Adm. Kevin Lunday, seen here in an official portrait taken Aug. 19, 2024, became the 28th commandant of the Coast Guard on Jan. 15, 2026. Lunday had been the service’s acting commandant since Jan. 21, 2025. (U.S. Coast Guard)
A national security lawyer and judge advocate whose nearly 40-year Coast Guard career includes operations in the Indo-Pacific and a stint at U.S. Cyber Command is now in place as the service’s 28th commandant.
Adm. Kevin Lunday officially took command of the agency Thursday in a ceremony at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington.
Lunday had been acting commandant since January 2025 following the firing of Adm. Linda Fagan over leadership deficiencies, operational failures and handling of the service’s recent sexual assault scandal, Stars and Stripes reported at the time, citing an unidentified senior Department of Homeland Security official.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem presided over the hourlong event. She praised Lunday’s service, qualifications and accomplishments.
President Donald Trump’s administration seeks to revitalize the agency with leading technology, aircraft and ships, Noem said..
“It’s a tall order, and it takes a special individual to lead this team and to make that a reality,” Noem said, calling Lunday “the man for the job.”
In May, Noem tabbed Lunday for promotion to the top post, but his nomination faced challenges by two senators due to concerns about a revision to the service’s workplace policy.
Following deletion of language in the policy that recast swastikas and nooses from symbols of hatred to “potentially divisive,” the Senate approved his nomination late last year.
Lunday already had condemned the symbols and banned them from the workplace in a November memo to Coast Guard personnel, saying his order would supersede any other policy language, The Associated Press reported at the time.
In taking command, Lunday acknowledged the $25 billion capital investment Congress passed into law in July in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
He called the the financial support a bold effort to renew the Coast Guard and make it “a more agile, capable and responsive fighting force.”
The service will use the money hand in hand with a strategic initiative aiming to modernize the Coast Guard “to rebuild at speed and scale the new cutters, boats, aircraft, shore infrastructure and technology,” Lunday said.
A graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Lunday has been in the military for 38 years, according to his service biography.
He also holds advanced degrees from George Washington University Law School, the Naval War College and the National War College.
