The Coast Guard is a vital part of the country’s national security.
But it was coming short in one crucial area.
And Coast Officials lost one scary fight that had Donald Trump raising hell.
The Coast Guard failed to stop drug smugglers under Joe Biden
The vast coastline of the United States gives drug smugglers and human traffickers plenty of places to access the country.
Under former President Joe Biden, the Coast Guard “consistently” failed to stop drug smugglers because its ships were unavailable.
A report from the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General found that Coast Guard ships were out of service for 2,000 days from fiscal year 2021 to fiscal year 2023.
The Coast Guard “was not able to consistently interdict non-commercial vessels smuggling drugs into the U.S.”
Cocaine is the primary target for drug interdiction by the Coast Guard because it is smuggled by boat from South America into Florida.
The Inspector General’s report found that the Coast Guard did not have enough cutters to stop drug trafficking along the country’s 95,000 miles of coastal waters and over 300 ports.
Coast Guard officials never developed a contingency plan to deal with its ships being out of service.
The number of ships unavailable increased every year during the report, and cocaine seizures dipped.
“Coast Guard personnel also attributed these issues to deferred maintenance. Coast Guard personnel said that insufficient funding for maintenance and repairs has reduced cutter availability, and that the more maintenance periods that are deferred in the short term, the more downtime is needed for maintenance and repair in the long term,” the report stated.
The report also blamed pandemic protocols and ships being used to stop illegal aliens for the drop off in cocaine seizures.
Coast Guard officials were also accused of sloppy paperwork that did not include proper documentation and seizure results.
“Without addressing the issues identified in this report, the Coast Guard may be missing opportunities to meet target goals of removing cocaine and reducing the illicit flow of drugs coming into the country,” the report added.
Donald Trump fired the first female Coast Guard commandant
President Donald Trump fired Admiral Linda Fagan who served as the commandant of the Coast Guard after being appointed by Biden in 2022 on his first full day in office.
The move sparked widespread criticism from Democrats and their media allies because Fagan was the first woman to ever lead a branch of the military.
Representative Joe Courtney (D-CT) called the firing outrageous and commended Fagan for her “outstanding record.”
A Homeland Security official said she was fired “because of her leadership deficiencies, operational failures, and inability to advance the strategic objectives of the U.S. Coast Guard.”
Officials also cited Fagan’s “failure to address border security threats” and “excessive focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.”
Former Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) flagged the Coast Guard’s focus on sexual orientation and gender identity training under Fagan as “indoctrination.”
Donald Trump was vindicated for firing Fagan after the Homeland Security Inspector General exposed the Coast Guard’s failure to perform a basic duty, the maintaining of the fleet, under her.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
