The first woman to lead a branch of the US Armed Forces has been sacked by Donald Trump for excessively focusing on diversity policies while neglecting border security.
Adml Linda Fagan, who Joe Biden appointed to lead the US Coast Guard in 2022, was relieved of her duties by acting secretary of homeland security Benjamine Huffman.
The president said on Tuesday that his administration was in the process of “identifying and removing” more than 1,000 of his predecessors’ appointees.
He then announced the dismissal of four officials who he said were “not aligned with our vision to make America great again”.
“Let this serve as official notice of dismissal for these four individuals, with many more, coming soon”, he wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
“You’re fired!” Mr Trump added.
In a message to coast guard staff, Mr Huffman said Adml Fagan had “served a long and illustrious career, and I thank her for her service to our nation”, but did not disclose a reason for the decision.
Mr Trump previously said he wanted to get rid of “woke” military leaders. He has called for the end of federal diversity policies, and on Tuesday issued guidance for border officials to refer to migrants as “illegal aliens”.
He also directed federal government departments to immediately put staff on all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes on paid leave while agencies develop plans to lay them off.
A source told Fox News that Adm Fagan, 61, was let go after officials raised concerns with her failure to address border security threats and her focus on DEI initiatives.
In her top role, Adml Fagan frequently made statements about the importance of diversity.
“The reason it’s critical is because diverse work teams outperform homogeneous teams,” she previously told Military Families Magazine.
“They’re just stronger, more resilient, have better perspective and deeper strength of thought,” she added.
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Credit: MSNBC
In an official statement on the agency’s diversity and inclusion policy, Adml Fagan wrote: “Diversity is crucial to Coast Guard mission excellence.”
She added that coast guard leaders “must work to build their diversity and inclusion acumen” and develop their “emotional intelligence and ability to understand and appreciate the different experiences, perspectives, and ideas of every person with whom they work.”
Adml Fagan heralded more than two dozen new diversity programmes and policies the service had introduced since 2020.
In a statement marking pride month in 2024, the former Coast Guard commandant said the service was celebrating the theme “living out truth”.
The source also told Fox News there had been an “erosion of trust” over the handling of Operation Fouled Anchor – an internal investigation into sexual assault cases at the Coast Guard Academy.
A report into sexual assault cases was completed in January 2020, during Mr Trump’s first administration, but it was withheld from Congress and the public by the service’s commandant at the time, Adml Karl Schultz.
Mr Biden praised Adml Fagan when he appointed her to the role in 2022.
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“The trailblazing career of Adml Fagan shows young people entering the services, we mean what we say: there are no doors closed to women,” Mr Biden said at the time.
Mr Trump’s rapid sacking of staff came as his pardon of imprisoned Jan 6 rioters came into effect. They included Enrique Tarrio of the Proud Boys and Stewart Rhodes of the Oath Keepers – both far-Right groups.
Others sacked by Mr Trump within the first hours of him taking office included the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s celebrity chef friend Jose Andres, who was appointed to the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition in 2022.
Mr Andres, 55, who runs humanitarian NGO World Central Kitchen, last week defended the couple after they were accused of being “disaster tourists” for visiting an evacuation centre for those impacted by the Los Angeles wildfires.
Other dismissals
Others dismissed by Mr Trump’s administration include retired US general Mark Milley from the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, Brian Hook from the Wilson Center for Scholars, and Keisha Lance Bottoms from the President’s Export Council.
Mr Milley was among a string of Mr Biden’s appointees who were given a pre-emptive pardon hours before he left office.
Mr Milley served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during Mr Trump’s first term. He has described Mr Trump as being a “fascist to the core”.
Mr Trump also revoked the security clearance of staff who signed an open letter claiming that emails found on a laptop owned by Hunter Biden in 2020 were Russian disinformation.
In one of his first announcements of his new administration, Mr Trump added he would launch a new private sector venture, Stargate, which will oversee billions of dollars of investment in AI infrastructure.
The effort is backed by AI firms including OpenAI, the creator of the ChatGPT chatbot.