DEI heads of TSA, Coast Guard fired on Trump's first full day in office

President Donald Trump moved quickly to remake the Department of Homeland 
Security Tuesday, firing the heads of the Transportation Security 
Administration and Coast Guard before their terms are up and eliminated 
all the members of a key aviation security advisory group.

Trump’s immigration policy changes drew the most attention at Homeland 
Security, but he is also making changes at the rest of the massive agency.

Members of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee received a memo 
Tuesday saying that the department is eliminating the membership of all 
advisory committees as part of a “commitment to eliminating the misuse of 
resources and ensuring that DHS activities prioritize our national 
security.”

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The aviation security committee, which was mandated by Congress after the 
1988 PanAm 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, will technically continue 
to exist but it won’t have any members to carry out the work of examining 
safety issues at airlines and airports. Before Tuesday, the group included 
representatives of all the key groups in the industry — including the 
airlines and major unions — as well as members of a group associated with 
the victims of the PanAm 103 bombing. The vast majority of the group’s 
recommendations were adopted over the years.

It wasn’t immediately clear how many other committees were effectively 
eliminated Tuesday or whether other departments will take similar actions. 
A similar safety group advises the Federal Railroad Administration on new 
rules and safety issues in that industry.

“I naively thought, ‘oh they’re not going to do anything in the new 
administration, to put security at risk — aviation security at risk.’ But 
I’m not so sure,” said Stephanie Bernstein, whose husband was killed in 
the bombing and served on the committee.

Adding to Bernstein’s concern is the fact that TSA Administrator David 
Pekoske was fired even though he was originally appointed by Trump during 
his first term and was in the middle of what was supposed to be Pekoske’s 
second five-year term in the job.

Pekoske oversaw the army of airport security workers who screen passengers 
to help keep flights safe. But a recent string of stowaways discovered 
onboard flights and hiding inside wheel wells of planes renewed questions 
about aviation security.

The firing of Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan eliminated the armed 
forces’ first female service chief who had served since 2022. That move 
was met with shock by some Democratic members of Congress. Sen. Maria 
Cantwell, D-Wash., ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, 
Science, and Transportation, credited Fagan with having a commitment to 
fixing a decades-long culture of sexual assault within the Coast Guard and 
the prestigious service academy in Connecticut.

Cantwell said during a Tuesday interview on CNN that Fagan’s firing is 
“appalling.”

WATCH: Biden honors Linda Fagan, first woman to lead a military service 
branch

Under Fagan’s watch, the U.S. Coast Guard apologized in 2023 for not 
taking “appropriate action” years ago when it failed to adequately handle 
cases of sexual assault and harassment at the academy. The service also 
acknowledged it did not widely disclose its six-year internal 
investigation into dozens of cases from 1988 to 2006, known as Operation 
Fouled Anchor.

Last year, however, Fagan received bipartisan criticism for not being 
cooperative enough with congressional investigations into the abuse. She 
tried to assure skeptical and frustrated senators at one hearing she was 
not trying to cover up the branch’s failure to adequately handle cases of 
sexual assault and harassment at the academy and said she was committed to 
“transparency and accountability” within the Coast Guard while also 
abiding by the constraints of an ongoing government watchdog investigation 
and victim privacy concerns.

Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., who district includes the Coast Guard Academy 
in New London, Connecticut said Fagan provided “a fundamental change in 
Coast Guard leadership” and has worked to rebuild trust and correct the 
persistent sexual misconduct problems facing the service.

“President Trump’s unprecedented decision on day one to fire a service 
chief ahead of her scheduled departure is an abuse of power that slanders 
the good name and record of Admiral Fagan,” Courtney said in a statement.

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Courtney noted, under Fagan’s leadership, the Coast Guard exceeded its 
2024 recruitment goal for the first time since 2017, interdicted over $2.5 
billion in illegal drugs from bad actors in 2024 and demonstrated an 
aggressive commitment to countering adversaries in the Artic by 
championing the ICE Pact to speed up production of new icebreaker vessels, 
which the US has not built in nearly 50 years.

“The Commandant’s outstanding record completely negates the President’s 
demonstrably false claims and signals his enduring interest to put 
politics over the best interest of our servicemembers and national 
security.”

In addition to those firings, Trump will also appoint a new administrator 
for the Federal Emergency Management Agency who he has criticized harshly 
for the way it responded to disasters like Hurricane Helene last fall and 
the California wildfires. It is customary for the head of that agency to 
be replaced every time a new president takes office.

Associated Press Writers Susan Haigh and Rebecca Santana contributed to 
this report.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/heads-of-tsa-coast-guard-fired-on-
trumps-first-full-day-in-office