Editorial: Fat’s In Fire On Coast Guard ALJ Hearings

Now that Congress has held a hearing to deal with complaints about how the U.S. Coast Guard handles its justice system, licensed rivermen and blue-water mariners can only hope their prayers are answered. One congressman plans to introduce legislation to strip the administrative law system from the Coast Guard, perhaps by next year.

Coast Guard actions have raised a lot of red flags in recent years and not just over dangerous tows. Recently one concern dealt with boarding tactics, and we covered them in an August 20 editorial. Previously, we delved into the agency’s administrative law judge (ALJ) issue on July 2 as the result of a Baltimore Sun story.

Coast Guard performance has not all been bad. It did outstanding search and rescue at New Orleans following Katrina. These kinds of missions usually are carried out brilliantly world wide, and thousands can thank the agency for timely rescues and survival.

Nevertheless, red-flag issues deal with rivermen, licensing, regional exam centers, drug tests, boardings (of late), and now the ALJ system.

At a July 31 congressional hearing, the ALJ system was the main course, after which lawmakers expressed a desire to take the system away from the Coast Guard. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD), chairman of the House Transportation subcommittee responsible for oversight of the Coast Guard, plans to introduce a bill to do just that. It could place the system in an independent arm of government.

Members of Congress who agree with Cummings said “recent claims of bias and mismanagement have raised doubts within the maritime industry about whether the system is fair to the civilian defendants whose cases it handles,” wrote Sun staffer Robert Little in a next-day follow-up of the hearing. Cummings proposed the legislation after hearing testimony from two former judges, a maritime attorney and a law professor, Little wrote.

Details are too numerous to recount here, so we refer readers back to our July 2 editorial, which spells out the issues.

Not surprisingly, the Coast Guard has defended the system as fair. And Little reported that Rep. Steven C. LaTourette, the committee’s senior Republican, said that while he would support removing the ALJ system from the Coast Guard, he is “not convinced that the agency suffers from systemic bias or unfairness.”

Whether or not Congress will be convinced to follow Cummings’ lead is yet to be discovered. Our own experience with the issues indicates it should. Certainly not everyone in the system is corrupt, but if there are overzealous cowboys operating, they should be lassoed and brought under control.

While the system and method of law enforcement are properly the focus right now, it is good to remember the multifaceted responsibilities of the Coast Guard. The advent of 9/11 and moving the agency into the Homeland Security Department has heaped loads of responsibility on the agency, yet complaints about the justice system predate 9/11.

Tom Marian, a former Coast Guard attorney who retired from the agency and later worked with a civilian law firm, offers a slightly different perspective. Speaking of image, he agreed that the Coast Guard must take criticism along with accolades. His description of Coast Guard operations is not far removed from the management problems experienced in industry. Sometimes individuals are elevated to positions of authority (or their sphere of authority is expanded) and they are not fully up to speed on details. When responsibilities are relegated to other staff members, it can only be hoped that they will carry them out properly. Sometimes they do not see the whole picture and err by not depending upon advisors who do. Sometimes decisions that are too harsh are made.

Still, an example of cowboys at work can be seen in the case of Capt. Joseph J. Kinneary, who was “delicensed” by the Coast Guard over a random drug test. He was not a user. When Kinneary could not provide a urine sample because of shy bladder syndrome, the Coast Guard refused to allow him to use other tests authorized by the agency. One bullheaded officer caused the industry to lose a highly qualified captain with more than 15 years of experience and no blots on his record.

There are sufficient cases to keep this fire kindled until Congress provides a remedy.

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