The United States Coast Guard will grow its specialized interdiction teams and set up its own Special Missions Command (SMC) to oversee the deployable forces. “We are forging our most elite operators into a single, razor-sharp instrument of national power,” said Adm. Kevin Lunday, commandant of the Coast Guard.
The new command will strengthen the readiness, operational effectiveness and interoperability of the Coast Guard, which is responding to more national emergencies and events as the demand for specialized forces increases. The Coast Guard chose the existing Coast Guard C5I Service Center facility in Kearneysville, West Virginia, as the future site of the SMC. The command commissioning is planned for October 2026, a Coast Guard news release said.
“The creation of the Special Missions Command is a vital evolution for our service,” Lunday said in the news release. The new SMC “is not an administrative change; it is an investment ensuring these elite teams are the best trained, equipped, and organized force possible, ready to protect the Homeland and support the Joint Force.”
The announcement comes as the U.S. is increasingly using these specialized teams for ship and drug interdictions around the globe. For example, in addition to long-standing operations like Campaign Martillo—the U.S.-led multinational Caribbean counter-maritime trafficking effort—the new Operation Pacific Viper in the Eastern Pacific has resulted in the seizure of record narcotics hauls.
The new command will start with 130 people, budget documents indicate. But an additional 525 personnel will be added to Deployable Specialized Forces units, a Coast Guard spokesperson told Task & Purpose, a military news website.
In total, the Coast Guard wants to spend about $80 million to add 650 personnel, Task & Purpose said. In addition, U.S. President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2027 budget proposal seeks a $2.1 billion increase for the Coast Guard overall.
The SMC will include these units:
- Maritime security response teams will serve as the Coast Guard’s first responders to maritime terrorism and other high-risk threats at home or abroad.
- Tactical law enforcement teams will provide their expertise, especially in situations related to countertrafficking and transnational criminal organizations trying to exploit shipping zones.
- Maritime Safety and Security teams with rapidly deployable boat teams will provide port, waterway and coastal security, safeguarding the public, protecting maritime transportation, and responding to crime, sabotage and terrorism.
- Port security units will provide shoreside and waterborne security to defend shipping, critical infrastructure and high-value assets in warfare environments.
- Regional dive lockers will provide dedicated undersea capabilities. Their missions include ensuring the security of ports and waterways, maintaining navigation aids, and conducting ship maintenance and repair, often in extreme environments in the Arctic and elsewhere.
- The national strike force will provide technical experts and specialized equipment to prepare for and respond to complex crises and natural disasters, including oil spills, the release of hazardous substances, and chemical, biological, radiation and nuclear events. The force includes three strike teams.
“The geopolitical landscape is evolving and the demand for Coast Guard Deployable Specialized Forces is at an all-time high,” Capt. Robert Berry, SMC precommissioning team lead, said in the news release. “These forces are instrumental to the Coast Guard’s readiness and its role as a global leader in maritime contingency response. The Service has always turned to its specialized forces to respond to national threats and disasters, and establishing this command is the natural next step to enabling our forces to lead the way at the tip of the spear.”
In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee in March, Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, commander of U.S. Northen Command (USNORTHCOM) and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, spoke about executive orders to seal the border and halt illegal immigration and the flow of illegal drugs into the United States. The mission “includes a significant maritime component, as U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard assets conduct maritime interdiction operations to stop the flow of illegal drugs and other illicit activities. These all-domain, year-round efforts have generated impressive improvements in border security, fostered readiness, and facilitated tight-knit collaboration with USNORTHCOM’s interagency and international partners.”