The Defense Department has hammered out an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security to place Navy ships under Coast Guard command for domestic counterterrorism actions, a "largely unprecedented" arrangement designed to enhance maritime homeland security missions, according to a senior Pentagon official. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his DHS counterpart, Michael Chertoff, this spring inked a new memorandum of agreement designed to quickly coordinate the Navy and Coast Guard response to seafaring terrorist threats approaching U.S. shores and ports...
