Coast Guard response to distress call on Jewell Island, ME

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Icelander

As a courtesy, I expect that the DHS OIG actually notified the Sector HQ of the Coast Guard about Agents Banks and O'Toole in advance. Our visit has a boring bureaucratic half-truth cover story and the Coast Guard does fall under the DHS Inspector General. And Special Agent Banks is a former O-4 (LCDR) of the Coast Guard, who retired from active duty in 2007, but was probably Reserve until recently. He might even have made a courtesy call to Sector HQ while we had lunch, before we left for the island.

Then there is definitely a red-flag in your favor. The Coast Guard knows you're actually there and there for a purpose. They are very unlikely to consider this some sort of prank.

They might still be put off for a day (even more if the Chief Admin is in on it), but they'll also defintiely contact your superiors if for no other reason than to alert them as to O'Toole's shenanigans (ie "Is this sort of thing your people get up to over in DHS?").

I think we'll find out more about the reach and power of Onyx Rain. And whether Banks was the only Coast Guard officer involved.

Unless they are reeeeeeaaaaal subtle, I agree.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

Then there is definitely a red-flag in your favor. The Coast Guard knows you're actually there and there for a purpose. They are very unlikely to consider this some sort of prank.

Well, it was a short radio message, probably less than a minute and not made over Special Agent O'Toole's CBP radio system, even though he is supposed to be carrying his Motorola XTS 5000.*

He got through one rapid-fire data dump of the situation before jamming cut him off again. In 30-45 seconds of useful speech, I'd guess he specifically mentioned that federal officers had been attacked and required emergency medical attention on Jewell Island, that the guards of Manhanock Asylum for the Criminally Insane were responsible for the attack and that Deputy Warden Tyrrell was commanding them to attack federal agents. He would also have mentioned that Agent Banks was presumed to be either dead or Warden Tyrrell's hostage and that as yet we had no information on the status of anyone on the medical staff or the administrators of Manhanock other than the guards.

In play, the distress call was abstracted away, as O'Toole's player had just left the session. The GM did note that O'Toole succeeded on his Electronics Operation (Communications) and Savoir-Faire (Police) with more than 5 for both rolls, so I feel confident that the distress call sounded as authentic as possible, delivered information efficiently and mentioned the most important facts we had at the time.

*Which he is, but after O'Toole had tried several times to get through on it, he gave up on it. This was before we identified the disruption as jamming and still made room for the possibility that O'Toole's radio was simply busted. After Taylor subdued a guard and took his radio, O'Toole tried again on the guard's radio, which only had 10 preset channels, one of which was Channel 16, the Coast Guard emergency channel. So he made the distress call on that channel, rather than over the CBP communication system as he otherwise would have.

Originally Posted by evileeyore

They might still be put off for a day (even more if the Chief Admin is in on it), but they'll also defintiely contact your superiors if for no other reason than to alert them as to O'Toole's shenanigans (ie "Is this sort of thing your people get up to over in DHS?").

Oh, our superiors were no doubt contacted immediately, if only because O'Toole would have included a SHARE code-word at the beginning of the message that alerted the Coast Guard to pass it on to the OIG of the DHS.

The problem is that I think that they might well prefer for no one to step on Jewell Island until they've come up with a really good cover story. Well, I'm sure that they'll have some sort of emergency cover story ready for a minor incident, but they might not have expected things to go this wrong, this fast.

Our hope, however, is that Onyx Rain won't have any plausible way to prevent the Coast Guard from taking action if the distress call eventually draws a response from any of the commanders of Northeastern New England Sector, District 1 and/or the MSRT. They might try to delay it, but I don't really know what they would do in that direction, as taking any action at all might turn out to be more of a risk than just staying in the shadow and coming up with a cover story for afterwards.

Onyx Rain might be a powerful conspiracy, but the overwhelming majority of people in every government organisation will still be ordinary people with ordinary concerns, ignorant of any secrets, and it is extremely unlikely that the ordinary ratings and officers of the Coast Guard will be convinced to just ignore a possible hostage crisis that is within their jurisdiction unless they are convinced that a competent, legal authority has already taken it over and that any support is either unnecessary or actively harmful.

