EXCLUSIVE: DHS Kills $58M Coast Guard Marketing Deal Over LGBTQ, DEI Ideology

The Department of Homeland Security rejected a nearly $58 million contract for advertising and marketing support services for the U.S. Coast Guard Recruiting Command after determining that the outside vendor promotes LGBTQ and other “inclusive” ideology as part of its core offerings, the 🏢Daily Caller News Foundation first learned.

In June 2025, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem issued a policy requiring her personal review of contracts and grants over $100,000 to increase oversight and curb wasteful spending. The contract under review, obtained by the DCNF, sought $57,971,387 from the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) for media consulting firm Lempugh, Inc. (LMD) to “execute Option Period Three for continued Advertising Support Services” for one year.

“Secretary Noem personally reviews and approves all DHS contracts over $100,000. One of the latest in a line of contracts rejected by the Secretary is this nearly $58 million dollar contract to an advertising and marketing firm that has its website riddled with blogs lecturing on how to successfully market to a transgender audience and how not to ‘rainbow wash’ in marketing campaigns,” a DHS spokesperson told the DCNF.

In a memo seeking approval of the LMD contract, USCG Commandant Adm. Kevin E. Lunday wrote that it would increase “awareness of the USCG among the target recruiting audience, which results in both more online applications and improved recruiter effectiveness.”

The Commandant also told DHS in the memo that failure to approve the contract would “substantially diminish” recruitment and “impede the ability to meet personnel requirements,” adding that “one in four recruits has been directly attributable to advertising” under the existing Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA).