Coast Guard Pacific Area & Defense Forces West (PACAREA) is an Area Command of the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mu ...

, a regional command element and force provider tasked with maritime safety, security, and stewardship throughout the Pacific. The command's area of responsibility encompasses six of the seven continents, 71 countries, and more than 74 million square miles of ocean—from the U.S. Western States to the waters off the east coast of Africa, and from the Arctic to Antarctica. Pacific Area has primary responsibilities for all Coast Guard operations throughout this area of responsibility.

Organizational structure

Commander, U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Area is concurrently Commander of Defense Forces West, and is located at Coast Guard Island in

Alameda An alameda is a Avenue (landscape), street or path lined with trees () and may refer to: Places Canada *Alameda, Saskatchewan, town in Saskatchewan **Grant Devine Dam, formerly ''Alameda Dam'', a dam and reservoir in southern Saskatchewan Chile ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. Pacific Area is divided into four operational regions called districts, each overseen by a two-star Rear Admiral. The 11th Coast Guard District is co-located with Pacific Area and oversees all Coast Guard operations from the

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

border, south to Guatemala and out 200 miles to sea. The 13th Coast Guard District is headquartered in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Washington and maintains responsibility for Coast Guard operations throughout the Pacific Northwest. The 17th Coast Guard District is based in

Juneau The City and Borough of Juneau, more commonly known simply as Juneau ( ; tli, Dzánti K'ihéeni ), is the capital city of the state of Alaska. Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle, it is a unified municipality and the s ...

, with responsibility for all Coast Guard operations in Alaska. The 14th Coast Guard District has responsibility for Coast Guard operations throughout a 12.2 million square mile region that encompasses the Hawaiian Islands,

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

American Samoa American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the Internationa ...

, and Coast Guard activities in Saipan,

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

, and Japan. The Pacific Area and its subordinate units employ 13,000 active duty and reserve members, Coast Guard Auxiliarists, and civilian employees.

Operational assets

In addition to assets at each of its subordinate units, the Pacific Area command's operational assets include: * 3

National Security Cutters The Legend-class cutter, also known as the National Security Cutter (NSC) and Maritime Security Cutter, Large, is the largest active patrol cutter class of the United States Coast Guard. Entering into service in 2008, the Legend-class is the la ...

* 8

High Endurance Cutter The designation of high endurance cutter (WHEC) was created in 1965 when the United States Coast Guard adopted its own designation system. High endurance cutters encompass the largest cutters previously designated by the United States Navy as gu ...

s * 4

Medium Endurance Cutter The Medium Endurance Cutter or WMEC is a type of United States Coast Guard Cutter mainly consisting of the Famous- and ''Reliance''-class cutters. These larger cutters are under control of Area Commands (Atlantic Area or Pacific Area). These cutt ...

s * 3 Polar Ice Breakers * 29

Patrol Boats A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and the ...

* 12

Buoy Tender A buoy tender is a type of vessel used to maintain and replace navigational buoys. This term can also apply to an actual person who does this work. The United States Coast Guard uses buoy tenders to accomplish one of its primary missions of main ...

s * 11

Sectors Sector may refer to: Places * Sector, West Virginia, U.S. Geometry * Circular sector, the portion of a disc enclosed by two radii and a circular arc * Hyperbolic sector, a region enclosed by two radii and a hyperbolic arc * Spherical sector, a p ...

* 10 Air Stations * 13 HC-130 Fixed-Wing Aircraft * 26 HH-65 Dolphin Helicopters * 13

HH-60 The Sikorsky MH-60G/HH-60G Pave Hawk is a four-blade, twin-engine, medium-lift utility military helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. It is a derivative of the UH-60 Black Hawk and incorporates the US Air Force PAVE electronic system ...

Jayhawk Helicopters Pacific Area also oversees the Deployable Specialized Forces (DSFs), which include the

National Strike Force The Deployable Operations Group (DOG) was a United States Coast Guard command that provided properly equipped, trained and organized Deployable Specialized Forces (DSF), which still exist today, to the Coast Guard, United States Department of Homel ...

, Tactical Law Enforcement Teams,

Port Security Unit United States Coast Guard Port Security Units are deployable specialized units organized for sustained force protection operations. They can deploy within 96 hours and establish operations within 24 hours of arrival. PSUs conduct OCONUS port secur ...

s, and

Maritime Safety and Security Team A Maritime Safety and Security Team, or MSST, is a counter-terrorism team of the United States Coast Guard established to protect local maritime assets. It is also a harbor and inshore patrol and security team that includes detecting and, if ne ...

List of commanders

* Thomas H. Collins, 1998 * Charles E. Larkin, 2000 * Harvey E. Johnson Jr., June 2004 * Charles D. Wurster, May 2006 *

David Pekoske David Peter Pekoske (born May 5, 1955) is an American government official and retired U.S. Coast Guard vice admiral who has served as the seventh administrator of the Transportation Security Administration in the United States Department of Hom ...

, 29 May 2008 * Jody A. Breckenridge, 10 July 2009 * Manson K. Brown, 18 May 2010 * Paul F. Zukunft, 27 April 2012 * Charles W. Ray, 22 April 2014 * Fred M. Midgette, 15 August 2016 * Linda L. Fagan, 8 June 2018 * Peter W. Gautier, 16 June 2021 (acting) * Michael F. McAllister, 30 June 2021 * Andrew J. Tiongson, 8 July 2022

References

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Pacific Area Coast Guard Pacific Area & Defense Forces West (PACAREA) is an Area Command of the United States Coast Guard, a regional command element and force provider tasked with maritime safety, security, and stewardship throughout the Pacific. The comma ...

Military units and formations in California Alameda, California

Organizational structure

Operational assets

List of commanders

See also

References