Originally Posted by evileeyore

Unless they are reeeeeeaaaaal subtle, I agree.

Yep. A mutiny of military and Coast Guard reservists, some of whom have part-time federal law officer credentials, would be a big hoopla in the news. Especially if it involved escaped criminally insane inmates of a top secret mental facility for dangerous people* and triple especially if it involves hostages and multiple deaths.

*Mostly those with security clearances which make it a bad idea to allow them to be treated among patients in ordinary facilities.

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Four hours from order to launch from their base in Virginia or from order to assault on target in Maine?

I was thinking four hours to be on site. (Again, my assumption just by analogy with other first-responder Federal units; I still haven't found a spec for their response time.) That implies air transport, not to mention that the units I'm taking as an analogy are based all around the country.

There's an MSST based in Boston. 167 km from Jewell Island, so about 40 minutes by helicopter. (Differences between the MSRT, which was originally the Chesapeake, VA, MSST merged with a TACLET, and the MSSTs, aren't entirely clear to me, other than a defensive/offensive focus.)

Also, the Coast Guard has the National Strike Force, which has Strike Teams that also have an anti-terrorism role. The Atlantic Strike Team is apparently based at Fort Dix, NJ. (343 miles from Jewell Island, so about 2 hours in a UH-60.)

Apparently the question isn't so much whether the CG has such units as whether or not they'll all be tripping over each other when they get there...

[Refplace]

I love the GURPS forums. A lot of detailed answers given so far.
I cant respond to readiness or deploy able units but I want to cover a bit anyhow.
First the jamming, I dont see how cutter cant narrow the jamming down to at least the island even without a directional antenna. All it has to do is move a decent distance and it should be able to triangulate with a decent Ops roll.
I would be surprised if a coast guard vessel did not have a comm operator who was trained in triangulation as it would be important for locating ships with a radio sending distress calls. You cant expect all those needing rescue to be good at knowing their exact location at sea.
I do not actually know this but it just seems more than reasonable.

As for the decision to respond it sure seems like you have enough red flags to merit a quick response.
A) You notified them you were visiting and anyone who knew that and your code words and procedure presents a security risk. That needs to be investigated.
B) The jamming as was pointed out is a hazard to local ships so is a potential PR nightmare. Even if no one was hurt ships maybe have problems communicating and will make complaints, probably very public complaints if it goes on too long or covers to much an area.
this is only a problem if it goes beyond the island and that should be easily checked. Range can be checked from base, triangulation would likely require more action.
C) Even if no maritime risk from jamming exists, it sure as heck is a security risk at a secure facility.
D) Not being able to reach the Commander, especially if you reported a mutiny is a major flag. They will be highly skeptical at first but if cant speak with him immediately will be very concerned. And that includes "we have reports of possible terrorist activy there so get him on the phone NOW. No i dont care if he is asleep, he can sleep later after the court martial if he is not on the phone in ten minutes."
The only plausible reason he could give on a base like that is if he was too injured to come to the phone. And of course that is a problem in itself.

If anything goes wrong at the facility and after having received a distress call it was not immediately checked out heads would roll. Military people understand the concept and following procedure is your safest bet. Easy to say we may have overreacted but we were responding to a potential threat.
I would say send the cutter if available as its lower profile than a helo.
A nice simple cruise and no one is the wiser if it was a prank. By the time it arrives on station if they haven't reached the Commander it should be taken very seriously. By that time they will also have located the jamming (to the island anyway) if it remains on.
Any response of no need to come ashore would just raise even more suspicion. its got a dock not like they have to land on the beech.

Add to this any response from your CO and any info local command has on the facility as a special security issue.
I would say the cutter is a safe response and local backup readied later when jamming or lack of proper response makes someone too nervous.
I doubt external or remote backup would be called unless the ship was fired on or determined they needed to make a forceful landing. Any officer is sticking his neck out too publicly for later review with a widespread call and not much justification.

