The Coast Guard is facing a “readiness crisis” that has been “decades in the making,” Adm. Kevin Lunday, the acting commandant of the service, acknowledged Monday.
Lunday and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have made remarks in recent weeks about the service’s readiness shortcomings, as Congress considers the military’s fiscal 2026 budget.
On Monday, the commandant identified a shortage in enlisted personnel and an inability to maintain its systems as two examples of service shortfalls.
“The Coast Guard today is at the lowest point of readiness than at any other time since the end of World War II, 80 years ago. Now that didn’t just happen. That readiness crisis has been decades in the making,” Lunday said during an event with the Council on Foreign Relations. “It’s been caused by chronic underfunding in the face of increased mission demand across our range of missions and services we provide to the American people.”
“Up until recently, we were short 10% of our enlisted workforce, the backbone of our force. On the asset side, we are facing increasing challenges for sustaining our fleet. We can only fund about 50% of the required maintenance, and so that’s like running your car until it just breaks, and then deciding to fix it when you still don’t have the money, and we can’t bring on the new assets fast enough, and so that’s caused the situation alone, which has made the Coast Guard extremely brittle,” he added.
Under the Trump administration, the Coast Guard has played an active role in the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to secure the southern border for illegal immigration and smuggling.
In April, Lunday and Noem announced Force Design 2028, a plan for “transformational change to renew the Coast Guard,” Lunday said. FD2028 consists of four main campaigns: people, organization, technology, acquisition, and contracting.
VISIT TO BORDER REVEALED ‘REMARKABLE’ SHIFT FROM BIDEN TO TRUMP: LANKFORD
During a hearing earlier this month, Noem told the Senate Committee on Appropriations that the Coast Guard is facing “the greatest readiness crisis since World War II,” and added, “the Coast Guard faces a unique set of operational challenges and opportunities, necessitating a unique posture for rapid response to a variety of evolving missions with a modernized fleet that supports these requirements.”
Lunday took over as acting commandant of the Coast Guard following the Trump administration’s firing of Adm. Linda Fagan, the first woman in history to lead a U.S. military service branch.
