Rear Admiral (RDML) Little assumed the duties of Commander, Coast Guard Arctic District in July 2025. The District is responsible for securing the homeland by projecting forces to advance U.S. sovereignty and national interest, countering malign foreign influence, and ensuring safety, security and stewardship of the northern high latitudes. RDML Little is responsible for all operations to control, secure and defend the northern U.S. border and maritime approaches within the U.S. Arctic and Alaska; to facilitate commerce vital to economic security and strategic mobility for U.S. ports, waterways, and shipping in the physical and cyber domains; and to successfully respond to crises and contingencies that may come with little or no warning by sustaining readiness throughout the vast Arctic and Alaskan region.
Rear Admiral little most recently served as the 20th Director of Joint Interagency Task Force West (JIATF West), U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. There he coordinated among the U.S. interagency and international partners to identify, monitor, and counter illicit and malign activity of our adversaries, cartels, and foreign terrorist organizations.
RDML Little has served aboard six Coast Guard Cutters, held three afloat commands, accumulated over 13 years of sea time, and operated in both the Atlantic and Pacific areas of operations. RDML Little’s operational career has been focused on securing the U.S. maritime border, conducting alien migrant and narcotics interdiction, defense operations, combating criminal networks, and safeguarding U.S. maritime commerce. His most recent afloat command was the National Security Cutter STRATTON, among the most capable and technologically advanced ships in the Coast Guard’s surface fleet. In STRATTON, RDML Little deployed to the Western Pacific for defense and security operations with the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet, the Arctic Ocean and Bering Sea to protect National sovereign interests, and the Eastern Pacific to support the U.S. Southern Command. He has led numerous combined military and law enforcement operations afloat to strengthen relationships with international allies and partners.
RDML Little has also served in several shore-based staff tours, including as the Executive Assistant to the Commandant of the Coast Guard. In this capacity, he was a principal advisor on policy, strategy, and resource initiatives across all operational and mission support activities. Other staff assignments include Chief of Maritime Forces for the Coast Guard’s Pacific Area, Special Assistant to the 28th Vice Commandant of the Coast Guard, Appropriations Manager in the Office of Resource Management, and Deputy Comptroller at the Coast Guard’s Training Center in Yorktown, Virginia.
RDML Little is a 1995 graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Management. He has been awarded a Master of Business Administration by both the College of William and Mary and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is a 2012 graduate of the Air Command and Staff College and in 2015 completed the Sloan Fellows Program in Innovation and Global Leadership at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
RDML Little’s awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merrit, six Meritorious Service Medals, three Coast Guard Commendation Medals, and one Coast Guard Achievement medal, along with several additional personal, unit, and operational awards.