountains to the Great Lakes, Gulf Coast and East Coast of the United States throughout the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent parts of the Arctic Ocean to the Arabian Gulf. He also serves as Commander, Coast Guard Defense Force East, providing Coast Guard support as part of the joint force to the Department of Defense and Combatant Commanders for national defense missions. He is also appointed and serves as the Director, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Joint Task Force East, responsible for coordinating and synchronizing DHS cross-component operations to address threats to the southeast U.S. border and approaches. During the interview he will discuss current priorities and his vision for the future and take questions from the audience.

Interview with the USCG Commander of the Pacific Area

Vice Adm. Andrew J. Tiongson 
Commander, Pacific Area and Defense Force West
Tuesday, April 4, 2023 
10-10:30 a.m.

Tiongson assumed command of Coast Guard Pacific Area in Alameda, California, in July 2022 and serves as the operational commander responsible for all Coast Guard missions westward from the Rocky Mountains across the Indo-Pacific, Arctic and Antarctic regions to the coast of eastern Africa. He concurrently serves as Commander, Defense Force West and provides Coast Guard operational support to the Department of Defense and Combatant Commanders. During the interview, he will discuss the Coast Guard operational landscape and current areas of focus and take questions from the audience.

USCG: A Globally Deployed Cutter Fleet

Capt. John J. Driscoll
Chief, Office of Cutter Forces
Tuesday, April 4, 2023
10:30-11 a.m.

From the Western Rivers to the Great Lakes, from the U.S. maritime borders to the Polar Regions, and from the Arabian Gulf to the Indo-Pacific, Coast Guard cutters are deployed not just domestically, but conduct operations across the globe. Driscoll, the Coast Guard’s chief of the Office of Cutter Forces, which is responsible for shipboard capability and training requirements and policies, will discuss current strategic mission demands on the fleet, where the Coast Guard sees operating in the future, and the innovations and skills necessary to improve the Coast Guard’s competitive edge now and into the future.

The Coast Guard and the Future of Maritime Domain Awareness

Capt. Thom C. Remmers
Unmanned Systems Cross-Functional Team Lead, Assistant Commandant for Capabilities
Tuesday, April 4, 2023
11:30 a.m.-noon

Maritime domain awareness, or MDA, is the effective understanding of anything associated with the maritime domain that could impact the security, safety, economy or environment of the United States. MDA is vital for Coast Guard operational commanders to effectively and efficiently employ our personnel and assets to conduct missions. Combinations of new technologies including vehicles, sensors, communication networks, data platforms, advanced analytics (including artificial Intelligence and machine learning), visualization tools and data sharing can drastically expand the amount of data, information and insight to make better decisions. Navigating this landscape offers the Coast Guard the chance to build broader MDA, enable more adaptable command and control of forces and excel at mission execution.

Recapitalization of C5I Onboard USCG Cutters

Capt. Vincent J. Skwarek
Assistant Program Executive Officer for C5I and Chief of C5I Acquisitions
Tuesday, April 4, 2023
1:30-2 p.m.

Renovation of Coast Guard cutter and boat systems and equipment enables mission-critical assets to achieve or extend their service lives. Recapitalization of hull, mechanical and electrical (HM&E) systems onboard Coast Guard cutters and boats have long-established successes sustaining an agile Coast Guard operational force. The rapid development, shorter life cycle and criticality to mission execution of today’s C5I systems present a challenge to maintaining the Coast Guard’s operational edge. By integrating renovation program planning of HM&E systems alongside C5I systems, the Coast Guard will enhance the readiness of the Coast Guard cutter and boat fleet. Integrated program solutions across product domains are very difficult but must be pursued if the Coast Guard is to maintain our newest cutters and boats in an agile state of operational readiness demanded by our Nation’s leaders and feared by our adversaries.

Coast Guard Requirements

Capt. Brad E. Apitz
Chief, Office of Requirements and Analysis
Tuesday, April 4, 2023
2-2:30 p.m.

