Captain Tina Peña, U.S. Coast Guard, is a visiting fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. She most recently served as the chief of staff for the Seventh Coast Guard District (D7), where she oversaw all Coast Guard operations in the Southeast United States and the Caribbean basin, leading a combined workforce of more than nine thousand members. Prior to being selected as the D7 chief of staff, Peña commanded Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, from June 2019 to June 2022. There, she was responsible for law enforcement and search-and-rescue operations throughout the Caribbean basin. She also had the privilege of commanding Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans from 2016 to 2018 and serving as the aviation engineer at Coast Guard Air Station Miami from 2013 to 2016. Peña’s previous tours include Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City, NJ, where she served as the assistant aviation engineer and assisted in the stand-up of the National Capital Region’s Air Defense Facility in Washington, DC.

In 2010, she attended Purdue University with a follow-on assignment as CG-931’s Aviation Acquisitions liaison at the Aviation Logistics Center, the Coast Guard’s aviation depot maintenance facility. Peña also served one tour afloat as a deck watch officer assigned to the Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton, where she deployed to the Bering and Caribbean seas and supported law enforcement missions across the globe. She has served as an instructor pilot and aircraft commander in the H65 helicopter and conducted Rotary Wing Air Intercept missions in the National Capital Region. With more than 3,600 flight hours in H65 and H60 helicopters, Peña holds several FAA ratings, including rotary wing airline transport pilot. Peña received her commission from Officer Candidate School in December 1995 and earned her wings of gold from Navy Flight Training in December 1999. She holds a bachelor of science in business administration from the University of Florida and masters’ degrees in public administration from Troy University, industrial administration from Purdue University, and military strategic studies from the U.S. Air Force Air War College.