Coast Guard Commandant Linda Fagan becomes first woman to lead U.S. armed forces

Admiral Linda L. Fagan shattered the military’s glass ceiling on Wednesday to become commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard and the first female officer to lead a branch of the U.S. armed forces.

Previously the service’s second-in-command, Fagan has worn the Coast Guard uniform for more than four decades and on all seven continents. She graduated from the Coast Guard Academy in 1985, one of 16 women who graduated her year in the sixth class to include women.

“We’ve made a lot of progress in the junior ranks, but we need to keep making progress,” Fagan told CBS News in an interview, last year. “We do not yet reflect the society that we serve, and we need to keep working on that.”

“I recognize I am now providing a set of shoulders for those who come after me,” Fagan added.

Fagan is the 27th commandant of the service, dating back to the 1915 establishment of the Coast Guard, which merged the Revenue Cutter Service and U.S. Life-Saving Service. Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the branch was moved under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).  

“It’s about time,” President Biden said Wednesday. “When the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, sent me your name, I said, ‘What in the hell took you so long?'”

“Adm. Fagan is a trailblazer,” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said. “Today is a historic day for the United States Coast Guard and a historic day for the United States.”

During her remarks, Fagan paid tribute to Adm. Owen W. Siler, the 15th commandant of the service who oversaw the integration of the service academies.

“I never believed I would be standing here today, and I want to thank him,” Admiral Fagan said, noting that she wore the late commandant’s shoulder boards in his honor. 

She succeeds Adm. Karl Schultz as head of the Coast Guard. 

Mayorkas commended Schultz for spearheading a more than 20% increase in the Coast Guard budget along with “the largest shipbuilding effort since World War II.” In addition to seeing the branch through the coronavirus pandemic, Schultz’s tenure also included the country’s most active hurricane season to date, including three category 5 hurricanes. 

“We’re a learning organization striving to be more diverse and representative of the great nation that we serve,” Schultz told crowds gathered at Wednesday’s ceremony. “To be the world’s…