The U.S. Coast Guard is facing its largest readiness crisis since World War II, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Wednesday as she promised an overhaul of the service that she called the “point of the spear” in the nation's defense.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem delivered the keynote address at the 144th Commencement Exercise of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London on Wednesday, congratulating the 262 graduating cadets and outlining major changes coming to the service.

As U.S. Coast Guard Academy cadets and their families arrived on the New London campus in Connecticut Wednesday morning for graduation, protesters filled nearby McKinley Park to voice their opposition to the academy’s commencement speaker,