The U.S. Coast Guard has opened an internal investigation after a hand-drawn swastika appeared at its primary recruit training center, prompting a swift response from its top admiral, who faced significant scrutiny last year after the service temporarily downgraded the hate symbol in its workplace harassment manual to “potentially divisive.”
A Coast Guard instructor discovered the swastika Thursday evening on a men’s bathroom wall at the Cape May training center in New Jersey, according two people familiar with the incident and correspondence reviewed by The Washington Post.
Adm. Kevin Lunday, the Coast Guard commandant, was informed Saturday and immediately flew from Washington to Cape May, where he spoke with to about 900 recruits and staff members to address the incident, the Coast Guard said.
In a statement to The Post confirming the incident, Lunday on Monday reiterated that any display of a swastika — a symbol of Nazi Germany and white supremacy that is inextricably linked to the murder of millions of Jews — will not be tolerated.
“Anyone who adheres to or advances hate or extremist ideology — get out. Leave. You don’t belong in the United States Coast Guard and we reject you,” Lunday’s statement said. “We will not allow anyone to put a stain of hate on our United States Coast Guard.”
The drawing was removed and the Coast Guard Investigative Service was directed to look into the matter, the service said.
The swastika’s discovery in Cape May follows a contentious few weeks in November, when The Post first reported that the service had revised language in its workplace harassment manual to re-characterize swastikas — as well as nooses, a symbol of racism — as “potentially divisive.” That wording generated public outcry and congressional scrutiny.
Lunday, then the Coast Guard’s acting commandant, responded at the time by declaring those symbols prohibited. But for reasons that remain unclear, the “potentially divisive” language was not stripped when the new workplace harassment manual went into effect.
Two Democratic lawmakers — Sens. Tammy Duckworth (Illinois) and Jacky Rosen (Nevada) — placed a hold on Lunday’s nomination to become the Coast Guard’s commandant until the manual was changed. The Coast Guard removed the wording in question and the senators lifted their holds, clearing a path for Lunday’s confirmation.
In the months since the controversy, multiple Coast Guard personnel have contacted The Post to emphasize that the swastika wording that appeared in the workplace harassment manual did not reflect the service’s morals. Lunday’s reaction to the incident in New Jersey suggests Coast Guard leadership remains sensitive to the issue.
In a notification to Congress reviewed by The Post, the Coast Guard said that “such conduct is a crime, violates our core values, and has absolutely no place within our Service.”
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