WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today asked U.S. Navy Admiral Kurt W. Tidd, Commander of U.S. Southern Command, about the significance of the Coast Guard as a “forward line of defense” to protect the United States. Wicker also inquired about the Coast Guard’s new National Security Cutter (NSC) and its record of success in the Southern Command region.

In addition to Wicker’s questions regarding the value of NSC to the Southern Command’s mission, he invited Admiral Tidd to visit Stennis Space Center on the Mississippi Gulf Coast to view the innovative research and operation on unmanned underwater vehicles at the Naval Research Laboratory and Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command.