"Maritime stakeholders have raised issues about the competencyof some Coast Guard personnel to fulfill its marine safety mission, which Coast Guardleadership agreed needed to be addressed.Interested in these issues and others, you requested that we provide information onpersonnel efforts undertaken by the Coast Guard. This report discusses (1) documentedpersonnel problems experienced by the Coast Guard in the last decade, (2) Coast Guardefforts to address these personnel problems, and the extent to which these effortsconform to congressional direction or identified best practices, as appropriate, and (3)possible challenges to their implementation.To provide the historical perspective of personnel problems experienced by the CoastGuard, we reviewed our prior work on the Coast Guard's difficulties allocating itspersonnel and other resources to accomplish all of its diverse missions while ensuringthat it addresses personnel readiness, qualifications, and training requirements. We alsoreviewed the results of relevant Coast Guard personnel qualifications and traininginvestigations conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board and the CoastGuard, as well as reports of the Departments of Transportation and Homeland SecurityOffices of Inspector General related to the Coast Guard's management and readinessposture.To assess the Coast Guard's efforts to address personnel problems, we reviewed relevantlaws and congressional guidance, instructions, staffing manuals, training guidance,policies, and procedures related to the Coast Guard's workforce planning and personneldevelopment. We analyzed the Coast Guard's Workforce Action Plan against guidanceprovided by congressional appropriators, the Department of Homeland Security'sWorkforce Planning Guide, and key principles for effective strategic workforce planning1 The Senate report..."