After Dustup Over Hate Symbols, Senate Confirms New Coast Guard Commandant

The U.S. Senate has confirmed Adm. Kevin Lunday as the next commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard. A 39-year veteran of the Coast Guard and a career judge advocate general by training, Adm. Lunday is former commander of U.S. Coast Guard Cyber Command. He holds a masters in national security strategy from the National War College, a JD from George Washington University Law School and a BS in marine engineering from USCGA. He has served as the acting commandant since January, when his predecessor Adm. Linda Fagan was removed from her post.

Adm. Lunday was confirmed after the Department of Homeland Security resolved a dispute over how the Coast Guard should treat active-duty servicemembers if they display nooses or swastikas. Several Senate Democrats had placed a hold on his nomination until the service removed new language that showed more flexibility on extreme racist symbols, treating the hate imagery as "potentially divisive" and giving the command more latitude in dealing with it. The new language was also more permissive on the display of these symbols within private spaces, such as Coast Guard family housing. The previous, stricter policy required that any display of such symbols be handled as a "potential hate incident."

Lunday initially said that the service would revert to the stricter policy language, but the new policy went into effect in the revised Coast Guard personnel manual anyways, despite his assurances. Officials quietly told the Washington Post that the service's hands were tied and that the decision came from further up the ladder, at the Department of Homeland Security.

After at least two senators exercised political leverage by holding up Lunday's confirmation vote, putting his nomination in jeopardy, DHS confirmed that it would remove the new policy language, permanently erase it from the record, and reinstate stricter treatment of hate symbols. The admiral's nomination then swiftly passed by unanimous consent.

"While I continue to have reservations about the process by which this happened and the confusion created by leadership at the Department of Homeland Security, I am pleased to see that the policy now directly refers to stronger language against swastikas and nooses," Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) said in a statement after lifting her hold.

New protections for SASH survivors

Survivors of sexual assault incidents at the Coast Guard Academy had previously called on the Senate to require the release of files from Operation Fouled Anchor before confirming Lunday. Though the Senate did not directly address that concern, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) said that Lunday is expected to uphold a "zero tolerance policy for sexual assault and harassment" going forward.

The Coast Guard's reauthorization bill for 2025 also passed last week, and it lays out new sexual assault and sexual harassment protections for servicemembers. It provides for speedy transfers to new stations for active duty victims; makes protective orders easier to get and keep; establishes a confidential reporting mechanism, as the other armed services have had since 2021; improves victim access to records, a key concern of Operation Fouled Anchor survivors; reminds the Coast Guard that it can discipline retired officers by reducing their rank; tries to make the Coast Guard's top legal officers more insulated from political pressure; and transfers any investigations of senior leaders out of the chain of command and into the hands of the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General.