The Coast Guard provides unique benefits to the nation because of its distinctive blend of military, humanitarian, and civilian law enforcement capabilities.

The Chief Intelligence Officer's duties were spelled out in Article 614 of those same Regulations: "securing of information which is essential to the Coast Guard in carrying out its duties; for the dissemination of this information to responsible officers, operating units of the Coast Guard, the Treasury Department and other collaborating agencies; and the maintenance of adequate files and records of law enforcement activities."

These missions include port security, search and rescue, maritime safety, counter-narcotics, alien migration interdiction, and living marine resources protection.

[1] The Assistant Commandant for Intelligence and Criminal Investigations (CG-2) is Rear Admiral Rebecca Ore.[2] She is responsible for directing, coordinating, and overseeing intelligence and investigative operations and activities that support all Coast Guard mission objectives, the National Strategy for Homeland Security, and National Security objectives.

The SACs were located in seven regional offices in Boston; Portsmouth, Virginia; Miami; Cleveland; New Orleans; Alameda, California; and Seattle.

According to the United States Coast Guard, the primary function of a FIST is to "collect Law Enforcement Intelligence on all maritime threats, exchange information through relationships with government and private entities, conduct first order analysis, and disseminate tactical and operational intelligence directly to port level commanders as well as other Coast Guard units and government agencies."

CGCIS confronts these various threats by leveraging investigations, operations, collections, analysis, cyber counterintelligence activities, and appropriate partnerships in the intelligence and law enforcement communities.