The U.S. Coast Guard, residing within the Department of Homeland Security, is a unique, multi-mission branch of the U.S. Military. As the nation’s principal maritime law- enforcement service it is responsible for an array of maritime duties including safeguarding protected marine resources and habitats, ensuring safe and lawful commerce, performing search and rescue missions in severe conditions, and supporting national defense efforts.

It performs 11 official missions including port and waterway security, drug interdiction, aids to navigation, search and rescue, living marine resources, marine safety, defense readiness, migrant interdiction, marine environmental protection, ice operations, and other law enforcement. The Coast Guard enforces laws that support sound management of our nation’s fisheries, safeguard protected species and habitats, and conserve the marine environment as a public commonwealth. It actively promotes pollution prevention and response preparedness, and enforces laws prohibiting the discharge of oil, the release of hazardous substances, and the introduction of non- indigenous invasive species into U.S. navigable waters. The Coast Guard serves as America’s voice in the International Maritime Organization (IMO), and participates in multiple international oversight bodies, addressing maritime issues at the global scale. It is actively engaged in several Federal Advisory Committees that bear on domestic policy for our nation’s marine resources.