Baldwin Demands Answers, Accountability From Coast Guard Following Disclosure of Decades-Long, Hidden Reports of Sexual Assault
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tammy
Baldwin (D-WI), Chair of the Subcommittee on Oceans, Fisheries, Climate
Change and Manufacturing, which oversees the Coast Guard, and Senator
Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce,
Science and Transportation, sent a letter
to the Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Linda Fagan, seeking
answers and accountability for the mishandling of a previously
undisclosed, years-long investigation into sexual assault allegations in
connection to the Coast Guard Academy. Within the last week, Senator
Baldwin’s office learned of these reports that had previously been
withheld from Congress and the public through the Commerce Committee’s
routine oversight role during a briefing from the Coast Guard.
“We
write to express our grave concern regarding the reports of rape,
sexual assault, and sexual harassment at the United States Coast Guard
Academy between 1988 and 2006 and the Coast Guard’s lack of action to
properly and timely investigate, prosecute, and report these criminal
acts,” wrote the senators in their letter. “We are also
concerned about the Coast Guard’s failure to disclose its investigation
that began in 2014 and ended in 2020, the withholding of which some
have described as intentional.”
According to Coast Guard
officials, in 2014, the Coast Guard established “Operation Fouled
Anchor” to investigate certain reports of sexual assault and sexual
violence during the years of 1988 to 2006. The Coast Guard indicated
that the “operation” identified 62 substantiated incidents of rape,
sexual assault and sexual harassment that occurred at the Academy, or by
Academy cadets. The letter recounts that the Coast Guard further
identified 42 individuals against whom there may have been substantiated
claims of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment through “Operation
Fouled Anchor,”yet it does not appear that the Coast Guard
appropriately investigated at the time the incidents were reported.
Further, according to information provided by the Coast Guard, a number
of those individuals continued to serve for decades without any
subsequent investigations into their conduct throughout their careers,
raising a number of questions about their conduct, their access to
sensitive information and their treatment of members in their commands.
The “operation” concluded in 2020 but was not disclosed to Congress or
the public.
“It is unclear how many other officers had
substantiated claims against them, were not disciplined, and remained in
positions of leadership or management,” the senators continued.
According
to the Coast Guard, the “operation” also uncovered Coast Guard
personnel, including Coast Guard Academy leaders, who failed to respond
to reports of rape, sexual assault and harassment. Despite the serious
nature of those findings, the Coast Guard chose not to further
investigate or discipline those leaders for their lack of action and
dereliction of duty.
“We understand from the Coast Guard that
the ‘operation’ revealed Coast Guard leaders had knowledge of, and in
some cases received formal or informal complaints or other disclosures
of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment yet did nothing” the senators wrote. “More
disturbingly, some of these leaders discouraged survivors from filing
formal complaints or otherwise disclosing their assaults.”
In
their letter, the senators request answers and documentation related to
the reports of crimes, subsequent investigations and Coast Guard
leadership decisions related to what was, and what was not, investigated
by the Coast Guard when the incidents occurred and during the
“operation.”
“We must resolve the past to build a better future for the Coast Guard, and in this case, that means pursuing full accountability for perpetrators and investing in meaningful support for survivors,” the letter concluded.
Read the full letter here.
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