New London — A U.S. Department of Homeland Security order banning “climate change activities and the use of climate change terminology in DHS policies and programs” caused a stir among Coast Guard Academy alumni last month.
After receiving “several letters of concern,” the academy’s alumni association sought a response from the academy’s provost, a senior academic official, who said the academy was required to heed the order.
The Coast Guard falls under the Department of Homeland Security’s jurisdiction.
“This is a lawful directive with which we are obligated to comply, and we are doing so,” the provost, Amy Donahue, said in a statement posted Feb. 28 on the Coast Guard Academy Alumni Association website. “Further, in order to be fully mission capable, the Coast Guard needs officers who understand and are prepared to function effectively in the operating environment of a maritime military service.”
Donahue said academy faculty have worked to satisfy the requirements of the directive, which Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem put out Feb. 14. The directive stemmed from an executive order President Donald Trump issued Jan. 20 that rescinded a series of executive orders his predecessor had signed.
“I directed our faculty to review the Academy’s academic curriculum to identify and revise any instances where our course content does not meet the Secretary’s intent or does not align with the President’s Executive Orders to ensure we come into full alignment,” Donahue said in her statement. “My guidance to them was that we will not use ‘climate change’ or related terminology about contemporary human-induced rise in global temperatures in our class assignments and materials. Instead, we focus on particular scientific phenomena and the impacts that are pertinent to Service needs and missions.”
Donahue said the academy has revised courses that had been addressing “climate change.”
“That said,” she added, “we have not and will not abandon science education.”
She said the academy will continue to teach cadets “about weather patterns, atmospheric phenomena, paleoclimatology, meteorology, oceanography, geospatial sciences, the conditions of sea ice, ocean conditions, the characteristics of coastal environments, energy generation methods, marine ecology and fisheries, the hazards like storms and flooding, and other similar topics, not to mention the fundamentals of physics, chemistry, and civil engineering.”
The academy referred questions about the Noem directive’s impact on the academy’s curriculum to the Coast Guard media relations office, which did not respond.
In an interview with Inside Climate News, a news organization that covers climate, energy and environment, retired Adm. Paul Zukunft, commandant of the Coast Guard from 2014 to 2018, said cadets need to be educated about climate change.
“If we’re not smart about the environment that we operate in, we’re going to be a much less capable Coast Guard,” he said.
Adm. Linda Fagan, whom Trump removed as commandant shortly after his second inauguration, addressed the importance of preparing for climate change in “The Coast Guard Climate Framework,” a January 2023 report.
“Climate change and its impacts will continue to define the 21st Century,” Fagan wrote in the report. “From episodic events like flash floods and wildfires to long-term trends of rising sea levels and temperatures, climate-induced risks threaten national security, economic prosperity, and the safety of communities across America.
“These risks have long-term effects on Coast Guard operations, missions, and infrastructure.”
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