Watchdog Report: Coast Guard’s Drug Interdiction Efforts Fell Short Under Biden Administration

According to a recent report, the U.S. Coast Guard failed to stop drug smugglers “consistently”, with its vessels being unavailable for more than 2,000 combined days in three years.

According to the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General, the Coast Guard was “unable to interdict consistently non-commercial ships bringing drugs into the U.S.” between fiscal years 2021 and 2023.

This audit examined the Coast Guard’s capability to prevent drug trafficking in 95,000 nautical miles of coastline and over 300 ports. This agency is primarily focused on cocaine, as it’s the most common drug that gets smuggled over water.

The report found that the Coast Guard lacked enough cutters to carry out the antidrug missions and did not “have a contingency to deal with the cutters not being available.”

The report stated, “We found Coast Guard cutters had been unavailable for 2,058 days cumulatively over three years.”

The reasons for the inability of 39 out of 90 cutters included reallocations to migrants interdictions, maintenance that was not scheduled, or because COVID-19 protocol made them unusable. This report found that each year, the number of cutters unavailable increased and was correlated to a decrease in cocaine seized.

The report stated, “According to Coast Guard Personnel, many of the cutters planned for the anti-drug mission have been reassigned to deal with the migration crisis. This has reduced the number cutters on the sea transit zone and adversely affected the removal of cocaine.”

The Coast Guard also attributes these problems to the deferred maintenance. Coast Guard staff said insufficient funding has led to a reduction in cutter availability. The more short-term maintenance is delayed, the longer the maintenance period will be.

The Coast Guard said it intercepted 421 tons of cocaine between the fiscal years 2021-2023. This included some months under the Trump Administration, but the majority of this period was during the Biden Administration. It fell short of their goal of 690 tons.

The Coast Guard also failed to document accurately all interdictions. 58% of the counter-drug case files did not contain seizure data, and 68% did not have the required documentation.

The report stated, “Without addressing these issues, the Coast Guard could miss opportunities to achieve its target goals in removing the cocaine from the country and decreasing the flow of illicit drugs into the nation.”

The report recommended the Coast Guard create a Drug Interdiction Contingency Plan to prioritise the availability of cutters. It also updated systems to guarantee data accuracy and a central database.

The Coast Guard accepted the recommendations, except the contingency plans. It said that the contingency plans would “be redundant and ineffective to solve the documented issue on asset availability.”

The Coast Guard said that it was “committed to strengthening tactics, techniques and procedures to disrupt the flow of illegal drugs and cocaine into the United States through the disruption of the flow on the sea surface.”