The U.S. Coast Guard in new materials reviewed by USA TODAY on Thursday, Nov. 20, called swastikas and nooses "potentially divisive symbols."

Coast Guard guidelines on "harassing behavior," set to go into effect on Dec. 15, gave the "potentially divisive" label to the symbols and "flags co-opted or adopted by hate-based groups." Previously the service would investigate the display of such symbols as a "potential hate incident."

"Potentially divisive symbols and flags include, but are not limited to, the following: a noose, a swastika, and any symbols or flags co-opted or adopted by hate-based groups as representations of supremacy, racial or religious intolerance, or other bias," the updated harassment regulation said.

Displaying the symbols may still merit harassment investigations, the document said, but the service no longer recognizes hate incidents as a specific category of misconduct

The Washington Post was the first to report on the guidelines, saying the Coast Guard has reworked policies "to align with the Trump administration’s changing tolerances for hazing and harassment within the U.S. military." The Coast Guard is housed under the Department of Homeland Security, led by Secretary Kristi Noem.

Coast Guard and Trump administration officials quickly refuted the outlet's reporting, despite the document being publicly available.

“The claims that the U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses or other extremist imagery as prohibited symbols are categorically false," Adm. Kevin Lunday, the Coast Guard's acting commandant, told USA TODAY on Thursday, Nov. 20.

"These symbols have been and remain prohibited in the Coast Guard per policy," the admiral wrote in an email. "Any display, use or promotion of such symbols, as always, will be thoroughly investigated and severely punished. The Coast Guard remains unwavering in its commitment to fostering a safe, respectful and professional workplace. Symbols such as swastikas, nooses and other extremist or racist imagery violate our core values and are treated with the seriousness they warrant under current policy.”

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary at the Homeland Security Department, in a post on X also denied the reporting.

The Anti-Defamation League, a non-governmental organization that fights antisemitism, reacted to the Post's reporting, saying the swastika "has no place in any workplace or our armed services — ever."

The image of the swastika adopted by Nazi Germany, "has served as the most significant and notorious of hate symbols, anti-Semitism and white supremacy for most of the world," according to the ADL. The noose has long been painful reminder of lynchings of Black Americans.

"The hangman's noose has come to be one of the most powerful visual symbols directed against African Americans, comparable in the emotions that it evokes to that of the swastika for Jews," the ADL said on its website.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Mississippi, also reacted to the Post's reporting on X, saying "Swastikas and nooses aren’t “potentially divisive” and calling them "representations of genocide and lynching."

Davis Winkie with USA TODAY contributed to this report.

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Coast Guard document calls swastikas, nooses 'potentially divisive symbols'

Reporting by Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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