[benz72]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Good question. I know that the Coast Guard employs such people and they tend to carry an M14 Tactical (EBR stock, but 22" barrel), but I have no idea whether one will be on board the USCGC Marcus Hanna or whatever other vehicle happens to be closest to hand to come check out the wildly fantastic (but correctly delivered, with appropriate Electronis Ops and Savoir-Faire) distress call.

I would be VERY surprised to discover that a buoy tender had a sniper aboard.

As for where the cutter would be... look at the season and the repair cycle of the cutter. It is possible she is in a maintenance availability, or in port, or doing ATN repair work.

Jamming is (AFAIK) solved either by elimination of the jammer (HARM) or burnthrough (EW) neither of which I would expect to see as capabilities on a buoy tender. Even if they could deploy a kinetic countermeasure to jamming I cannot imagine a USCG CO releasing a weapon against a domestic target in such a circumstance.

I would think the best thing the cutter could do to help the players is investigate the distress call, get close enough to get shot at (thus validating the scale of the emergency) and withdrawing to a safe distance from which they would then call in a combat unit (likely for another agency) to address the situation and observe the facility to provide information.

[caveat---USN, not USCG]

[benz72]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Would they be condtantly trying to reach Agent Banks and O'Toole on the DHS radio network frequency as well as the Coast Guard emergency frequency that O'Toole used?

That freq and others. It costs nothing to make the calls, attempts to clarify the situation and, even if not SOP (which it probably is), is a common sense move. Very low odds of them not attempting to raise the distress caller on radio until this is resolved.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Refplace

As for the decision to respond it sure seems like you have enough red flags to merit a quick response.
A) You notified them you were visiting and anyone who knew that and your code words and procedure presents a security risk. That needs to be investigated.
B) The jamming as was pointed out is a hazard to local ships so is a potential PR nightmare. Even if no one was hurt ships maybe have problems communicating and will make complaints, probably very public complaints if it goes on too long or covers to much an area.
this is only a problem if it goes beyond the island and that should be easily checked. Range can be checked from base, triangulation would likely require more action.
C) Even if no maritime risk from jamming exists, it sure as heck is a security risk at a secure facility.

The jamming is almost certainly confined to Jewell Island and Warden Tyrrell would probably have hoped that as it only needed to prevent hand-held radios within a couple of hundred yards from working, it was too low powered to be detected from shore.

Which might have been true if no one was specifically looking, but as soon as the Coast Guard Command Center starts trying to raise people on the island on radio, they'll surely figure out that the interference is jamming.

Originally Posted by Refplace

D) Not being able to reach the Commander, especially if you reported a mutiny is a major flag. They will be highly skeptical at first but if cant speak with him immediately will be very concerned. And that includes "we have reports of possible terrorist activy there so get him on the phone NOW. No i dont care if he is asleep, he can sleep later after the court martial if he is not on the phone in ten minutes."

Note that Jewell Island is home to a former military facility. The DoD part of the site has formally been mothballed, with only Coast Guard Reserve and Auxiliary doing some minimal maintainence so that a small cutter can visit the dock if needed.

Deputy Warden Tyrrell is almost certainly the designated commander for the Coast Guard Reservist and Auxiliary among his guard force. And he can be reached and will say everything is under control.

Manhanock Asylum for the Criminally Insane is still operating as a federal facility on Jewell Island, but it is a civilian facility. As a mental health facility, it falls within the purview of the Department of Health and Human Services, but the Department of Homeland Security apparently administers it jointly with them.

The man we refer to as the Administrator Formerly Known as the Warden is the chief civilian administrator of a federal facility, but he has no military or law enforcement authority (or duties). Before the year 2003, when Jewell Island was transferred from DoD control to the new Department of Homeland Security, the person in that job was really called a Warden and he exercised direct control over the guard force as well as the asylum. Now, though, he's a doctor with administrative responsibilities and he technically doesn't control the guards, he just controls the facility they guard.

