Presence or Capacity? The Coast Guard Can Have Both Through Small Boat Stations

The U.S. Coast Guard faces a strategic dilemma: its small boat stations are proving difficult to close due to community and political support, yet leaving them unchanged results in operational inefficiency. These enduring units, while valued locally, are not always realizing their full potential in meeting broader national maritime priorities.

This tension was highlighted during the recent Senate confirmation hearing for the next commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, where senators raised pressing global concerns including Arctic competition, cyber threats targeting ports, migration pressures, and increasingly severe storms. Despite the international scope of these issues, the hearing repeatedly returned to a more local matter — the Coast Guard units located in senators’ home states and districts.

The persistent local focus underscores the political resilience of small boat stations, which have survived decades of proposed changes and resistance to restructuring. Their staying power, according to analyst Craig Johnson, is now prompting a reevaluation of how these units can be better utilized without losing their community value.

Johnson argues that rather than choosing between maintaining presence or building capacity, the Coast Guard can achieve both through a redesigned model for small boat stations. By reconfiguring select stations — particularly those earmarked for closure — into multi-mission hubs, the service could generate surge capacity, accelerate training, and strengthen recruiting efforts.

Such a transformation would allow the Coast Guard to preserve the local presence that communities and lawmakers support while simultaneously enhancing the stations’ ability to contribute to national readiness and crisis response. This approach aims to align the enduring force structure of small boat stations with evolving maritime demands.

The proposal reflects a broader effort to make better use of existing resources in the face of complex global challenges. As maritime threats grow more diverse and severe, optimizing underutilized capabilities like small boat stations becomes increasingly important for maintaining operational flexibility and national security.