Mathieu said the attacks of 9/11 also have meant greater emphasis on protecting ports like the ones here, where a major metropolitan area and several military facilities, including a large naval shipyard, are nearby.
It is perhaps, the Coast Guard's greatest challenge. There are some 95,000 miles of coastline and 361 public seaports in the United States.
The Tampa is homeported here in southeastern Virginia's Hampton Roads area, both a major international shipping port and huge naval base. Mathieu said that many ports, like Hampton Roads, lack a vessel-tracking system such as the one used by the Port Authority in Seattle to monitor ships coming in and out of the area. That is where the Tampa comes in, he said. The cutter is armed with modern weapons, an MK-75 76 mm fully automatic gun and two 50 mm machine guns. The vessel also has the latest in radar and satellite technology that allows it to track suspect vessels and aircraft. In the event of a heightened security alert, he explained, cutters like the Tampa could be called up to provide port-monitoring service. The Tampa, he said, would sit at the mouth of the port, some 10-15 miles offshore, and guard against anyone "coming in or going out."
"Basically, it's who's coming in, who are they, why are they coming in, and who's on board," he said. "To make sure that we don't have some ship that means to do us harm." Smaller Coast Guard vessels would patrol near the ports to "clamp down" on smaller vessels that may be trying to get into port terminals, Mathieu said.
For Petty Officer 1st Class Scott Romich, the increased presence of Coast Guard vessels at U.S. ports and patrolling waterways has meant "there are a lot of eyes on us."
"They (Coast Guard leaders) are demanding a lot of us now; we're under way more than ever, because we are needed," he said. "It's a challenge. But what it comes down to is you're helping somebody, somewhere. At night, when everybody is home sleeping, we're out making sure that nobody is going to get in here -- no drugs, no terrorists, whatever the case may be. We're always there."
