PORTSMOUTH, Va., — Cmdr. Jeffrey Swanson relieved Cmdr. Clinton Carlson as commanding officer of the Portsmouth-based Coast Guard Cutter Tampa during a change of command ceremony Friday aboard the cutter at Base Portsmouth.
Swanson recently served as the fiscal year 2014 budget coordinator in the Office of Budget and Programs at Coast Guard Headquarters and also completed a six month detail as the acting deputy budget director for the Department of Homeland Security, where he oversaw the submission of the department’s $61 billion annual budget request.
“It’s been a pleasure to serve as this crews commanding officer,” said Carlson. “None of the drug busts or rescues would have happened without the heart and soul of the Tampa, which is the crew.”
During Carlson’s two years serving as the commanding officer, the crew aboard the Tampa seized more than 2.6 metric tons of contraband, and oversaw the rescue, care and repatriation of 113 Cuban and Haitian migrants.
The change of command ceremony is a time-honored tradition which formally restates that the continuity of command will be maintained and is a formal ritual conducted before the assembled company of command. It conveys to the officers, enlisted members, civilian employees and auxiliary members of the Coast Guard that although the authority of command is relinquished by a leader and is assumed by another, it is still maintained without interruption.