The Office of Requirements and Analysis oversees all Coast Guard operational capabilities requirements at the front end of all major acquisition projects. The mission of the Requirements Team is to coordinate the assessment, analysis and identification of authorities, capabilities, competencies and partnerships necessary to meet Coast Guard mission (functional) requirements. They provide management, oversight and guidance in support of every Coast Guard capability office to build all requirements documents that lead to successful approval by Coast Guard leadership and DHS for acquisition. The team's efforts focus on enabling the detailed articulation of operational requirements across the enterprise of Coast Guard missions and the Department of Homeland Security. Apitz will provide an overview of the process and discuss opportunities for industry engagement.

How to Partner with the Coast Guard Research and Development Center

Dr. Joseph Direnzo III
Director of Research Partnerships/Public Affairs Officer
Tuesday, April 4, 2023
2:30-3 p.m.

The Coast Guard Research and Development Center (RDC), located in New London CT, is the Coast Guard's primary facility performing research, development, test and evaluation in support of the service's major missions and serves as science advisers to the service. The RDC has embraced partnerships as a critical component of the execution of its portfolio, which focuses on applied research. The RDC has found a multitude of ways to work with others so both organizations benefit from the relationship, including 15 active cooperative research and development agreements and multiple memorandums of understanding, with partners ranging from DHS Science and Technology, Department of Defense and Department of Energy labs and the Federal Lab Consortium to the Connecticut National Guard and affiliated universities and industry.

Coast Guard Buy Better Revolution

Contracting and Procurement Modernization Task Force
Wednesday, April 5, 2023
10-10:45 a.m.

The Coast Guard is modernizing its Contracting and Procurement Enterprise through the Buy Better Revolution, an initiative designed to improve overall capabilities while easing the administrative burden on front line units. Its aim is to change how the Coast Guard obtains goods and services and will address all aspects of the life cycle from initial request to final disposal. This session will provide information for industry regarding the purpose and value proposition of the Buy Better Revolution and seek feedback and recommendations as the service drives this initiative forward.

USCG Risk Mitigation through Sustainable Aviation Fuel

Julie Berens, Energy Reliability technical warrant holder
Sam Alvord, chief, Office of Energy Management
Monday, April 3, 2023
10:30-11 a.m.

With passage of the Inflation Reduction Act comes increased production tax incentives for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) domestically. This renewable fuel is certain to intersect Coast Guard assets and missions worldwide, and the service must take a methodical approach to integrate increasingly probable SAF blends into its infrastructure, business processes and acquisition methodologies. With the commandant’s recently released Climate Framework directing the Coast Guard to adapt to the accelerating pace of change and take active steps to reduce the service’s greenhouse gas emissions, the Office of Energy Management will summarize the data analysis, forecasted timelines and performance-based acquisition methodologies to facilitate this seamless transition in partnership with other government agencies.

Oil Spill Response – Tech Efforts on the Horizon

Kirsten Trego
Deputy, Office of Marine Environmental Response Policy
Monday, April 3, 2023
11-11:30 a.m.

The maritime technology seascape is changing at a rapid pace in both the military and commercial spheres. To minimize operating costs, crew sizes continue to be reduced – or even eliminated, as artificial intelligence technology “navigates” prototype naval and commercial uncrewed vessels. Driven by incentives such as climate change and attending emission restrictions, alternative fuels are becoming increasingly common. However, petroleum oil continues to be the predominant fuel used and transported by sea, and response to oil spills in the maritime environment continues, for the most part, as it has for decades – slowly and often relying on extensive manual labor. But change is on the horizon, both refinements to traditional maritime spill response techniques and applications of emerging technologies to spill response. As the federal on-scene coordinator for clean-up of oil discharges in the coastal zone, the Coast Guard and the broader National Response System must leverage advances in technology to effectively and efficiently detect, track, recover and remove oil pollution from the marine environment. From across the spectrum of emerging research and development to proven operational capabilities, this discussion will touch on how the Coast Guard is leveraging interagency, international and industry partnerships to drive advancements in oil spill response technologies.

Evaluating Search Effectiveness: Keeping Pace with Technology?

