Paul served as the 25th Commandant of the Coast Guard from 2014 until 2018. During his tenure as Commandant, the Coast Guard attained its highest appropriation in history to modernize its fleet and upgrade aging infrastructure while concurrently attaining four clean financial audit opinions – the only Armed Service to do so. Under his leadership, the Coast Guard has emerged as the gold standard for promoting maritime safety and security and environmental stewardship. Paul has held command at every level in the Coast Guard to include three Coast Guard cutters that deployed across the globe. In 2010, he served as the Federal On-Scene Coordinator during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill where he directed over 47,000 first responders, a flotilla of more than 6,700 vessels and over 120 aircraft.
Paul is a 1977 graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and attained masters degrees from Webster University in Management and the U.S. Naval War College in International Affairs an Strategic Studies. He is also a graduate of the executive seminar at the Asia Pacific Center for Strategic Studies and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government National Preparedness Leadership Seminar.
Paul currently serves on the advisory boards of Hawkeye 360 that utilizes spatial sensors for al domain awareness; Matson Navigation Company; New Fortress Energy; Windward AI; Climate Change and Security at the Wilson Center; Vice President of Feeding Hawaii togethe that serves over 13,000 residents experiencing food insecurity in Hawaii on a monthly basis; Hawaii Military Affairs Council; Navy League Honolulu Council board member; and as an elde in his local church. He is a frequent speaker and writer among the policy shaping think tanks in Washington, DC on topics ranging from climate change, cyber security, maritime security and executive leadership