Media Advisory: Coast Guard scheduled to host change of command ceremony in San Diego

united states coast guard 

News Release  

U.S. Coast Guard 11th District PA Detachment San Diego
Contact: Coast Guard PA Detachment San Diego
Office: (619) 278-7025
After Hours: (619) 252-1304
PA Detachment San Diego online newsroom

Coast Guard scheduled to host change of command ceremony in San Diego

Editors' Note: Media attending this event are requested to RSVP with Coast Guard Public Affairs Detachment San Diego personnel at (619) 252-1304. All media must have government-issued identification and media credentials to gain access to Sector San Diego. Please arrive by 9:30 a.m., Wednesday, to attend the commissioning.

WHO: Rear Adm. Peter Gautier, the 11th Coast Guard District commander, Capt. Joseph R. Buzzella, the outgoing Coast Guard Sector San Diego commander, Capt. Timothy J. Barelli, the incoming Coast Guard Sector San Diego commander.

WHAT: The Coast Guard is scheduled to host a change of command ceremony for Sector San Diego.

WHEN: Wednesday at 10:00 a.m.

WHERE: Coast Guard Sector San Diego at 2710 N. Harbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92101

SAN DIEGO – The Coast Guard is scheduled to welcome the new Sector San Diego commander during a change of command ceremony in San Diego, Wednesday.

Rear Adm. Peter Gautier, the 11th Coast Guard District commander, will preside over the time-honored military tradition that represents a formal transfer of authority and responsibility for a unit from one commanding or flag officer to another.

Capt. Timothy J. Barelli, the incoming Sector San Diego commander, is arriving from Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, D.C. where he served as the deputy director of emerging policy. He was responsible for developing service-wide strategy and advising the Commandant and senior leaders on major issues. Of particular note, he crafted the Coast Guard’s Strategic Plan for 2018-2022 and the Maritime Commerce Strategic Outlook - the Service’s 10-year strategy to promote $4.6 trillion in annual maritime commerce and protect and modernize the nation’s critical maritime infrastructure.

Barelli’s previous assignments include executive officer at Coast Guard Air Station San Francisco, aeronautical engineer officer at Coast Guard Air Station Houston, Coast Guard Air Station Savannah, Georgia, and the Coast Guard Cutter Resolute homeported in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Barelli attended the National War College for study on national security strategy, foreign policy and international relations with added focus on Southeast Asia, to include authoring and defending a U.S. strategy for Indonesia. Barelli is a 1996 graduate of the Coast Guard Academy and a graduate of the Navy Flight School where he earned his naval aviator “wings of gold.” He holds master’s degrees from The National War College, Colorado School of Mines, and the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. In 2018, Captain Barelli was selected for the DHS Executive Leaders Program at the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security, a program to develop policies to defeat terrorism.

Since 2016, Capt. Joseph Buzzella has served as sector commander and Captain of the Port of San Diego. In this role, he served as the senior Coast Guard officer in the Southwest region of the United States responsible for leading operations to ensure maritime safety, security, law enforcement and environmental protection covering from the U.S. - Mexico Maritime Border northward to Dana Point, California, and east to the Colorado River and inland navigable lakes of Arizona and southern areas of Utah and Nevada.

Buzzella will be assuming the duties of chief of staff for the 11th Coast Guard District in Alameda, California.

Coast Guard Sector San Diego began as a Coast Guard Air Patrol detachment on May 4, 1934, for the purpose of preventing smuggling across the U.S. - Mexico border. The primary mission soon expanded to include saving life and property as patrolling aircraft were increasingly being diverted for search and rescue missions offshore. Sector San Diego was established in July 2004, combining three separate commands, Activities San Diego, Marine Safety Office San Diego and Air Station San Diego, into a single command performing 10 of the 11 statutory Coast Guard missions.

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