WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) convened a hearing to examine the current capabilities of the U.S. Coast Guard’s (USCG) Deployable Specialized Forces (DSF) and the challenges they face while confronting transnational criminal activity in the Western Hemisphere. Through the enactment of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Congress made a historic $25 billion investment in the Coast Guard, marking a generational change opportunity for the force. Most recently, USCG’s DSF played a critical role in the seizure of sanctioned oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela, demonstrating the high-risk maritime operations these units conduct and the importance of these specialized forces in protecting U.S. interests. 

Witnesses included Rear Admiral (RADM) David C. Barata, deputy commandant for operations policy and commander for the U.S Coast Guard, and Heather MacLeod, director of the Homeland Security and Justice Team at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

In his opening statement, Subcommittee Chairman Gimenez praised the Coast Guard for seizing record amounts of illicit drugs in 2025, while highlighting the need for improvements:

“Securing our maritime front by halting and disrupting these sanctioned oil tankers from Venezuela is key to unlocking security and freedom in our corner of the Western Hemisphere. We are grateful for the Coast Guard’s bravery and exceptional tactical operations to properly conduct these right of visitation boardings and seized vessels found in violation of U.S. international law.”

“This hearing will highlight the Deployable Specialized Force’s historic drug interdiction results, seizing nearly 510,000 pounds of cocaine in Fiscal Year 2025. We have also the opportunity to hear how the Deployable Specialized Forces have become one of the most tactically capable maritime forces of the United States and what their future holds amid an ever-increasing maritime threat landscape.”

In his opening statement, RADM Barata outlined the Coast Guard’s work to disrupt criminal networks and save lives, and signaled plans to enhance the force’s ability to effectively combat maritime threats with funds from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act:

“Our nation faces significant and evolving threats, including narco-terrorists and transnational criminal organizations that smuggle deadly drugs, traffic people, bring violence to our communities, and use illicit cash through sanctioned oil to buy influence throughout the hemisphere.”

“At the tip of the spear are the service’s Deployable Specialized Forces. These highly skilled teams provide operational commanders with a versatile and rapidly deployable toolkit to address ever-changing and asymmetric threats.”

“To effectively meet these dynamic threats, the Coast Guard is pursuing a bold modernization of its people, assets, and capabilities through Force Design ’28. Coupled with the historic investments made through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and the support of this subcommittee, we are transforming our service into a more agile, capable, and responsive fighting force to protect the American people and advance our national security.”

In her opening statement, GAO Director MacLeod focused on the challenges facing the Coast Guard’s Deployable Specialized Forces units, including declining availability and condition of vessels and aircraft, staffing shortages and retention issues, and acquisition program delays:

“Staffing gaps, particularly in specialized units like tactical law enforcement teams, can hinder drug interdiction efforts, counter-terrorism operations, and missions. While the service recruited more enlisted service members than it lost in 2024, that had not been the case in years prior.”

“The condition of Coast Guard assets has been in a state of decline for decades. Our work has shown a concerning trend that the cost of maintaining these assets is increasing at the same time that their availability is decreasing.”

“Finally, our work has noted that acquisition program delays have been a longstanding challenge for the service and continue to affect the availability of Coast Guard assets. For example, the [Offshore Patrol Cutter and the Polar Security Center] are years behind schedule and billions of dollars over their initial cost estimates.” 

Subcommittee Chairman Gimenez asked Director MacLeod about the cause of staffing shortages in the Coast Guard, to which Director MacLeod testified:

“At the time of our review, the Coast Guard was short of its authorized positions. Since then, in Force Design 2028, the Coast Guard has plans to increase authorized positions, which we envision they would have the same challenges in recruiting and retention with even more positions to fill.”

Chairman Gimenez asked: 

“Do you know that’s still the case?”

Director Macleod testified:

“The Coast Guard reported its highest recruiting numbers last year and then it’s on track to meet its targets.”

Chairman Gimenez continued: 

“Which means filling every authorized position.”

Director Macleod testified: 

“Correct.”

