Coast Guard Faces Backlash After Softening Classification Of Swastikas And Nooses

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The U.S. Coast Guard is drawing intense criticism after unveiling a new policy that no longer designates swastikas, nooses, and related extremist emblems as hate symbols. Instead, beginning Dec. 15, the service will categorize them as “potentially divisive,” according to internal documents reviewed by The Washington Post.

Under the updated rules, these symbols fall into a downgraded category that stops short of explicitly defining them as tied to racial, ethnic, or religious intimidation.

While the Confederate flag remains banned in most contexts, the policy makes room for certain historical or artistic displays. The shift comes as the Coast Guard aligns its internal standards with the Trump administration’s broader effort to scale back existing regulations on harassment and hazing across the military. In September, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a government-wide reassessment, arguing that current rules were “overly broad” and harming combat readiness.

Initially declining public comment, the Coast Guard later responded after the Post‘s. Spokeswoman Jennifer Plozai said the service “disagreed with The Post’s reporting” but planned to reassess the policy language.

In a statement attributed to Adm. Kevin Lunday, the acting commandant, the service avoided explaining the shift but maintained that swastikas, nooses, and similar imagery “violate our core values and are treated with the seriousness they warrant.” He later sent a force-wide email reiterating that such symbols are “prohibited,” though the policy itself leaves ambiguity over when or whether commanders must act. The revised guidelines, Lunday wrote, are intended to “streamline administrative requirements.”

A comparison of the new rules with prior guidance reveals a clear change in tone. A 2023 policy had listed a swastika, noose, and Confederate symbols among items automatically considered “potential hate incidents” because hate-based groups “co-opted or adopted them as symbols of supremacy.” The new wording instead places them in the category of “potentially divisive symbols,” alongside flags or imagery used by extremist groups.

One Coast Guard official familiar with the revisions called the move deeply troubling. “We don’t deserve the trust of the nation if we’re unclear about the divisiveness of swastikas,” the official said.

The changes arrive after a year of upheaval inside the service. Former commandant Adm. Linda Fagan—the first woman to lead any U.S. military branch—was removed on President Donald Trump’s first day in office amid criticism of her diversity efforts and her handling of sexual-assault cases. Lunday, who halted the Coast Guard’s hazing and harassment policies within days of Fagan’s firing, has since been nominated to succeed her permanently. His Senate confirmation hearing took place this week.

Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) urged the administration to reverse course on the revised policy, warning that weakening standards “sends the wrong message” as antisemitism rises globally. The policy’s language, she said, “could allow for horrifically hateful symbols like swastikas and nooses to be inexplicably permitted to be displayed.”

The new rules also impose a 45-day deadline for reporting such symbols—a substantial change that critics say disadvantages personnel deployed at sea.

“If you are at sea, and your shipmate has a swastika in their rack…are you going to feel safe reporting that?” the Coast Guard official asked.

Jewish-American leaders also condemned the revisions. Rabbi Jonah Pesner wrote to Lunday that “there is no context aside from the educational or historical in which a swastika is not a hate symbol,” calling the policy shift “an indelible stain.”

The Coast Guard said it removed the term “hate incident” entirely and folded such cases under general harassment rules. Meanwhile, other military branches are reviewing similar policies—though none appear to have softened explicit language around swastikas.

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