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Members of the US Coast Guard stand at attention in Emancipation Hall of the Capitol during Donald Trump’s Inauguration ceremony, in Washington, DC, the US, January 20 2025. Picture: GREG NASH/REUTERS
Members of the US Coast Guard stand at attention in Emancipation Hall of the Capitol during Donald Trump’s Inauguration ceremony, in Washington, DC, the US, January 20 2025. Picture: GREG NASH/REUTERS

Washington — US President Donald Trump fired Coast Guard Commandant Adm Linda Lee Fagan, the first female uniformed leader of an armed forces branch, the department of homeland security said on Tuesday.

Former president Joe Biden nominated Fagan to lead the Coast Guard, which is responsible for maritime security, in 2021. Acting homeland security secretary Benjamin Huffman, confirmed in a message posted on the Coast Guard’s website that Fagan had been relieved of her duties after a “long and illustrious career”.

Huffman said Fagan was from her position because of “leadership deficiencies, operational failures, and inability to advance the strategic objectives of the US Coast Guard”, a senior department of homeland security official said.

One of the reasons, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity, was Fagan's “excessive” focus on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies.

Fagan and the Coast Guard could not be immediately reached for comment.

Trump has vowed to eliminate DEI programmes in federal government agencies.

While the Coast Guard is an armed service, it falls under the department of homeland security, not the Pentagon.

Democratic congressman Rick Larsen said the decision to remove Fagan was “misguided and will hurt readiness. The women and men of the US Coast Guard deserve better than reckless personnel decisions.”

The Coast Guard has been under scrutiny for sexual assault since a media report alleged it covered up decades of abuse and a Senate subcommittee found it shamed victims and failed to deal with perpetrators.

More than a dozen former US Coast Guard Academy students who say they were victims of sexual assault filed complaints last year seeking $130m in damages, accusing the school of allowing sexual violence to go unchecked.

Trump adviser Elon Musk, who leads the new administration’s effort to cut costs across the federal government, alluded to efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in a social media post, but did not explicitly confirm Fagan’s dismissal.

“Undermining the US military and border security to spend money on racist/sexist DEI nonsense is no longer acceptable,” Musk, the world’s richest person, wrote on X.

Reuters

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