The guard force that has run amuck now formally consists of security contractors coming under the Federal Protective Service, employed to provide security at Manhanock Asylum. Apart from the military reservists among the guard force, several of them also have law enforcement credentials as part-time members of the FPS, including Deputy Warden Tyrrell's second-in-command, whom we haven't met, but who should be an Inspector of the FPS. There might also be a civilian Coast Guard investigator or a reservist with that rating among the guard force.

Technically, Deputy Warden Tyrell isn't mutinying against the AFKatW, even if he's ignoring him or going against his orders. That's just 'ordinary' disobedience in a civilian context, at worst. In a military sense, Deputy Warden Tyrrell is the highest-ranking officer on Jewell Island when he's performing his Reserve service and technically, I suppose, he commands the mothballed base there those two days a month when it's being swept out and the fuel pumps checked. This only becomes a mutiny if and when he and his men refuse to obey the local Coast Guard command, as many of the guards are Reserve and Auxiliary.

It's still assault, kidnapping and possible murder, though. And whatever the law enforcement equivalent of mutiny is, as the guards are assaulting law enforcement agents from the Office of the Inpector General of the DHS, which is legally responsible for investigating any irregularities in the proper administration of the contract security force at Manhanock Asylum, under the auspices of FPS. The guards responded to a suspected audit from the head office with violence.

Originally Posted by Refplace

The only plausible reason he could give on a base like that is if he was too injured to come to the phone. And of course that is a problem in itself.

I'm assuming from the fact that the AFKatW doesn't have any formal law enforcement, correctional or military position, that it would be enough if he stated that the apparent problem, whatever it was, didn't seem to involve the medical administration of Manhanock Asylum. Deputy Warden Tyrrell was in charge of security and the guards and thus the proper man to speak to about a prank involving a fake distress call and a radio jammer.

This is, of course, assuming that Deputy Warden Tyrrell has lied to the AFKatW and not that he is an active participant in Tyrrell's actions. In that case, he'll probably be willing to talk extensively, backing up whatever cover story Tyrrell tries.

Originally Posted by Refplace

If anything goes wrong at the facility and after having received a distress call it was not immediately checked out heads would roll. Military people understand the concept and following procedure is your safest bet. Easy to say we may have overreacted but we were responding to a potential threat.

Yep, I immediately started considering what was the optimal response in the sense of covering backsides no matter whether it's a real distress call or a prank. Sending a cutter and/or boat to check things out seemed like a safely moderate, yet proactive response.

Originally Posted by Refplace

I would say send the cutter if available as its lower profile than a helo.
A nice simple cruise and no one is the wiser if it was a prank. By the time it arrives on station if they haven't reached the Commander it should be taken very seriously. By that time they will also have located the jamming (to the island anyway) if it remains on.

Note that I could find evidence that two Coast Guard boats are ready for immediate response at all times from South Portland Station, a small 29' RB-S and a larger 47' MLB, but a cutter would need to call out the crew before launching.

If there isn't already a cutter in the water near Jewell Island, a boat from the South Portland docks is the fastest response. I don't know whether Coast Guard cutters would be cruising in or near Casco Bay on Friday night in February. Don't people mostly maintain buoys during the day? Would the cutters spend the night in port?

Originally Posted by Refplace

Any response of no need to come ashore would just raise even more suspicion. its got a dock not like they have to land on the beech.

If you were to put yourself in Deputy Warden Tyrrell's place, what can he say or do to avoid having the Coast Guard come ashore and find incriminating things that get him sent to either a maximum security prison, or ironically, to a place much like Manhanock Asylum for the Criminally Insane?

Originally Posted by Refplace

Add to this any response from your CO and any info local command has on the facility as a special security issue.
I would say the cutter is a safe response and local backup readied later when jamming or lack of proper response makes someone too nervous.
I doubt external or remote backup would be called unless the ship was fired on or determined they needed to make a forceful landing. Any officer is sticking his neck out too publicly for later review with a widespread call and not much justification.

