Captain Lushan Hannah's Q&A

Q&A: Captain Lushan Hannah (US Coast Guard) On Forging Effective Emergency Management Responses To Environmental Crises

By Jonathan Movroydis

Captain Lushan Hannah, representing the US Coast Guard, is a National Security Affairs Fellow for the academic year 2021–22.

In this interview, Hannah talks about his more than two decades of service in the Coast Guard. He discusses his specialty in ashore response operations, which involves search-and-rescue missions, maritime law enforcement, and environmental protection.

Hannah explains that during his fellowship, he will explore how the Coast Guard can optimize the performance of its response to oil spills and other environmental disasters via partnerships with the private sector, other government agencies, and nongovernmental organizations.

Hannah also describes his interest in researching more about Herbert Hoover’s efforts to provide food and other forms of relief to Belgians stricken by famine during the First World War. Hannah concludes that evidence might suggest that Hoover was an early pioneer in the discipline of modern emergency management.

Why did you join the US Coast Guard?

I like to describe the US Coast Guard as a family business. My mother, my stepfather, and my biological father were all active-duty Coast Guard officers. Initially, it was not pushed on me in my youth. I went to Johnson C. Smith University on a partial track and field and partial academic scholarship, which I didn’t utilize fully. I remember coming home one summer and seeing, on my bed, a brochure for a program called the Coast Guard College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative. My mom looked at me and said, "Hey, how are you going to pay for school?"

Ultimately, I signed up for this pre-commissioning program, which is the closest thing the Coast Guard has to a reserve officer training corps (ROTC). It pays for two years of college, and when I graduated, I figured that I would just serve out my initial three-year commitment. I served on a cutter my first tour and then went ashore after that. I just kept having fun, and here I am twenty-three years later.

Will you describe the nature of your work as a Coast Guard officer over the past two decades?

Within the Coast Guard, there are four primary operational specialties: aviation, afloat, operations ashore prevention, and operations ashore response. Afloat and aviation are self-explanatory. But on the ashore side, we have prevention officers that conduct casualty investigations, inspect vessels, regulate marine facilities, manage waterways, ensure the safe navigation of vessels, and oversee marine permits.

The other side of ashore operations is response, where I work. We like to say, when prevention doesn't work, we need a response. In response, some of our main functions are search-and-rescue missions, maritime law enforcement, and environmental protection. Typically, an individual officer has a stronger skill set in one area over the other two. My strong suit has always been in environmental protection, and that is because, in large part, my academic background is in chemistry and environmental management.  Both subjects continue to interest me, and I really found a niche within the Coast Guard in dealing with large offshore oil spills.

In several instances in the Gulf of Mexico, I have had to respond to leaking well heads, in close cooperation with major energy companies. The Coast Guard is involved in several public committees that are meant to prevent environmental disasters, which include the public, NGOs, and energy companies, as well as firms that specialize in emergency response.

What types of strategies has the Coast Guard implemented to prevent and mitigate environmental disasters?

Per regulations, every Captain of the Port Zone is required to have an area contingency plan. A key component of such plans are Geographic Response Strategies. This means working with officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and state spill response agencies, who can analyze bathymetric data (the ocean’s depth relative to sea level) and historical winds and currents to determine where oil has flowed from its original point of discharge.

Once we know where the oil will go, we can position our maritime assets, including skimmers, right at the collection point. Once we have identified the collection point, we can surround the spill with a protective barrier called a “boom” in order to prevent environmental damage such as coastal erosion.

We frequently deploy into waters and test different “booming” strategies for effectiveness. Some strategies are better for certain typographies and situations. In some maritime terrains, setting down a boom with an anchor may cause environmental damage at the sea bottom. This cost-benefit of mitigation versus harm has to be analyzed for every response.

Will you describe some of your most challenging missions?

My previous tour as the commanding officer of Pacific Strike Team was very challenging. This team under the National Strike Force (NSF) was established in 1973 as a direct result of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972. The NSF’s roles and responsibilities in supporting the National Response System expanded under the Clean Water Act of 1977 and the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, giving the Coast Guard specialized capabilities and broad authority to lead whole-of-government responses to oil spills in the coastal zone. This became a priority because America had experienced some major spills, including one off the coast of Santa Barbara in February 1969.

In addition to the Pacific Strike Team, the Coast Guard has two others, one on the Atlantic Coast and the other along the Gulf of Mexico. The coordination center for these teams is based in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Each of the teams have a large hangar (the Pacific team has two hangars, and the Atlantic team, in addition to a hangar, has multiple purpose built warehouses at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey) with specialized equipment and vehicles that are needed to respond to high-stakes environmental disasters.

During my tour with the Pacific Strike Team, one mission that has particularly stood out in my memory is when we supported the government of the Bahamas in response to a major oil spill, which was caused by Hurricane Dorian in August–September 2019.

This mission in many ways demonstrated why the Coast Guard has a reputation of being a “jack of all trades.” In addition to advising on the cleanup of oil from ruptured and displaced storage tanks, we also provided emergency management support until the Bahamas equivalent of FEMA (US Federal Emergency Management Agency) had fully reconstituted.

