Preparing the U.S. Coast Guard for China's Gray-Zone Operations

America’s allies in the Indo-Pacific are getting pretty familiar with China’s grey-zone maritime behavior, but the United States itself is ill-prepared to deal with it. Yet it should be prepared, experts warned a US House of Representatives committee in a hearing this month. The US must not only counter the threat to its national security posed by China’s coercive operations, but also support its allies against Chinese efforts to rewrite the rule of law in the region.

The US Coast Guard, America’s best tool for responding to China’s use of force below the threshold of war, was underequipped for the task, maritime security experts from the US Naval War College, the Heritage Foundation and the RAND Corporation told the committee. The service needed more ships, more sailors and advanced capabilities tailored to countering grey-zone operations at sea, they said. It must also increase its engagement with Indo-Pacific allies to build up maritime law enforcement cooperation in the region.

The coast guard’s chronic shortage of personnel and vessels could no longer be ignored, experts saids.. Experts also testified that the service’s acquisition plans were inadequate for replacing old vessels and commissioning long-range cutters needed for patrolling the Indo-Pacific region.

In its gutted state, the US Coast Guard is underprepared to carry out law enforcement duties in the Pacific Ocean and compete with China’s heavily militarized coast guard—a key perpetrator of illegal grey-zone operations.

More ships and more sailors are only part of the solution. The Coast Guard must also explore advanced technologies that enhance its ability to deter Chinese operations,?the committee was told at the June 4 hearing.

One suggestion from former US Navy captain Brent Sadler, a senior researcher at the Heritage Foundation, was to deploy a non-lethal directed-energy device, the Active Denial System (ADS), on Coast Guard cutters…Sadler also urged that the Coast Guard should lift its anti-cyber warfare capabilities. In May, a China-linked hacking group attacked several European cargo ships, demonstrating a dangerous cyber threat to maritime commerce.

Boosting cybersecurity capabilities is essential. American ports lack sufficient cybersecurity infrastructure despite facing increasing cyber threats from Chinese hacking organizations…Finally, Eric Cooper, a former US Coast Guard officer and present senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation, advised that the coast guard should lean harder into international maritime law enforcement partnerships. The US already has shiprider agreements with 11 Pacific Island nations and a history of joint maritime law enforcement exercises with regional allies. The Coast Guard must strengthen these relationships, which provide a valuable platform for cooperative operations, training, and information sharing, Cooper said. This is essential to deter China’s grey-zone maritime behavior and prevent the outbreak of kinetic conflict.

Overall, the hearing demonstrated that maritime security experts endorse the US Coast Guard’s role in countering China’s grey-zone activities in the Pacific Ocean. A well-equipped, technologically advanced coast guard that participates rigorously in international maritime law enforcement cooperation is essential to America’s broader deterrence strategy against China’s maritime aggression and to maintaining the rule of law in the Indo-Pacific.