U S Government Accountability Office

Coast Guard U S Government Accountability Office

"Maritime stakeholders have raised issues about the competency of some Coast Guard personnel to fulfill its marine safety mission, which Coast Guard leadership agreed needed to be addressed. Interested in these issues and others, you requested that we provide information on personnel efforts undertaken by the Coast Guard. This report discusses (1) documented personnel problems experienced by the Coast Guard in the last decade, (2) Coast Guard efforts to address these personnel problems, and the extent to which these efforts conform to congressional direction or identified best practices, as appropriate, and (3) possible challenges to their implementation. To provide the historical perspective of personnel problems experienced by the Coast Guard, we reviewed our prior work on the Coast Guard's difficulties allocating its personnel and other resources to accomplish all of its diverse missions while ensuring that it addresses personnel readiness, qualifications, and training requirements. We also reviewed the results of relevant Coast Guard personnel qualifications and training investigations conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Coast Guard, as well as reports of the Departments of Transportation and Homeland Security Offices of Inspector General related to the Coast Guard's management and readiness posture. To assess the Coast Guard's efforts to address personnel problems, we reviewed relevant laws and congressional guidance, instructions, staffing manuals, training guidance, policies, and procedures related to the Coast Guard's workforce planning and personnel development. We analyzed the Coast Guard's Workforce Action Plan against guidance provided by congressional appropriators, the Department of Homeland Security's Workforce Planning Guide, and key principles for effective strategic workforce planning 1 The Senate report..."