The U.S. Coast Guard is facing its largest readiness crisis since World War II, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Wednesday as she promised an overhaul of the service that she called the “point of the spear” in the nation's defense.

President Donald Trump will nominate Adm. Kevin Lunday, the acting Coast Guard commandant, to fill the vacancy, according to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Noem made the disclosure Wednesday while addressing the graduating class at the Coast Guard Academy in New London,

As Coast Guard Academy cadets and their families arrived on the New London campus Wednesday morning for graduation, protesters filled nearby McKinley Park to voice their opposition to the academy’s commencement speaker,