Secretary Noem Swears in Admiral Kevin Lunday as 28th U.S. Coast Guard Commandant

The Commandant is the top uniformed officer of the Coast Guard and its service chief. By law, the Commandant:

• Exercises overall authority to operate and manage the Coast Guard’s missions and assets (ships, aircraft, bases, communications) and to organize, train, and equip the force.
• Sets policies and conducts operations such as patrols, search and rescue, law enforcement, marine safety, aids to navigation, and environmental protection.
• Advises on and oversees marine safety functions (vessel inspection, mariner licensing, boating safety, navigation rules, prevention of pollution, ports and waterways safety, etc.). Formally, 14 U.S.C. §302 makes the Commandant the “Chief of the Coast Guard,” and 14 U.S.C. §504 lists broad “general powers” to run Coast Guard operations and infrastructure, subject to the civilian Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating (normally Homeland Security).

Force Design 2028 (FD28) is the Coast Guard’s multi‑year modernization plan ordered by the President and Secretary of Homeland Security to make the service “more agile, capable, and responsive.” It is organized around four major “campaigns,” each with specific structural changes:

1. Organization

• Create a new civilian “Secretary of the Coast Guard” (with a Senate‑confirmed Under Secretary) inside DHS to give the service its own service secretary like the Army, Navy, etc.
• Redesign headquarters to be leaner and more operationally focused, with a Director of Staff.
• Stand up Program Executive Offices that integrate acquisition and capability development.
• Establish a dedicated Deployable Specialized Forces command and strengthen Coast Guard Cyber Command.
• Move more operational and service‑delivery functions out of HQ to field commands.

2. Contracting and acquisition

• Streamline contracting approvals and outsource some procurement tasks.
• Create single points of accountability for major acquisition programs.

3. People (workforce)

• Grow the military workforce by at least 15,000 members by FY2028.
• Replace the traditional “pyramid” rank structure with a new model to better match skills and grades to missions.
• Expand recruiting and retention, restore a skilled enlisted workforce, revitalize the Reserve, and reduce bureaucracy for civilian employees.

4. Technology

• Develop a “Coastal Sentinel” next‑generation maritime surveillance system.
• Modernize logistics and HR IT systems and issue mobile devices to all members.
• Create a Rapid Response Prototype Team (RAPTOR) to quickly field new technology (e.g., contractor‑operated long‑range drones with AI for border operations).

These changes reshape governance (new service secretary), internal organization, force size and mix, acquisition processes, and the Coast Guard’s use of advanced technology, while tying them to specific metrics like increased drug seizures and recruiting growth.

The “6-to-1 return on investment” is the Coast Guard’s claim that, for about $12.1 billion in annual funding, its missions produce more than $74 billion per year in economic and social benefits, mainly by avoiding costs that would otherwise fall on the public.

According to the Force Design 2028 Initial Update summary:

• Analysts estimated “more than $74 billion in social and economic value through cost avoidance.” Examples include avoided health‑care and crime costs from drug seizures and avoided deaths, injuries, and property losses from search‑and‑rescue and safety missions.
• Dividing this estimated $74+ billion in avoided costs by the $12.1 billion budget yields the “about 6‑to‑1” figure (roughly six dollars in estimated benefit for every dollar appropriated).

The high‑level result is published, but the full underlying model and assumptions (e.g., the exact dollar values used per pound of drugs seized, per life saved, or per unit of commerce protected) are not publicly detailed beyond descriptions of “conservative analysis” and “cost avoidance,” so outside observers cannot independently verify the calculation from open sources.

Both positions are the same job functionally (running the Coast Guard), but their legal status and how the person gets the job are different:

• Commandant (confirmed):

  • Is appointed by the President “by and with the advice and consent of the Senate” for a 4‑year term and serves as the statutory “Chief of the Coast Guard.”
  • Has full, permanent legal authority under 14 U.S.C. §302 and related statutes, and the appointment reflects formal political accountability.

• Acting Commandant:

  • Temporarily fills the role when there is a vacancy (for example, after a firing or resignation and before Senate confirmation of a new Commandant).
  • Is designated under general vacancy and succession rules rather than confirmed by the Senate for that position.
  • Performs the same day‑to‑day duties but is understood to be in a temporary, non‑tenured role and can usually be replaced more easily once a nominee is confirmed.

Admiral Kevin Lunday, for example, served as Acting Commandant beginning in January 2025 and only became the 28th Commandant after his Senate confirmation later that year.

