Adm. Kevin Lunday is officially the 28th commandant of the United States Coast Guard.
Lunday, previously the acting commandant, assumed his position on Thursday morning during an Assumption of Command Ceremony presided over by the Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.
He previously served as the Coast Guard’s 34th vice commandant from June 2024 to January 2025. Prior, he served as commander, Atlantic Area, where he directed operations from the Navigable Inland Waterways east of the Rocky Mountains to the Great Lakes, Gulf Coast and East Coast of the U.S. throughout the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent parts of the Arctic Ocean to the Arabian Gulf.
He also possesses extensive experience in the Indo-Pacific, where he served as commander of the Fourteenth Coast Guard District, directing operations throughout Oceania including Hawai’i, American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, as well as activities in Japan and Singapore.
‘Vital Instrument of Power’
Lunday thanked President Donald Trump, Noem, his wife, and family and friends who traveled from across the United States and Canada to be present with him during Thursday’s ceremony.
“Our United States Coast Guard is a vital instrument of national power that is in greater demand today more than ever before,” Lunday told the crowded room, adding that the nation faces continued challenges to prosperity and sovereignty.
“We will meet those challenges to ensure our nation will prevail,” he added.
Lunday assumed the duties of USCG’s acting commandant on Jan. 21, 2025, tasked with leading the 56,000 men and women of the service protecting national security and sovereignty near and beyond U.S. maritime borders.
He said there are three main objectives of the USCG and its service members: ready, fight and navigate, in that order.
That involved readying the service and delivering value to the American people by accomplishing missions, adapting, and winning regardless of challenge.
Lunday said that decades of underinvestment created readiness problems within the Coast Guard, but today the service is now a more agile, capable fighting force due to what he described as sustained support from elected leaders who have aided crews conducting missions worldwide.
He pointed to the objectives enshrined within Force Design 2028, a broader initiative from the top down that affects not just the Coast Guard but aligns with the other five military services to bolster a ready and powerful military.
He also touted the Coast Guard’s $25 billion capital investment aimed to rebuild at speed and scale cutters, technology and ships, adding the service is “well on our way” by already spending approximately $7.8 billion of that investment. The service is on track to spend roughly three quarters of that $25 billion by the end of Fiscal Year 2026.
The “bold course,” as Lunday described, is guided by core truths including military service and leading; inspiring crews to get missions done; empower chief petty officers; and relying on the support and respect of American people and elected leaders as part of a national “sacred trust.”
“We are filled with certain hope for the future because if there is one thing in our distinguished service history that proves, with a ready Coast Guard crew and the strong support of the American people, there is nothing we can’t accomplish,” he said at the end of his speech.
More Money and Resources
Noem, who first took the podium on Thursday, described Lunday as a “wonderful man” who has espoused “dignity, wisdom and honor” in both his military career and personal life.
Lunday has sacrificed for the country in different roles and places, Noem said, calling this most recent venture “the next step in that journey.” As President Donald Trump desired military leaders who are patriotic and dedicated to preserving American safety, Noem said Lunday has answered the call time and time again–mentioning for example how he was present “every time a ship needed to be seized.”
She said the Coast Guard one year ago was “suffering, frankly, from years of neglect” due to underfunding, a lack of resources and unclear missions.
The administration’s goals of revitalizing the Coast Guard with the best technology, ships and crews—along with a major recruiting surge that has not been rivaled since 1991, have led a “passionate steward” in Lunday to oversee the continued progress of a proud service.
“It’s a tall order and it takes a special individual to make that a reality,” she said.
