It may have been Donald Trump’s first day on the job, but it was plenty of appointees’ last. The axes started to fall almost immediately, as the 47th president handed out more than 1,000 pink slips to political holdovers from the last administration. If any of them proved that Trump meant business, the decision to relieve radical Coast Guard Commandant Linda Fagan of her duties should have sent dread through the ranks of the military’s most progressive leaders.
Calling it an “erosion of trust,” Acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman dealt the blow, terminating Fagan over a slew of failures — including her obsession with DEI policies and inability to recruit (no doubt because of those same policies).
According to senior officials, “Fagan has demonstrated leadership deficiencies, operational failures, and an inability to advance the strategic objectives of the Coast Guard.” Some of the biggest red flags, insiders say, were her refusal to address the border crisis, mismanagement of “key acquisitions such as icebreakers and helicopters,” and a fixation with diversity, equity, and inclusion, among other complaints.
Her pitiful performance worsened the migrant crisis, many say, citing “insufficient coordination with DHS to prioritize operations along maritime borders.” One of the areas that suffered the most from her leftist agenda is the Coast Guard Academy, which “diverted resources and focus” from core values like military readiness to pursue a reckless path of identity politics and divisive training.
Lt. General (Ret.) William Boykin could only shake his head. “In my view, this is an example of doing the right thing a little too late,” he commented to The Washington Stand. “The damage that has been done is irreversible regarding the border. Although we all hope that President Trump will clean that up,” he said, “we’ll just have to wait and see. I think this the first of several of these actions to rid our military of commanders who are more interested in DEI than they are about being ready for war — or in this case protecting our border.”
In a blunt post on Truth Social, President Trump declared, “Our first day in the White House is not over yet! My Presidential Personnel Office is actively in the process of identifying and removing over a thousand Presidential Appointees from the previous Administration, who are not aligned with our vision to Make America Great Again.” Ticking off more names, he added, “Let this serve as Official Notice of Dismissal. … YOU’RE FIRED!”
Through his executive orders, Trump explicitly outed DEI as public enemy number one, vowing to “restoring merit to government service” and dump Biden’s wildly unpopular diversity initiatives. As the president made quite clear in his campaign — and in his nomination of Pete Hegseth as Defense secretary — this commander in chief plans to overhaul the whole military after four years of social experimentation and restore it as the globe’s most lethal fighting force.
“I will sign an order to stop our warriors from being subjected to radical political theories and social experiments while on duty,” Trump reiterated in his inaugural address. “It’s going to end immediately. Our armed forces will be free to focus on their sole mission — defeating America’s enemies. Like in 2017, we will again build the strongest military the world has ever seen. We will measure our success not only by the battles we win but also by the wars that we end,” he insisted.
As for Fagan, she will almost certainly be the first of many top-brass targets. In a not-so-subtle move, the new portrait of General Mark Milley, the former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was unceremoniously removed from the Pentagon within hours of the new president’s swearing-in. While Trump had initially nominated Milley for the position, he was disgusted by the general’s handling of the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan under Biden. The former president had hoped to spare Milley from some of the blame, issuing a presidential pardon in the eleventh hour. But even that might not help the man who oversaw one of the most embarrassing periods of military history in America. Veteran and Senator Jim Banks (R-Ind.) wanted people to know, “Mark Milley might be pardoned, but we will continue to explore ways to hold him accountable.”
In the meantime, the president's swift action against Fagan is a warning that Trump will do whatever it takes to bring back the military’s credibility.
Lt. Colonel (Ret.) Bob Maginnis, Family Research Council’s senior fellow for national security, spent a long time at the Pentagon serving as an inspector general, where he investigated flag officers for problems similar to the commandant.
“Now having worked at the Pentagon since 2002,” he told TWS, “I’ve noted the disappointing politicization of many flag officers. They too often follow the lead of the political appointees and therefore — more often than not — ignore their professional obligation to remain apolitical.” The same appears to be true of Fagan, Maginnis said, that she “prioritized being politically correct with the Biden administration at the expense of her service personnel and its mission.” If that’s true, he continued, “relief was long overdue.”
What most people don’t realize, Maginnis pointed out, is that border security is “a key mission of our Coast Guard.” “Failure to provide the appropriate direction and holding subordinates accountable for task accomplishment ultimately falls on the shoulders of the commandant. … Evidently, Admiral Linda Fagan, the now-fired commandant, failed to adequately equip her force and thus jeopardized her mission.”
As for her dismal recruitment record, Maginnis reminded people that “recruitment is a reflection of service leadership, because it is often about public perception.” In other words, “Do potential recruits perceive the service as a desirable opportunity? Has the service’s leadership stood up a recruiting program that draws sufficient and qualified personnel to its ranks? Ultimately, the service’s top leader is responsible for both the successes and failtwures, which includes recruitment, no matter the challenges.”
Whether or not she became a DEI advocate because of the White House, or was personally invested, it undermines readiness. “That lapse rests with the commandant,” Maginnis agreed. That alone was cause for termination.
Finally, he explained, “Service chiefs have a special role to play when it comes to their academies. In the case of the Coast Guard Academy, according to press reports, Admiral Fagan created Operation Fouled Anchor, a program that covered-up sexual assaults at the academy. Leaders who try to hide misconduct by subordinates are shameful,” he argued. “It’s hard to believe that Admiral Fagan was unaware of the issue and worse, she was likely guilty of poor leadership, as Congress alleged.”
At the end of the day, commissioned officers “serve at the pleasure of the president,” Maginnis reminded civilians. “Those officers — no matter their rank — who fail to provide ethical leadership and sound management must be removed for the good of the service and the mission. Evidently, that appears to be the case with Admiral Fagan, who reportedly by her behavior failed her mission, those she led, and the country she swore to defend.”
This article appeared originally here.
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