COLUMN: Leveraging Coast Guard Training for Diplomatic Security

When Auxiliarist J.R. Kulik walked into his new job as the National Special Security Events (NSSE) Coordinator in the Diplomatic Security Service’s (DSS) Office of Protection in Washington D.C., he quickly discerned that change was needed and looked to his experience and training in the Coast Guard Auxiliary to facilitate that change. Until the last few years, for major events like the NATO Summit, the operations team in the Dignitary Protection Operations Center (DPOC) tracked the movement of protection details for foreign ministers using a white board with posted notes. There was no formal organizational command structure in place for an event that involved hundreds of people nor standard action plans for each role. Communications with the agents in the field occurred, but agents would often become overwhelmed with the amount of information thrown at them.   

While the DPOC had been run successfully for over 25 years, Mr. Kulik sought to improve its functionality by leveraging his Incident Command System training from the Coast Guard and his experience as a commander of Chicago-based Auxiliary units. He initiated a series of changes that amplified detail operations at four major events including the 2023 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the 2023 UN General Assembly, the NATO Summit in Washington D.C. in July 2024 and recently, the 2024 UN General Assembly 79 in New York (UNGA 79): 

1. He created a formal organizational structure that mirrored the standard incident command structure. There was an incident commander (himself) that oversaw operations, planning, logistics and finance sections. Each position had a job action sheet ensuring that each individual had a checklist for their role in the event of a crisis. Above the incident commander, there was an executive committee that provided strategic advice to the incident commander and engaged with stakeholders within and outside the agency to ensure efficient operations.  
2. His technology team created an operational interface to provide real-time tracking of the various details, centralized information on each detail and capabilities to communicate with other agencies.  
3. A centralized communication system ensured that official communications distributed to details in the field came from one source. These messages also had a color-coded scheme that ensured agents knew what was routine versus critical. He created unit and office logos that when added to messages helped individuals know the source of the communications.  
4. He instituted close coordination between the radio operators (watchstanders) and the equivalent of the Coast Guard’s officer of the day and provided pre-baked scripts for calls that would come into the DPOC. He stressed the use of common language terms so that other agencies could understand what needed to be done. 
5. He instituted a tracking mechanism that recorded the number of calls into the DPOC and the amount of matters handled by the team. Just like the Coast Guard, DSS places an emphasis on data.  

When asked what principles he drew from the Coast Guard the most, Mr. Kulik replied, “Span of control and crew resource management – on a daily basis, I assess how to utilize all resources and my team to minimize operational risk.” That’s important since he manages a team of over 500 individuals, including Coast Guard reservists and veterans. 

In early July, Mr. Kulik tested the new framework by bringing two Coast Guard reservists into the DPOC who are Incident Command experts. The teams ran two successful scenarios and completed their job action sheets. He attributes the recent success to his tremendous team. Without them, he felt that the mission would not be accomplished. Mr. Kulik further elaborated, “one thing I learned from my division commander days in the Auxiliary is that as a leader, you must support and advocate for your team in everything that you do. When you do that, they will get the mission done.” 

Mr. Kulik’s integration of Coast Guard personnel during the NATO Summit was so successful that he continued the practice of the Coast Guard teaching the incident command system to DSS personnel preparing for the UNGA 79 in New York throughout September. In addition, two Reservists were imbedded in the DSS Protective Intelligence team that worked to provide timely intelligence and threat information to Mr. Kulik, as the incident Commander, for UNGA 79. Lastly, on 22 SEPT 2024, Mr. Kulik hosted CAPT. Jonathan Andrechik, (Sector NY Commander), CAPT. Doreen McCarthy (Deputy Sector Commander), CDR Brandon Aten (Response Department Head) and LCDR Melissa Martinelli (Enforcement Chief) for a tour of the UNGA 79 DPOC. All agreed that the Coast Guard and DSS partnership was mutually beneficial and looked forward to continuing and growing the relationship going forward.  

If you are a member of a federal agency or the armed forces in the Washington D.C. area and would like to continue serving your country through the Coast Guard Reserve or the Coast Guard Auxiliary, please visit GoCoastGuard and for the Auxiliary, Find a Flotilla.