Cmdr. Matthew J. Mitchell
Chief, Office of Search and Rescue
Monday, April 3, 2023
11:30 a.m.-noon

The goal of a search and rescue (SAR) response is to locate and render aid to survivors as quickly as possible. Maximizing the probability of finding survivors in minimal time requires planning the most efficient and effective searches possible. Optimizing a search plan requires a scientifically validated means of measuring search effectiveness; this is the domain of Search Theory, a relatively obscure scientific field. Optimal search plans cannot be defined without knowing a sensor’s performance profile. Developing this profile requires the detailed quantitative measure of each sensor’s performance (e.g., electro-optical, radar, the human eye) over its entire maximum detection range for every combination of search object type and environmental condition. It is from these measures that search theorists create a sensor’s detection performance profile (lateral range curve) that is used by search planners. The empirically based approaches traditionally used to define lateral range curves, originally developed in the 1970s, cannot keep pace with the development of new and improved sensors. Complicating the matter further, developers of new detection technologies, such as artificial intelligence object detection systems, often use inconsistent methods to evaluate their own measures of search effectiveness rather than the internationally accepted sweep width standard. Without a reliable measure of efficacy, the potential benefit of improved technologies goes unrealized. Any program or initiative aimed at advancing sensor performance for the benefit of the SAR mission must incorporate scientifically valid means of evaluating performance consistent with accepted SAR standards. The Coast Guard is actively researching new approaches to developing lateral range curves and has made significant progress. However, even these efforts are not keeping pace with new sensor technology. The gap between sensor improvements and the service’s ability to plan effective searches using those new technologies is widening. What is needed is a new method for reliably evaluating search effectiveness that meets the needs of the SAR mission.

Interview with the USCG Deputy Commandant for Mission Support

Vice Adm. Paul F. Thomas 
Deputy Commandant for Mission Support 
Monday, April 3, 2023 
1:30-2 p.m.

As DCMS, Thomas leads the 17,000-person organization that delivers the systems and people that enable the U.S. Coast Guard to perform its operational missions efficiently and effectively. He is responsible for all facets of support for the Coast Guard’s diverse mission set through oversight of human capital, life cycle engineering and logistics, acquisitions, information technology and security. During the interview, Thomas will discuss the mission support enterprise and its current priorities and take questions from the audience. 

Robotic Process Automation

Dr. David F. Wiesenhahn
Modeling and Simulation domain lead, Office of Research, Development, Test & Evaluation and Innovation
Monday, April 3, 2023 
2-2:30 p.m. 

The Coast Guard recently completed a research and development project to study the development, implementation and sustainment of robotic process automation (RPA). Applications examined during the research included automating data pulls from enterprise systems and streamlining procurement requests and other business processes. Other applications such as personnel, intelligence and logistics were also explored. This project clearly identified that significant time and labor could be saved by implementing RPAs in a variety of Coast Guard applications and identified products that are commercially available or could be used through partnerships with other federal agencies.

Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems

Capt. Eric M. Casper
Chief, Office of Specialized Capabilities
Monday, April 3, 2023 
2:30-3 p.m.

The increasing availability, affordability and capability of commercially available unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), colloquially referred to as drones, provides opportunities for legitimate, nuisance and nefarious uses. The Preventing Emerging Threats Act of 2018 grants the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) statutory authority to counter credible threats from UAS to the safety or security of a covered facility or asset. This authority is paramount to DHS’s mission to protect and secure the homeland from evolving threats. This briefing provides an overview of the scope of Coast Guard authorities, mission sets and actions that may be taken to support DHS, Coast Guard and Department of Defense counter-UAS authorized missions.

Data & Artificial Intelligence at Scale in the USCG

Capt. Brian C. Erickson 
Chief Data Officer
Monday, April 3, 2023
3-3:30 p.m.

The Coast Guard's broad portfolio of authorities and missions require a strong data management foundation that harnesses the power of data and artificial intelligence at speed and scale. As a result, the service is advancing the maturity of its data culture, processes, technology and workforce, including standing up an Office of Data and Analytics and a Data and Cloud Branch. Erickson will discuss the Coast Guard’s approach to develop a data stewardship framework, deploy data teams and generate insights to modernize the Coast Guard data enterprise to best support operations in the maritime environment.