Adm. Linda Lee Fagan, the former head of the U.S. Coast Guard, was let go from her job last month due to worries about the border, recruitment, and diversity issues. On Tuesday, she was told she had to leave her admiral’s home with only three hours’ notice, according to an NBC report from two sources close to the situation.
Fagan was let go by the Trump government on the second day of the president’s time in office. She had been given a 60-day waiver to find new housing but was told at 2 p.m. Tuesday that she had three hours to leave her home at Joint Base Anacostia Bolling in Washington, D.C., per the report.
The short time frame meant that she did not have enough time to remove “many — maybe all — of her personal items and household goods still there,” a former U.S. military source told the outlet. The report says she stayed the night with friends.
NBC says that Homeland Security officials informed acting commandant Kevin Lunday that Fagan must leave the house.
The person from the DHS at the outlet could not quickly confirm if the instruction came from President Donald Trump. Homeland Security is in charge of the U.S. Coast Guard.
Fox News Digital contacted the White House and the Coast Guard to check the story but hasn’t got a reply yet.
Soon after she was asked to leave, her team got a call from Sean Plankey’s aides. Sean is a senior adviser at DHS and a former Coast Guard officer. They told her to leave the house unlocked so that photos could be taken inside, according to one source.
Fagan, a four-star admiral and the first woman to head a military branch, was removed from her position for several reasons. These include a loss of trust, poor leadership, operational mistakes, and failure to meet the Coast Guard’s strategic goals, according to a senior official from the Department of Homeland Security who spoke to Fox News.
These issues include not properly handling border security threats, poor leadership in hiring and keeping staff, mismanagement in getting important equipment like icebreakers and helicopters, too much emphasis on diversity and inclusion programs, and a loss of trust due to the poor handling and cover-up of Operation Fouled Anchor, which investigated sexual assault cases at the Coast Guard Academy.
Fagan is being accused of improperly using Coast Guard resources to help secure the national border, particularly in stopping fentanyl and other illegal drugs. She is also accused of not working well enough with DHS to focus activities at sea borders.
A DHS source said that Fagan had problems in hiring staff, making issues with being prepared even worse. The official said that the failure to come up with new methods to keep workers in important jobs makes it hard to maintain a strong workforce.
During her leadership, there were ongoing delays and increased costs in getting important tools, like icebreakers and helicopters. This, according to the source, weakened the Coast Guard’s abilities in the Arctic and other key areas. The source pointed out that there was not enough responsibility for the purchase mistakes that were noted during Trump’s first term.
Fagan also emphasized DEI policies at the Coast Guard Academy, which took attention and resources away from important practical needs.
In Operation Fouled Anchor, the concealment of sexual assaults at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy seriously damaged trust in the Coast Guard among the American people, Congress, and the military. The Coast Guard kept Operation Fouled Anchor a secret until 2023, even though it ran from 2014 to 2019.
Fagan faced tough questioning from senators over the summer during a hearing in Washington, D.C. They asked her why no one was punished for the cover-up and why she didn’t provide more documents that Congress wanted about the issue at the academy.
The official stated that the study showed there are ongoing problems that are not being properly addressed. This has pointed out a “leadership culture” that does not prioritize accountability and transparency when it comes to protecting service members.
Fagan became the 27th Commandant of the Coast Guard on June 1, 2022. She was responsible for managing all worldwide Coast Guard operations, which included 42,000 active members, 7,000 reservists, 8,700 staff employees, and 21,000 volunteer members of the Coast Guard Auxiliary.
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