Coast Guard reports saving 4,946 lives in 2025

Misleading

Facts are technically correct but framed in a way that likely leads to a wrong impression. Learn more in Methodology.

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Search-and-rescue records or Coast Guard annual statistics confirm the 4,946 lives-saved figure for 2025.

Source summary
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem swore in Admiral Kevin Lunday as the 28th Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard at a ceremony at Coast Guard Headquarters. Adm. Lunday, who served as Acting Commandant in 2025, will oversee the service’s global operations and lead its Force Design 2028 transformation. The release highlights 2025 performance metrics—121% of recruiting targets (5,204 new members), a 200% increase in narcotics seizures since January 2025, a 120% rise in interdictions and related events, and 4,946 lives saved—and cites a Force Design report claiming a 6-to-1 return on investment.
Latest fact check

Official U.S. Coast Guard reporting on 2025 operations states that, "Throughout 2025, the Coast Guard conducted thousands of search and rescue cases" and that "Coast Guard crews saved 5,220 lives" in total, along with assisting 19,437 people and protecting over $1.02 billion in property. This figure appears in multiple Coast Guard releases summarizing 2025 performance. By contrast, the Department of Homeland Security swearing-in press release claims that "the Coast Guard saved 4,946 lives" over the same 2025 period, with no clarification of a different time frame or subset of missions, and the underlying Force Design 2028 report that might explain the discrepancy is currently inaccessible (HTTP 403). Given that the Coast Guard's own year-end operational summary uses 5,220 lives saved for 2025, the statement that the Coast Guard saved 4,946 lives "over the course of 2025" is supported only by a single DHS speech line and conflicts with the more detailed operational data, making it materially misleading about the official total. Therefore, the verdict is Misleading because the claim understates the Coast Guard’s 2025 lives-saved figure relative to the Coast Guard’s own published annual operational statistics and provides no context that would justify the lower number.

14 days
Next scheduled update: Mar 01, 2026
14 days

Timeline

  1. Scheduled follow-up · Mar 01, 2026
  2. Completion due · Mar 01, 2026
  3. Update · Jan 16, 2026, 02:59 AMMisleading
    Official U.S. Coast Guard reporting on 2025 operations states that, "Throughout 2025, the Coast Guard conducted thousands of search and rescue cases" and that "Coast Guard crews saved 5,220 lives" in total, along with assisting 19,437 people and protecting over $1.02 billion in property. This figure appears in multiple Coast Guard releases summarizing 2025 performance. By contrast, the Department of Homeland Security swearing-in press release claims that "the Coast Guard saved 4,946 lives" over the same 2025 period, with no clarification of a different time frame or subset of missions, and the underlying Force Design 2028 report that might explain the discrepancy is currently inaccessible (HTTP 403). Given that the Coast Guard's own year-end operational summary uses 5,220 lives saved for 2025, the statement that the Coast Guard saved 4,946 lives "over the course of 2025" is supported only by a single DHS speech line and conflicts with the more detailed operational data, making it materially misleading about the official total. Therefore, the verdict is Misleading because the claim understates the Coast Guard’s 2025 lives-saved figure relative to the Coast Guard’s own published annual operational statistics and provides no context that would justify the lower number.
  4. Original article · Jan 15, 2026

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