U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem participates in a tour at the U.S. Coast Guard Station, in Charleston, South Carolina, U.S., November 7, 2025. Alex Brandon/Pool via REUTERS
The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) changed direction this week after a bombshell report revealed it had reclassified symbols like swastikas and a noose from “prohibited hate symbols” to “potentially divisive” symbols. According to one CNN reporter, it caused a “huge backlash.”
Last week, a new set of guidelines for the USCG recast symbols such as a noose or swastika as “potentially divisive.”
The sudden policy flip happened mere hours after The Washington Post reported that new “harassment guidelines” were about to be enacted. The decision was set to take effect on Dec. 15, the report said.
CNN correspondent Brian Todd called the matter "unbelievable."
"What's extraordinary, Pamela, is that we're even sitting here talking about something like this," he told host Pamela Brown.
Todd said that on Friday, President Donald Trump's administration denied that the policy had changed it in the first place.
"But they did change it," Brown cut in.
"They did change it," agreed Todd, "again, to downgrade the language referring to nooses and swastikas and other similar symbols as, 'potentially divisive.'"
Tricia McLaughlin, public affairs assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, "is denying that the Coast Guard is even backtracking on this issue," Todd said.
According to CNN, McLaughlin claimed "the 2025 policy is not changing."
"USCGissued a lawful order thatdoubles down on our currentpolicies prohibiting thedisplay, distribution, or use ofhate symbols by Coast Guardpersonnel," McLaughlin said in a statement.
She did not clarify whether the policy would change after 2025.
"It's a lot of confusion. It's a lot of back-and-forth," commented Todd, noting the Post has proof of the change.
"Then when they reported that there was a huge backlash, as there should be, obviously," Todd continued. "And now they're changing it back, but they're denying that they ever really went there in the first place."