Guam’s newest Coast Guard cutter joins search effort instead of welcome ceremony

The Coast Guard postponed a welcoming ceremony for its newest Guam-based cutter so the vessel could join the search for a missing skiff near the Federated States of Micronesia.

New cutter squadron unlikely to shift Western Pacific power balance, experts say

The U.S. Coast Guard’s new Expeditionary Cutter Squadron in the Western Pacific represents a “political signal” and “low-level deterrence” whose precise mission is still taking shape, according to defense analysts.

Coast Guard shifts cutter squadron from Middle East to Pacific

Six Coast Guard fast-response cutters are now operating in the western Pacific after more than two decades in the Middle East, in the latest shift of forces to that theater.…