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Donald Trump fires trailblazing Coast Guard commandant for “excessive” focus on DEI
January 23 2025, 08:15

The Trump administration has fired U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Linda Fagan due to her supposed “excessive” focus on DEI initiatives. Appointed by President Joe Biden, Fagan was the first uniformed woman leader of a U.S. Armed Forces branch.

An anonymous senior official from the Department of Homeland Security told Reuters that Fagan was terminated by acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman due to “leadership deficiencies, operational failures, and inability to advance the strategic objectives of the U.S. Coast Guard.” The official said Fagan’s “excessive” implementation of DEI policies played a role.

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Trump confidante Elon Musk seemed to confirm the reasons for Fagan’s firing. He posted an article about it on X and wrote, “Undermining the US military and border security to spend money on racist/sexist DEI nonsense is no longer acceptable.”

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The Armed Forces branch has a particularly bad reputation for racism, hazing, sexual harassment, and sexual assault, including a high-level cover-up of dozens of sexual assault cases between 2014 and 2019 known as Operation Fouled Anchor. Fagan took the helm in 2022, after which the Coast Guard established a Diversity and Inclusion Education and Awareness Program (its first ever), followed by its 2024-2026 Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan.

The anonymous official told Fox News the Trump administration also fired Fagan for allegedly failing to adequately address border threats, as well as for recruitment challenges, mismanagement of acquisitions, and the “erosion of trust” over Operation Fouled Anchor, the details of which were not released until 2023 when CNN broke the story.

“The Commandant who stood up to clean up this mess instead of burying it should be rewarded, not dismissed,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), according to Politico. “Firing a Commandant at will by a new President also sets a bad precedent.”

Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) added, “President Trump’s unprecedented decision on day one to fire a service chief ahead of her scheduled departure is an abuse of power that slanders the good name and record of Admiral Fagan.”

“The Commandant’s outstanding record completely negates the President’s demonstrably false claims and signals his interest to put politics over the best interest of our service members and national security.”

Courtney praised Fagan for providing “a fundamental change in Coast Guard leadership” that “has led the service with transparency and honesty to rebuild trust and correct the persistent sexual misconduct problems facing the service.”

He also cited specific stats on her successes: “Under Admiral Fagan’s leadership, the Coast Guard exceeded its 2024 recruitment goal for the first time since 2017; interdicted over $2.5 billion in illegal drugs from bad actors in 2024; and demonstrated an aggressive commitment to countering adversaries in the Artic by championing the ICE Pact to speed up production of new icebreaker vessels, which the US has not built in nearly 50 years.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) also slammed Trump for terminating Fagan, despite the fact that he oversaw a congressional investigation regarding Operation Fouled Anchor and has criticized Fagan for failing to provide certain information to lawmakers.

“I’ve been critical of Adm. Fagan concerning the Coast Guard’s response to problems of sexual assault and harassment in the aftermath of a cover-up executed by her Trump-appointed predecessor [Karl Schultz],” he told the CT Mirror. “But this abrupt firing certainly raises concerns about how Donald Trump intends to treat dedicated, professional men and women who have faithfully served our country for decades.”

Fagan’s firing comes after Donald Trump signed an executive order on “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing.” The order called DEI programs “illegal and immoral” and said they “demonstrated immense public waste and shameful discrimination.”

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