A bill to give the Coast Guard its own secretary, one of several that haven't moved

A new Senate bill would put a civilian, Senate-confirmed secretary atop the Coast Guard, the service Alaskans lean on for search and rescue across more coastline than the rest of the country combined. Whether it goes anywhere is the open question. It was introduced July 22 and referred to committee, where two earlier versions of the same idea already sit.

The Coast Guard Leadership Modernization Act, S.5069, was introduced by Sen. Rick Scott of Florida and cosponsored by Alaska's Dan Sullivan and Alabama's Tommy Tuberville. It would create a Coast Guard secretary appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, mirroring the civilian secretaries who head the Army, Navy and Air Force. Today that civilian oversight defaults to the secretary of Homeland Security. The bill also adds an undersecretary and bars a former active-duty officer from the top post until seven years after leaving the service.

One detail defines the limits of the change: the new secretary would still report to Homeland Security, not stand as an independent Cabinet officer. The bill reorganizes who runs the Coast Guard and takes over much of its dealings with the Pentagon, but it doesn't move the service out of DHS, and it adds no ships, crews or money. Supporters cast it as elevating the service's voice at the highest levels of government; by a narrower reading, it shifts reporting lines more than resources.

The idea has support beyond its sponsors. The Coast Guard's own Force Design 2028 plan called for a service secretary within Homeland Security, and Secretary Kristi Noem endorsed the position last fall. But endorsement hasn't translated to movement. A House version, the Secretary of the Coast Guard Act of 2025, and secretary language attached to Coast Guard authorization bills have been introduced earlier this Congress and gone no further than committee. S.5069 enters the same channel late in the session, and its sponsors are pressing for quick action so President Trump can name a nominee.