As commander, Atlantic Area/Defense Force East, Lee will be the operational commander for all U.S. Coast Guard missions within a geographic region that ranges from the Rocky Mountains to the Arabian Gulf and spans across five Coast Guard districts and 40 states.

Lee will be reporting from his recent assignment at Coast Guard Headquarters as the deputy for Operations Policy and Capabilities.

He has spent 13 years in six different command assignments, including the 5th District, Portsmouth and spent a career specializing in boat operations, and search and rescue. He has served along the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts, in addition to supporting operations overseas as the Deployable Operations Group commander. Lee’s other command operational assignments include: Sector North Carolina, Group Fort Macon, North Carolina, Group Monterey, California, and Station Atlantic City, New Jersey.

The change of command ceremony is a time-honored tradition which formally restates 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.