Subcommittee Chairman Gimenez then asked about the declining condition of vessels and aircraft, to which Ms. MacLeod testified:

“Our work has shown more recently the maintenance challenges facing these older cutters and aircraft are increasing.”

Chairman Gimenez asked: 

“Because we don’t have enough people or it’s just the matter they’re old and they’re just breaking down more often?”

Director Macleod testified: 

“The age of the cutters, some of the parts are unavailable, obsolete parts, and things like that.”

Chairman Gimenez continued: 

“And you’re saying that the plan to replace these assets is way behind schedule and billions of dollars over.”

Director Macleod testified: 

“Yes.”

Subcommittee Chairman Gimenez asked RADM Barata about the number and scope of “ghost ships,” or vessels that deceptively transport oil from sanctioned nations, as well as the challenges in intercepting them, to which RADM Barata testified:

“We estimate that there’s probably about six or eight hundred sanctioned dark fleet vessels, in and about, between Iran and Venezuela, China, and Russia. We’ve interdicted about seven, eight over the last two months. And some other countries are starting to chip in. I think over in the Mediterranean, we’ve seen the British and the French do some things, but it’s a very small percentage. They operate out of the rule of law and on a consistent basis.”

“They obfuscate their position a lot of times. All of our large commercial foreign vessels are required to use an automatic identification system. Many of these vessels have the means to easily have two or three sets of AIS aboard and kind of project their position somewhere else. They use false documents. They use false ownership. They claim the numbers of vessels that have already been destroyed and taken apart in other places so that they look like they’re another vessel.”

“And so, even when we can track them though, they’re very hard to interdict. For instance, some of these vessels that we’ve seen in Venezuela, if they’re coming from the Middle East or the Far East, they’ll go around the southern tip of Africa and go right into Venezuela. So without the right assets and the reasoning to board them on the High Seas, it’s very hard to get aboard. And I think you’ve seen us do a lot of counter drug interdictions on smaller vessels and even dhows over in the Middle East. Some of the vessels we’re going on right now are 1,100 feet long, very large crude carriers, very hard to interdict at sea without some support from the Department of War or other assets.”

Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ), a former Navy Seal with experience in Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure (VBSS) tactics, asked Rear Admiral Barata about the scope of these tactics and about future plans for the Coast Guard following historic funding in the House Republican’s reconciliation bill, to which RADM Barata testified:

“We’re talking about a group of teams, which includes our maritime security response team, our boat forces teams that deploy domestically and internationally, our port security units that do expeditionary. There’s a number of units that fall under that category for us.”

“Under Force Design ’28, Congressman, we have reorganized to ensure that the Coast Guard can obligate all of those funds quickly. We’re not waiting for the five years that they’re available to us. We want to spend those right away on maintenance, on shore infrastructure to get after the problems that we have.”

Rep. Sheri Biggs (R-SC) inquired about the Coast Guard’s Force Design 2028 initiative, to which RADM Barata testified:

“Under Force Design ’28, we do intend to expand our workforce by 15,000 personnel. And that will include personnel to man the ships that you’ve helped us acquire, the aircraft, but it’ll also be operators for our unmanned systems and also our Deployable Specialized Forces. So, we intend to grow and we envision a very agile, adaptable workforce that includes a lot of Deployable Specialized Forces.”

Rep. Matt Van Epps (R-TN) asked how transnational criminal networks are adapting their tactics amid the Trump Administration’s increased law enforcement presence in the Western Hemisphere, to which RADM Barata testified:

“I can give you a couple of examples. We talked about the dark fleet tanker operations. The use of those, the funds and revenue that come from the oil that’s being sold overseas is then replicated back in and put into the organizations. So we’ve seen that. We’ve seen that revenues from illegal fishing, from illegal arms sales, human smuggling, those are all being used to feed drug networks. They’re being used to then come back and rearm and re-resource some of the traffickers for semi-submersibles and those type of assets that they know are really hard to find at sea. And so, we’ve had to adjust our tactics as we go.”

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