Wilmington native becomes one of 8 female admirals in Coast Guard

JUNEAU, ALASKA -- Capt. Laura Dickey, Chief of Staff, 17th Coast Guard District, was promoted to Rear Admiral on April 27. This is a huge accomplishment as she is one of only eight female admirals in the entire U.S. Coast Guard. She is a native of Wilmington and graduated from New Hanover High School in 1986. Rear Adm. Dickey is headquartered in Juneau. The 17th District encompasses an area of nearly 4 million square miles of the Pacific and Arctic Oceans including the Bering Sea. The district is responsible for the performance of every Coast Guard mission, but has a strong focus toward safety of life at sea, environmental protection and marine safety. She most recently served as Vice President Biden’s Special Adviser 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, Real Admiral 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. Rear Adm. 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 member of the Bar of the State of North Carolina. She has been awarded the Defense Superior Service Medal, four Meritorious Service Medals, three Coast Guard Commendation Medals, two Coast Guard Achievement Medals, numerous operational unit awards, and the Vice Presidential Service Badge.

-- Cheryl Whitaker