Our team also ensured that power companies could restore gas and electric utilities; worked with NGOs to revive supply chain processes and distribute medical supplies; conducted damage assessments of the island; and advised the Bahamian government on the judicious use of disaster funds, so that they could be allocated to places that were most impacted by the hurricane. This was just one of those assignments in which we had to solve a new and complex problem every day.

Another challenge also arose in my last tour. In April–May 2021, my team was asked to support the US Department of Health and Human Services in its intake of unaccompanied children near the Texas-Mexico border at Fort Bliss.

We were tasked to support a site with the projected capacity of caring for 4,000 children, working with other federal agencies and volunteers. It is in these types of crisis environments where “Coasties” especially thrive. We not only had to ensure the safe intake these children but also had to create sustainable emergency management processes to ensure that efficient, consistent, and cost-effective operations could continue long after we departed. Finally, we had to ensure that we were compliant with the US Army requirements and that all our work was reported up the chain of command, so that we could continue to receive resources.

What will be your research focus during your fellowship at the Hoover Institution?

I would like to research ways the Coast Guard can optimize the performance of its ashore response missions in partnership with various maritime stakeholders, whether they be other government agencies, NGOs, or private businesses.

The three types of partnerships in which the Coast Guard is most active in ports are with the area committee, which focuses on oil spill and hazmat response; the area maritime security committee, which oversees law enforcement matters; and the harbor safety committee, which coordinates with commercial operators on the management of waterways. The success of these committees from port to port varies based on the level of leadership displayed by their members, whether they be officials from NGOs, government agencies, or the Coast Guard itself. 

I want to especially explore how we can achieve uniformity of success on these committees. Maybe this can be realized consistently through the legislative process or via incentives from the private sector. It shouldn’t just be a lagging or passive interest, following an oil spill or other form of crisis.

Another topic I am interested in is Herbert Hoover’s disaster relief in Belgium during the First World War. It seems that Hoover applied very similar concepts of emergency management as we do today in the Coast Guard. I have discussed this topic with some historians here at the Hoover Institution, including historians David Berkey and Bertrand Patenaude, and Jean Cannon, curator of the Library & Archives’ North American Collections.

A case might be made that he laid the foundation for modern relief management. I am currently reading Kenneth Whyte’s biography, Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times. As well, Dr. Patenaude pointed me to some recommended resources, including articles he wrote in the Hoover Digest about Herbert Hoover’s leadership in the Committee for Relief in Belgium.

Where do you look for inspiration?

On the personal side: I am really inspired by today’s youth. They give me hope about the future. I have two daughters, ages eleven and nine, and I recently was persuaded to be a scoutmaster for a Boy Scouts of America troop.  Even at their very young age, I have come to be impressed by the scouts’ maturity, composure, astuteness, and care for the world.

Much as in the military, the Boy Scouts have a review board that assesses scouts before they can be promoted to the next rank. During these sessions, its impressive to see these eleven- and twelve-year-old kids compose themselves like adults and discuss their leadership philosophy.

On the professional side, what motivates me every day when I come to work is the chance to impart wisdom on the new generation of junior officers. I want to help them avoid the pitfalls that I ran into in my early career. I take mentorship and professional development seriously; it's my top objective. I know that if I make these investments now, my unit will be better. The Coast Guard, as an entire organization, will also benefit by their development, because they are going to be the future senior officers. I receive great joy when a junior officer, to whom I am teaching a concept, will say, “Wow, I never thought about it that way.” To me, such experiences are very valuable, and all they cost is a modest investment of my time.

I just finished coauthoring a book this summer about career development in the Coast Guard. It’s called Learning the Ropes: A Guide to Writing Success Evaluation Reports with Career Advice, Insights, Tips, and More. The book was inspired when I and my coauthor, a longtime colleague of mine in the Coast Guard, would talk about leadership and the future of the organization. One day, about five years ago, we agreed that we should put on paper all the corporate knowledge and wisdom from our mentors that we acquired over our years of service—what we like to call “golden nuggets.”  It’s really our way of giving back to the Coast Guard and paying it forward to the younger generation of officers.

We also have a companion podcast called CG Learning the Ropes, in which I interview Coast Guard leaders of various specialties. A recent episode featured Commander Kate Higgins-Bloom on her perspectives on developing strategy for the broad objectives of the Coast Guard, in coordination with the Departments of Homeland Security and Defense. Another episode featured Captain William Woityra, an ice-breaking sailor, on the keys to success in the Coast Guard’s Arctic mission.

On both the book and the podcast, I have received great feedback, because it seems like we really filled voids in the topics of leadership and professional development within the Coast Guard.

What does leadership mean to you?

Leadership is empowering others to achieve things that they never imagined for themselves. It’s very personal to me. I would not be where I am today if it were not for mentors who invested their time in helping me realize my full potential.

A leader has a powerful voice that inspires, saying, “You can do this, and I have your back."