Rear Admiral Shannon N. Gilreath assumed the duties of Commander, Fifth Coast Guard District,
in May 2022. RADM Gilreath serves as the operational commander of all U.S. Coast Guard
missions from the North Carolina, South Carolina border to New Jersey, encompassing nearly
3,000 Coast Guard active duty, reserve, and civilian personnel. This area spans 1.4 million square
miles of oceans, bays, and rivers, several mid-Atlantic ports, the largest U.S. Naval Base in the
world, and our National Capitol Region.
His previous assignments include Commander, Personnel Service Center, in Washington, DC
where he executed the Coast Guard’s human resource policies for the nearly 45,000 members of
the active duty and reserve workforces, Chief of Staff for the Eighth Coast Guard District which
included all or part of 26 states including most of the Gulf Coast and the Mississippi, Ohio and
Missouri River drainages. He was Chief of the Coast Guard’s Office of Maritime and
International Law at Coast Guard Headquarters where he was responsible for mission law advice
to senior Coast Guard leaders and led the U.S. delegation to the International Maritime
Organization; Sector Commander and Deputy of Sector Honolulu; Chief of Prevention Law
within the Office of Maritime and International Law; Commanding Officer of Marine Safety Unit
Baton Rouge; Staff Attorney at the Eighth District Legal Office; Marine Inspector at Marine
Safety Office New Orleans; and deck watch officer aboard the Coast Guard Cutter
NORTHLAND. In 2005, he served as a unified commander for a multi-agency task force
conducting urban search and rescue operations in the New Orleans area following Hurricane
Katrina
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