Rear Admiral Laura M. Dickey assumed the duties of Deputy Commander, Atlantic Area, in May 2022. As Deputy Commander, she is responsible for all U.S. Coast Guard missions within a geographic region spanning from the Rocky Mountains to the Arabian Gulf and encompassing five Coast Guard Districts and 40 states.
RADM Dickey’s previous flag assignments include serving as Commander of the Fifth Coast Guard District, where she oversaw the full range of Coast Guard operations in the Mid-Atlantic region from central New Jersey through North Carolina. RADM Dickey also served as the Deputy Director of Operations for United States Northern Command, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where she was a principal advisor to the USNORTHCOM Commander on all operational matters regarding homeland defense, defense support to civil authorities, and theater security cooperation.
Prior to her joint service assignment in Colorado, RADM Dickey served as the Chief of Staff for the Seventeenth Coast Guard District, headquartered in Juneau, Alaska, and was responsible for all Coast Guard missions in Alaska and the Arctic. From 2014 to 2016, RADM Dickey served as Vice President Biden’s Special Advisor for Homeland Security, Counterterrorism, and Africa. Her portfolio at the White House also included maritime security, the Arctic, the National Response Framework, and a number of other national security and humanitarian issues.
A career cutterman, RADM Dickey has more than 12 years afloat conducting law enforcement, search and rescue, and homeland security operations throughout the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, Bering Sea, and the Arctic. She has served aboard six cutters, commanding three of them: USCGC MIDGETT (WHEC 726) in Seattle, Washington; USCGC DEPENDABLE (WMEC 626) in Cape May, New Jersey; and USCGC CHINCOTEAGUE (WPB 1320) in Mobile, Alabama.
Her shore assignments include service as the Coast Guard’s Liaison to the U.S. Senate from 2009-2011, a period which included the Deepwater Horizon oil spill; Executive Officer of U.S. Coast Guard Patrol Forces Southwest Asia based in the Kingdom of Bahrain in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom; as a staff attorney at Maintenance & Logistics Command Atlantic; as a courts-martial prosecutor at the Navy Trial Services Office East; and as a Command Center Controller at the Atlantic Area/Fifth District Command Center.
RADM Dickey is a 1990 graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy with a Bachelor of Science in Government. She earned a Juris Doctor from the University Of North Carolina School of Law in 2002 and graduated with honors from Naval Justice School. She is also a 2012 graduate of the U.S. Naval War College, holding a Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies. She is a member of the Bar of the State of North Carolina.
RADM Dickey is a native of Wilmington, North Carolina. She has been awarded two Defense Superior Service Medals, two Legions of Merit, four Meritorious Service Medals, three Coast Guard Commendation Medals, two Coast Guard Achievement Medals, numerous operational unit awards, and the Vice Presidential Service Badge.