Sen. Richard Blumenthal says Coast Guard concealed results of rape, harassment investigation
HARTFORD, Conn. -- A Connecticut senator is demanding more information about the United States Coast Guard's investigation into rape and harassment at its own academy.
The Coast Guard is accused of intentionally and strategically hiding reports of sexual assaults at their cadet academy for years. They released some of their own internal documents this week, but Sen. Richard Blumenthal says even within the documents, the cover-up continues.
"We're gonna do everything we can to find the truth," Blumenthal said.
He's calling for an end to what he describes as a culture of concealment at the Coast Guard.
Blumenthal showed off some of the hundreds of documents released, with redactions, from the Coast Guard related to Operation Fouled Anchor.
Senators say that investigation found 62 substantiated instances of rape, sexual assault or harassment that either occurred at the Coast Guard's New London Academy or were committed by its cadets between 1988 and 2006.
The investigation was completed in 2018, but records released to Congress show Coast Guard leaders deliberately hid the findings for years.
"They wanted to avoid the embarrassment," Blumenthal said.
The senator says he wants the Coast Guard to release full, unredacted documents and better protect survivors of assault.
"All of us in Congress are absolutely intent on protecting the men and women who serve in the Coast Guard," he said.
Watch Tim McNicholas' report
Blumenthal says a Coast Guard leader even made a pros and cons list about whether to release the information. A handwritten note on that document reads, "Problem is one of the past."
"We wanna believe that the Coast Guard has ended this chapter or at least is closing it, and we want action not just words," he said.
Lawmakers say the Coast Guard eventually did brief Congress on Operation Failed Anchor last year, after CNN started asking questions.
"I was groped several times, sometimes with 30 laughing witnesses, and sexually harassed on a daily basis," former Coast Guard Academy member Caitlin Maro said.
Maro was one of several servicewomen who testified in a December congressional hearing about what they describe as the Coast Guard's pattern of silencing women in the academy as recently as this year.
"After I reluctantly reported my assaults, I was simply asked by my company commander, 'Is this worth investigating?'" Maro said. "The same company commander admitted that he didn't start an investigation because, quote, he figured that it happened on a date. 'You do have blonde hair, and you wear makeup.'"
Maro later said, "My main perpetrator is currently a lieutenant commander in the Coast Guard. He is thriving in a career that I had hoped for."
Blumenthal, who leads the subcommittee on investigations, wrote a letter to the Coast Guard seeking more information.
A Coast Guard spokesperson sent CBS New York the following statement:
"Sexual harassment and sexual assault have no place in the Coast Guard. The Service is working aggressively to prevent these and other abuses, hold members accountable, listen to and support victims and survivors, and strengthen the Service's culture and commitment to our core values of Honor, Respect, and Devotion to Duty. As the Commandant has testified, we regret not providing to Congress the 2020 report into investigations of prior sexual misconduct at the Coast Guard Academy. Congressional and Inspector General inquiries into the Coast Guard's handling of the investigations and the report continue, and the Commandant remains committed to transparency and cooperation with these inquiries. To date, the Coast Guard has provided thousands of pages to Congress and the Inspector General, including the 2018 document outlining options regarding disclosure of the report."
CBS New York's Ali Bauman spoke off-camera to Maro, who said the documents are proof that the highest levels of leadership in the Coast Guard deliberated over a simple matter of right and wrong and added, "You're taking on water, your crew is at risk. How do you fail to report this?"