Trump Fires Coast Guard Commandant
Another severe deviation from our norms.
Fox News (“Coast Guard Commandant terminated over border lapses, recruitment, DEI focus: official“):
The Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard has been terminated over concerns about the border, recruitment and an “erosion of trust,” a senior DHS official confirmed to Fox News.
Adm. Linda Lee Fagan, 61, has been terminated by the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Benjamine Huffman, the official said.
Fagan has demonstrated leadership deficiencies, operational failures and an inability to advance the strategic objectives of the Coast Guard.
These include the failure to address border security threats, insufficient leadership in recruitment and retention, mismanagement in acquiring key acquisitions such as icebreakers and helicopters, excessive focus on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and an “erosion of trust” over the mishandling and cover-up of Operation Fouled Anchor, which was the Coast Guard’s internal investigation into sexual assault cases at the Coast Guard Academy.
Fagan also made DEI policies a priority, including at the Coast Guard Academy, which diverted resources and focus from operational essentials.
In Operation Fouled Anchor, the cover-up of sexual assaults at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy “deeply eroded trust” in the Coast Guard among the American public, the U.S. Congress and the military. The Coast Guard did not disclose the existence of Operation Fouled Anchor until 2023, despite its existence from 2014 to 2019.
US Naval Institute News (“Adm. Linda Fagan Removed as Coast Guard Commandant“):
The acting secretary of Homeland Security removed the Coast Guard commandant from her position, according to a message to the service reviewed by USNI News.
Adm. Linda Fagan was the first female commandant of the Coast Guard. She assumed duties as commandant on June 1, 2022.
Fox News first reported Fagan’s termination, citing issues with recruitment, operations concerns and a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion as the reasons for her relief. An ALCOAST, which is a message to all members of the Coast Guard, announced the relief.
Vice Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday will take over as acting commandant, according to the ALCOAST message.
“Under my statutory authority as the Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security I have relieved Admiral Linda L. Fagan of her duties as Commandant of the United States Coast Guard. She served a long and illustrious career, and I thank her for her service to our nation,” reads the ALCOAST message.
This is a stunning move on the first full day of a new administration. And, while Acting Secretary Huffman gave the order, there is simply no way that a career official, whose day job is Director of DHS Federal Law Enforcement Centers, did this without direct order from the President.
Coast Guard Commandant is a Presidentially-appointed, Senate-confirmed position and the new President has the authority to fire Fagan if he does not have confidence in her abilities. But it seems that she’s being ousted for carrying out his predecessor’s policy preferences, not any actual misfeasance. Politicizing the armed services in this way is, to use a description that I fear will become routine, simply shameful.
She was fired for being a woman.
@Sleeping Dog: The Chief of Naval Operations is also a woman. We shall see, I guess.
Commander in Chief Bonespurs gets tough! Shows true grit! Take that, you D.E.I. milksops!
Next up: Emperor Makin’-it-great orders all reference to “Mother Nature” be scrubbed and replaced with “Father Nature.”
@Sleeping Dog: My guess is that didn’t help, but that he wants hardliners in all the positions related to the border.
He is supposedly firing her for a scandal that occurred years before she was in charge? Nah. I think James must be right that she was not sufficiently hard line on immigration plus the DEI stuff. I think anything smacking of DEI will be rooted out including the trans people getting booted. This is just their first trophy. (OK, it’s probably a plus that she is a woman.)
Steve
@steve:
Gonna be a lot of trinkets tossed from the Trump float into his crowd.
It’s always frustrating to read a ‘news’ report from Fox, because there is no clear distinction between what is part of the statement and what is editorializing being presented as fact.
@Assad K: Yeah, I tend to avoid them as a source of reporting but they not only broke the story but were the only prominent outlet covering it at the time of posting.