ALAMEDA, Calif. — Coast Guard District 11 personnel hosted a change-of-command ceremony, Friday on Coast Guard Island.
Vice Adm. Andrew Tiongson, commander Coast Guard Pacific Area, presided over the ceremony, where Rear Adm. Joseph Buzzella relieved Rear Adm. Andrew Sugimoto as the commander of District 11.
Buzzella previously served as the J-7 Director of Force Development, United States Cyber Command. In this role, he enabled cyber domain warfighting readiness and superiority through leading the command’s joint force development mission to ensure collective and individual cyberspace training in response to national defense and operational priorities.
Buzzella started his Coast Guard career as a graduate of recruit company Bravo 123 at Coast Guard Enlisted Basic Training Center, Cape May, New Jersey. Upon graduation, Buzzella was assigned to Coast Guard Base Miami Beach as a Reservist. As a 1988 graduate of the Naval Academy Preparatory School and a 1992 graduate of the Coast Guard Academy with a Bachelor of Science degree in Management, Buzzella commissioned as an officer. Buzzella served aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutters Spencer and Vindicator prior to completing U.S. Naval Flight Training in Pensacola, Florida. He was designated Naval Aviator 23,901 and Coast Guard Aviator 3,293 in 1996.
As a Coast Guard aviator, Buzzella served at Coast Guard Air Stations Miami; Cape Cod, Massachusetts and San Francisco. During his career, he maintained dual airframe qualifications and flew the HH-65 Dolphin helicopter or the HU-25 Falcon Jet. Buzzella’s previous commands include Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City, Michigan and Sector/Air Station San Diego where he flew the MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and served as Captain of the Port of San Diego and led mission execution from the US-Mexico maritime border northward to Dana Point to include inland navigable lakes and the Colorado River. Buzzella also served as chief of staff at Coast Guard District 11 and Coast Guard Office of Emerging Policy.
Buzzella holds several degrees and numerous awards and recognitions. He hails from Miami and is married with three children.
Sugimoto will continue his Coast Guard career and remain on Coast Guard Island and become the deputy commander of Pacific Area working with Vice Adm. Tiongson.
Sugimoto was awarded his 3rd Legion of Merit for recognition of his leadership from June 2022 to July 2024. Under his leadership and oversight of 3.3 million square miles of ocean that included six Tier 1 ports, the Coast Guard was postured to meet maritime safety and security missions worldwide. Members of District 11 saved 893 lives, assisted 2,974 mariners in distress, protected $19 million of property, and interdicted 52.24 metric tons of cocaine worth $1.8 billion. Sugimoto executed the Commandant's Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing strategic plan through the historic high-seas inspections in the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Area. These unparallelled efforts resulted in Flag States de-registering 32 noncompliant fishing vessels and U.S. Treasury sanctions against two major foreign fishing companies, eight subsidiaries, and 157 fishing vessels. He fostered new partnerships with multiple nations and achieved the first cutter visit to Peru in over a decade, extending U.S. reach more than 1,000 miles south of the Equator.