How much stalling or extemporising from Deputy Warden Tyrrell would they tolerate before caling for tactical back-up to take the island by storm?

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by benz72

That freq and others. It costs nothing to make the calls, attempts to clarify the situation and, even if not SOP (which it probably is), is a common sense move. Very low odds of them not attempting to raise the distress caller on radio until this is resolved.

Right and Warden Tyrrell would know this, which is why he can't turn off the jammer, even for a minute, no matter how much its presence makes the Coast Guard suspicious. He knows that if he turned it off, even briefly, Agent O'Toole would quickly confirm his earlier distress call and add more information.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by benz72

I would be VERY surprised to discover that a buoy tender had a sniper aboard.

That's reasonable. On the other hand, with Sector HQ 8 miles away from the scene, any Coast Guardsman who is based there can probably be transported to Jewell Island or a nearby cutter fairly swiftly.

Originally Posted by benz72

As for where the cutter would be... look at the season and the repair cycle of the cutter. It is possible she is in a maintenance availability, or in port, or doing ATN repair work.

USCGC Marcus Hanna is supposed to be in dry-dock from February 16 to February 21 this year. That means that on Friday the February 3, 2017, when the game is set, it was almost certainly not under maintainence.

I still haven't tracked down where exactly it was that day. I don't know where the other cutters asssigned to South Portland were, either. Even if I don't find specific data on their positions, I'd like to have an idea whether Coast Guard cutters routinely operate at night, especially that close to port.

Originally Posted by benz72

Jamming is (AFAIK) solved either by elimination of the jammer (HARM) or burnthrough (EW) neither of which I would expect to see as capabilities on a buoy tender. Even if they could deploy a kinetic countermeasure to jamming I cannot imagine a USCG CO releasing a weapon against a domestic target in such a circumstance.

If our characters are going to die as a result of the US government bombing an island situated off an urban area, housing a maximum security facility, taken over by mutinous US servicemen, I demand that we die in a blaze of thermite plasma dropped by US 'Air Force' [sic] F/A-18 Hornets, as Bruckheimer intended, and not something released by Coasties.

Hmmm... Taylor's (my PC) new plan is to convince Agent O'Toole (PC) to tell his superiors that Taylor and Sherilyn Bell must have been evaporated in a blast during the final confrontation with the mutineers, as Taylor and Bell swim away into the sunset, to avoid being jailed/institutionalised again after these events. Just got to find SCUBA gear and wetsuits on the island.

Originally Posted by benz72

I would think the best thing the cutter could do to help the players is investigate the distress call, get close enough to get shot at (thus validating the scale of the emergency) and withdrawing to a safe distance from which they would then call in a combat unit (likely for another agency) to address the situation and observe the facility to provide information.

Well, the Coast Guard crew of whatever cutter or response boat is sent there will be acutely aware that the observation towers on Jewell Island mount an Mk 19 40mm automatic grenade launcher and an M2HB .50 BMG heavy machine gun, both of them manned at all times and fitted with thermal imaging targeting systems.

I know the Coast Guard is paid to go into harm's way and that they take their lifesaving and homeland security missions very seriously, but if they place even a shred of credibility in the report that the guard force is attacking people, it would be expecting more or less suicidal bravery of them to expect them to enter the effective range of these heavy weapons in a small response boat or light cutter, armed at most with a 7.62mm GPMG.

Originally Posted by benz72

[caveat---USN, not USCG]

Still better than relying on Internet sources without checking them against anything.

[Refplace]

Ok, him being a civilian does I think make it easier to stall that conversation.
However the base detecting a cut off transmission and jamming still still deserves a swift response. There are a lot of coast guard personnel at risk and military hardware. Failing to investigate promptly is risking court martial for dereliction of duty.
Sending the cutter is just so easy to whitewash or play off as routine patrol if it all turns out to be a prank.