Coast Guard to Stop Classifying Swastikas, Nooses as Hate Symbols - Official Denies Report

1:20 PM PT -- A Coast Guard official responded to The Washington Post's report on the service's official X account Thursday afternoon, denying the details.

Acting Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, Admiral Kevin Lunday, posted ... “The claims that the U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses or other extremist imagery as prohibited symbols are categorically false. These symbols have been and remain prohibited in the Coast Guard per policy. Any display, use or promotion of such symbols, as always, will be thoroughly investigated and severely punished. The Coast Guard remains unwavering in its commitment to fostering a safe, respectful and professional workplace. Symbols such as swastikas, nooses and other extremist or racist imagery violate our core values and are treated with the seriousness they warrant under current policy."

Seismic change is in the works at the U.S. Coast Guard ... the military service branch just drafted a new policy that no longer classifies swastikas and nooses as hate symbols.

Instead, the Coast Guard will consider the swastika -- long the symbol of Nazis and forever linked to the Holocaust -- as "potentially divisive" ... according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.

The sweeping changes go into effect next month ... when the noose and the Confederate flag will also be downgraded from hateful to potentially divisive.

It's all part of a new hazing and harassment policy at the Coast Guard ... and there are new limits on the deadlines for Coast Guard members to formally report displays of swastikas and nooses among personnel.

The Coast Guard falls under the Department of Homeland Security, which is headed by Kristi Noem.

Previous Coast Guard policy explicitly said the swastika, noose and Confederate flag were "symbols whose display, presentation, creation or depiction would constitute a potential hate incident." That policy was suspended within days of President Trump's first day of office, when there was a shakeup in USCG leadership.