Can Bush touch anything? (Without ***king it up)

What happened? Yet again, privatization!

Steven D at Booman Tribune
After 9/11, billions of dollars were appropriated in order to modernize and update the Coast Guard's fleet of patrol boats and other ships. It was an ambitious plan, but one everyone agreed was necessary to enhance our nation's coastal security. However, four years later, this major effort to bring the Coast Guard into the 21st century is a disaster. Only one new ship has been added to the fleet, and it's considered structurally unsound by by the Coast Guard's own engineers. Costs have soared from the initial appropriation of $17 billion to over $24 billion. The New York Times has the story:

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 — Four years after the Coast Guard began an effort to replace nearly its entire fleet of ships, planes and helicopters, the modernization program heralded as a model of government innovation is foundering. [...]

That has compromised the Coast Guard’s ability to fulfill its mission, which greatly expanded after the 2001 attacks to include guarding the nation’s shores against terrorists. The service has been forced to cut back on patrols and, at times, ignore tips from other federal agencies about drug smugglers. The difficulties will only grow more acute in the next few years as old boats fail and replacements are not ready.

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