The U.S. Coast Guard plans to cut one-quarter of its 46 flag officer positions this year in a move that acting Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday said is part of a force redesign aimed at improving effectiveness.
In a Coast Guard-wide message May 15, Lunday said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem "determined that there is redundant executive oversight" in the service that "hinders efficient decision-making and service effectiveness."
The goal is to reduce the number of flag officers by about 25% over the next seven months, cutting at least a dozen positions. The positions will be eliminated and the flag officer corps redesigned, according to the message.
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The move follows an order earlier this month by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to cut the number of active-duty general and flag officer ranks in the DoD services by 10%. That plan also calls for reducing the number of four-star positions by 20%.
Hegseth said the effort is needed so senior leaders would be "unencumbered by unnecessary bureaucratic layers that hinder their growth and effectiveness."
Currently, the Coast Guard has roughly one flag officer for every 950 service members. Following the reduction, there will be one flag officer per approximately 1,300 members.
That's in contrast to the smallest DoD services, where the Marine Corps has one general officer per nearly 3,000 Marines, while the Space Force, with about 9,500 members and 21 authorized general officer billets, has a ratio of one general to 452 Guardians.
In announcing the flag rank reduction, Lunday also said Noem has not approved the results of the most recent selection board for rear admiral, lower half, "determining that the guidance to the board did not align with the administration's policies."
According to that guidance, issued by former Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan, flag officers must not only be of strong character and have built successful careers, they should be ready to lead the service through "complex challenges requiring an optimal blend of keen intellect, political savvy, exceptional communications skills and agile execution."
They also will be "those who have a clear potential to build and lead a diverse and inclusive Coast Guard," Fagan wrote.
Lunday did not say which part of the promotion board guidance Noem opposed, but President Donald Trump signed an executive order Jan. 20 to eliminate affirmative action programs in the federal government, calling them discriminatory. All cabinet departments have since moved to eliminate any program, policy or reference to initiatives that sought to increase diversity of the workforce.
Fagan was fired by Trump on his first day in office, in part because of her "excessive focus on diversity," a Homeland Security spokesperson told Military.com at the time.
The six captains who no longer are slated to pin on their first star are: Kevin Carroll, commander of the Coast Guard's C5I Service Center; John Barresi, Coast Guard Atlantic Area commander; Andrew Meverden, assistant program executive officer for surface acquisitions; Matthew Brown, executive assistant to the deputy commandant for mission support; Tina Pena, former chief of staff for the Coast Guard 7th District and fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations; and Christopher Hulser, Coast Guard chief of staff.
They will be able to recompete alongside their peers and those newly eligible for the next promotion board under new guidance, according to the message.
Noem said last week during a meeting with Coast Guard flag officers and senior executive service members that Force Design 2028 is "the biggest change since 1915" to the service.
Her plans include buying new aircraft -- including a new $50 million long-range command and control aircraft to replace the 20-year-old Gulfstream currently used by the commandant and other flag officers for transport -- increasing the service's workforce by 15,000 and addressing maintenance backlogs.
When questioned about the executive jet Tuesday during a hearing, Noem said the existing aircraft is "beyond its usable hours" and is a needed purchase.
Noem has been criticized for what was a last-minute addition of the aircraft to the Homeland Security budget, an asset that she would be able to use as Homeland Security secretary.
She added that many other Coast Guard aircraft have been grounded because they can't be maintained.
According to the Government Accountability Office, three of the five types of aircraft used by the Coast Guard have exceeded the end of their service lives or are nearing them, having entered the service in the 1980s and 1990s.
Last year, the service grounded six of its 48 MH-60T Jayhawk helicopters because they had exceeded their lifetime service hours.
"The Coast Guard is facing our greatest readiness crisis since World War II. We have a plan to reinvigorate this critical component to make sure they're ready for the future," Noem said.
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