The U.S. Coast Guard scrubbed controversial wording from a workplace harassment manual that categorized swastikas and nooses as “potentially divisive” rather than explicit hate symbols. The turnaround comes just days after the policy went into effect.
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Following the policy reversal, the Senate moved quickly to confirm Adm. Kevin Lunday as the Coast Guard’s commandant. Two Democratic senators, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Jacky Rosen of Nevada, had placed a hold on Lunday’s nomination over the language in the harassment manual.
Why the ‘potentially divisive’ label drew backlash
Earlier this week, The Washington Post reported that the now-deleted language had reclassified swastikas and nooses as “potentially divisive” rather than overt hate symbols. That change meant their display might not automatically trigger removal. The Hill noted that the original wording gave supervisors discretion to evaluate the context of such symbols rather than mandating their automatic removal.
Lawmakers in both parties said that shift weakened longstanding Coast Guard standards that explicitly treated swastikas and nooses as hate symbols. Rosen said on X that the original proposed changes “would’ve weakened the Coast Guard’s standards and potentially allowed swastikas and nooses to be displayed.”
What Lunday’s order and the manual now say
In a message to Coast Guard personnel, Lunday said that a directive he issued last month, categorically prohibiting swastikas and nooses, “remains in full effect.” While that directive explicitly banned the symbols, it was never actually added to the official manual.
The revised digital harassment manual redacts the controversial section with a large black bar and instead refers personnel to the service’s civil rights guidelines.
In a post on X, Secretary Kristi Noem of the Department of Homeland Security argued that the new harassment manual, even before the deletions on swastikas and nooses, actually “strengthens” enforcement. She accused critics and the media of misrepresenting the Coast Guard’s position to “politicize their policies,” stating that the outdated pages would be purged from the record.
“The pages of superseded and outdated policy will be completely removed from the record so no press outlet, entity or elected official may misrepresent the Coast Guard to politicize their policies and lie about their position on divisive and hate symbols,” she wrote.
Noem also called the hold on Lunday’s nomination a “politicized holdup.”
Congressional pressure
The Post reported that Thursday’s reversal followed weeks of back-and-forth after its November story first revealed plans to downgrade the definition of swastikas and nooses. In response to that initial reporting, Lunday, then acting commandant, issued his separate order banning the symbols.
Sources told The Post that service leadership had earlier attempted to remove the controversial phrasing but were blocked. The individuals spoke anonymously due to the sensitivity of the internal deliberations.
According to The Hill, the administration dismissed the initial reporting as “demonstrably false,” despite the policy having been implemented with the controversial language included. The Post said Republicans, including Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., also objected to what his office called the Coast Guard’s “conflicting policies.”
Confirmation fallout
Rosen said in her X statement that she is “pleased to see that the policy now directly refers to stronger language against swastikas and nooses” and would therefore lift her hold on Lunday. At the same time, Rosen wrote that she is placing a hold on Sean Plankey’s nomination to lead the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency because he currently oversees the Coast Guard in his role at the Department of Homeland Security.
She said she will “keep that hold in place until we see that this new policy works to protect our men and women in uniform from racist and antisemitic harassment.”
The Post reports that officials have yet to clarify whether Lunday had the authority to alter the manual himself or if such changes required approval from DHS leadership. Although the Coast Guard is a branch of the military, it is overseen by the DHS during peacetime.