The Secretary of Homeland Security does not have sole authority to appoint the Commandant. The process has two distinct steps:

1. Appointment and confirmation (legal authority to hold the office)

• By statute, “The President may appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, one Commandant for a period of four years, who shall act as Chief of the Coast Guard.” (14 U.S.C. §302)
• This means the President nominates a Coast Guard officer, and the U.S. Senate must vote to confirm the nomination.

2. Swearing‑in / assumption of command (ceremonial and administrative)

• After confirmation and presidential appointment, the Commandant takes the oath of office and formally assumes command.
• The Secretary of Homeland Security often presides over this ceremony and administers the oath, as Secretary Kristi Noem did for Admiral Lunday, but that swearing‑in follows the required presidential appointment and Senate confirmation and does not replace them.

So: Senate confirmation is legally required for the appointment; the Secretary’s role is to oversee and formalize the assumption of command, not to appoint the Commandant alone.

Each metric is a specific, count‑based performance measure compared to an earlier baseline, typically the previous fiscal year, and is derived from established Coast Guard data systems:

1. “121% of recruiting targets – 5,204 new members”

• The Coast Guard set an FY2025 target of 4,300 active‑duty enlisted accessions.
• It actually brought in 5,204 new enlisted members, which is 5,204 ÷ 4,300 ≈ 1.21, or 121% of the goal.
• The service also compares this to prior‑year accessions (e.g., 4,422 in FY2024) to show growth over time.

2. “200% increase in narcotics seizures since January 2025”

• Drug‑interdiction performance is tracked in pounds (or kilograms) of drugs seized and number of interdiction cases, by fiscal year.
• The FD28 Initial Update summary states that in FY2025 the Coast Guard interdicted more than 510,000 pounds of cocaine, “the highest total in Coast Guard history and an increase of more than 200 percent over FY24.”
• The “200% increase” reflects that the FY2025 quantity was roughly triple the FY2024 total, using internal operations data.

3. “120% rise in interdictions / deterrence events and transportation of illegal aliens”

• For migrant and border operations, the Coast Guard tracks numbers of interdicted persons and “deterrence events” (for example, small boats turned back or migrants disembarking before reaching U.S. territory) in mission systems.
• The 120% figure, as described in FD28 materials, is a year‑over‑year percentage increase in these recorded operational events relative to FY2024; detailed case counts are not fully broken out publicly in the news releases.

4. “4,946 lives saved”

• Search‑and‑rescue (SAR) statistics are based on individual distress cases logged in the Marine Information for Safety and Law Enforcement (MISLE) database.
• The SAR program defines “lives in distress” and then counts how many of those were “lives saved,” “lives lost before notification,” “lives lost after notification,” and “lives unaccounted for.”
• The headline number (e.g., 4,946 lives saved) is the simple count of persons categorized as “lives saved” during the period. The Coast Guard also tracks the “percent of lives saved from imminent danger” as its primary SAR performance measure and compares this percentage year‑to‑year.

Public reports (FD28 updates, recruiting press releases, SAR program documentation) explain the definitions and some comparisons, but the exact internal spreadsheets behind the 200% and 120% increases are not fully published, so only approximate baselines and methods are visible externally.

The Coast Guard is both a military service and a federal law‑enforcement/regulatory agency, which makes its role different from the other armed services:

How it differs from other U.S. military services

• Always a branch of the armed forces: By law, the Coast Guard is “a military service and a branch of the armed forces of the United States at all times,” but it normally sits in the Department of Homeland Security (not the Department of Defense).
• Broad law‑enforcement authority: Coast Guard officers can stop, board, search, and seize vessels and make arrests under federal law on the high seas and U.S. waters, something the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Space Force generally cannot do inside the United States because of the Posse Comitatus Act.
• Regulatory and safety roles: It writes and enforces marine safety and environmental regulations, inspects commercial vessels, oversees port and waterways safety, and manages aids to navigation—functions that other services do not perform.

When it operates under the Department of Defense / as part of the Navy

• 14 U.S.C. §103 states that the Coast Guard is a service in DHS “except when operating as a service in the Navy.”
• Upon a declaration of war (if Congress directs in the declaration) or whenever the President directs, the Coast Guard transfers to operate as a service in the Navy.
• While operating as part of the Navy, it is subject to the orders of the Secretary of the Navy, uses Navy appropriations as needed, and Coast Guard officers take precedence and receive honors on the same basis as Navy officers of equivalent grade.
• After the President issues an executive order returning it to DHS, it resumes normal operation under the Secretary of Homeland Security.

In peacetime and in most situations, therefore, the Coast Guard remains under DHS with its unique mix of military, law‑enforcement, regulatory, and search‑and‑rescue missions, but it can be shifted into the Department of Defense as a naval service in wartime or by presidential direction.