Commanding Officer
Commander Colin K. McKee
Commander Colin K. McKee is a permanent cutterman, with nine years afloat, currently serving as the Commanding Officer of Coast Guard Cutter Diligence. In his most recent previous afloat tour he served as the Executive Officer of Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane, during which it shifted homeports from Portsmouth, Virginia, to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, to serve as the Indo-Pacific Support Cutter. He has commanded a Sentinel Class Fast Response Cutter based in Honolulu, Hawaii, as well as several Island Class patrol boats forward deployed to Manama, Bahrain. His staff assignments include managing the Coast Guard Biometrics Program at Coast Guard Headquarters, the Current Operations Branch Chief for Security Cooperation at U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, and a Strategic Planner at the Department of Homeland Security Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office. In all those assignments he worked or led efforts of national significance and global impact. His temporary duty assignments include serving as a Force Tactical Action Officer during combat operations in the Red Sea, the Planning Section Chief at Dulles Airport during Operation Allies Welcome, and as the Deputy Commodore during the standup of the offshore Command Task Unit during Operation Vigilant Sentry.
Commander McKee graduated from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 2007 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering. In 2022 he earned a Graduate Certificate in Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction from Missouri State University. Most recently, he earned a Master of Science degree in Strategic Information and Cyberspace Studies from the National Defense University College of Information and Cyberspace.