The Coast Guard plans to implement a policy change effective Dec. 15 that removes the swastika from its list of designated hate symbols, reclassifying it instead as "potentially divisive."
The directive arrives amid broader military culture reforms under the Trump administration and has aroused concern from service members and lawmakers.
Documents reviewed by The Washington Post show the Coast Guard will stop labeling swastikas as symbols that automatically trigger a "hate incident" designation and instead designate them as "potentially divisive."
Under the forthcoming guidelines, nooses and the Confederate flag will likewise be downgraded from the prior "hate symbol" designation.
Displaying the Confederate flag remains banned; the swastika and noose provisions will be treated under a new harassment-based standard rather than a hate-incident framework.
The revision also imposes a 45-day deadline for reporting incidents involving such symbols, a change from previous policy, which did not define a specific time limit for such reports.
A senior Coast Guard official told The Washington Post that the policy change was "chilling" and raised morale concerns.
"We don't deserve the trust of the nation if we're unclear about the divisiveness of swastikas," the official said.
The Nazi regime’s central emblem, the swastika is widely viewed in the West as a hate symbol tied to antisemitism and white supremacy.
Meanwhile, Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, publicly dismissed the story, calling the Post's report "an absolute ludicrous lie and unequivocally false."
The policy shift comes as part of a broader effort under President Donald Trump to recalibrate military and service-branch culture.
The Coast Guard, operating under DHS rather than the Department of War, has been included in an administration-directed review of oversight of harassment and extremism across the uniformed services.
Critics have voiced alarm. Senate Commerce Committee member Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., said that relaxing the classification at a time when antisemitism is rising "sends the wrong message to the men and women of our Coast Guard, but it puts their safety at risk."
Supporters of tightening definitions of harassment and extremism say the previous policy arguably overextended by enforcing broad categories of "hate incident" that could undermine unit cohesion.
The new language frames the offenses under the broader harassment rules, which align with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's directive to streamline "overly broad" standards he says jeopardize combat readiness.
For service members at sea, the 45-day reporting window raises practical concerns.
The policy change does not yet appear to affect other branches of the U.S. military, which continue to prohibit "extremist" symbols under separate regulations.
The Air Force, Army, and Navy still maintain rules prohibiting "paraphernalia, words or symbols in support of extremist activities" off base or on duty.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.