A beforehand undisclosed investigation revealed that the U.S. Coast Guard didn’t appropriately evaluate, prosecute and report circumstances of sexual assault on the service’s Connecticut academy for years whereas among the accused rose up the ranks, based on two U.S. senators who on Friday demanded paperwork and data regarding the probe.
The Coast Guard informally briefed Senate employees this month on “Operation Fouled Anchor,” an inside investigation that ran from 2014 to 2020. It recognized 62 substantiated incidents of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment from 1988 and 2006 that occurred on the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., or by academy cadets.
Democratic Sens. Maria Cantwell of Washington and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin mentioned the investigation was not beforehand disclosed to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which has oversight of the Coast Guard.
“This data is disturbing,” they wrote in a letter dated Friday to Adm. Linda L. Fagan, commandant of the Coast Guard.
They mentioned the committee is searching for further data “to find out if the Coast Guard complied with the legislation and to tell potential legislative actions.”
In addition to all associated documentation, they’re searching for solutions to questions, together with whether or not any people with substantiated claims are actually employed by the Division of Homeland Safety, together with the Coast Guard, and whether or not they have safety clearances.
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The Coast Guard Academy referred requests for remark to the Coast Guard. A message was left searching for remark.
The senators mentioned within the letter that they had been advised that 42 people might have had substantiated claims made towards them, “but it doesn’t seem that the Coast Guard appropriately investigated on the time the incidents had been reported.”
The Coast Guard investigation additionally discovered that academy leaders failed to reply to stories of rape, sexual assault and harassment, and the Coast Guard selected to not examine or self-discipline these leaders, the senators mentioned.
Two officers accused of misconduct had been allowed to retire as commanders and at the moment have pension and veteran’s advantages, the senators mentioned. Each folks, the senators mentioned, had been confirmed by the Senate at the least as soon as in the course of the course of the investigation.
“The Committee was not notified that the officers had been below investigation when the Coast Guard supplied the promotion lists to the Senate ensuing of their affirmation,” they wrote. “It’s unclear what number of different officers had substantiated claims towards them, weren’t disciplined, and remained in positions of management or administration.”
Federal officers are conscious that undesirable sexual contact has been a problem on the elite academy. A 2019 Pentagon survey discovered virtually half of feminine cadets mentioned they had been sexually harassed and about one in eight reported experiencing undesirable sexual contact. Nearly 20% of male cadets reported experiencing sexual harassment.
Supply: www.latimes.com