The commandant of the US Coast Guard — who once called Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) an “operational imperative” — was terminated Tuesday over lagging recruitment and an “erosion of trust” in the service branch.

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman relieved Fagan, the first woman to lead any US service branch, of her duties after what he called “a long and illustrious career,” according to a Coast Guard bulletin.

“I thank her for her service to our nation,” Huffman said, before announcing Adm. Kevin E. Lunday as acting commandant.

A senior official at the Department of Homeland Security told Fox News that Fagan, 61, had failed to meet benchmarks for new enlistees or reservists and mishandled an internal probe of sex assault cases at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn.

Confirmed in June 2021, Fagan presided over multiple years when the service came up short on its recruitment goals by as much as 20%, before barely exceeding the threshold for active-duty and reserve coasties in fiscal year 2024.

Congressional Republicans had accused Fagan of impeding military readiness, noting that the low recruitment rate had forced some ships to be decommissioned.

“Also contributing to lower retention and recruitment is indoctrination training,” wrote Reps. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) and Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) in an August 2024 letter to then-Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

“We have heard from service members concerned with trainings and events they believe to be extraneous to mission-critical tasks, specifically Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) inclusivity training programs, including … examples of official USCG announcements encouraging service member participation in Transgender Shipmates Inclusion Training,” they added.

Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) also highlighted how so-called “woke” Coast Guard policies affected other service branches.

“Our service academies are critical institutions for the security of our nation, not laboratories for the far-left’s social experiments,” the now-senator told The Post in October 2023. “Forcing radical gender ideology on the young men and women who want to serve their country is dangerous and wrong.”

Banks especially excoriated officials for implementing a policy at the Merchant Marine Academy on Long Island that let midshipmen undergoing gender transitions seek exemptions from their military service requirement.

Fagan’s delay in disclosing sex assaults at the Coast Guard Academy between 2014 and 2019, compiled in an internal report known as Operation Fouled Anchor, also “deeply eroded trust,” the official told Fox News.

When the then-commandant testified on Capitol Hill last summer, senators blasted her for withholding critical information during their investigation into the series of assaults.

Fagan also blew through the Coast Guard’s budget and botched coordination with DHS to crack down on drug trafficking at US maritime borders, the DHS official went on.

As commandant, Fagan oversaw 42,000 active-duty, 7,000 reserve and 8,700 civilian personnel.