Home Committee on Oversight and Accountability has launched an interim employees memorandum offering an replace on the Committee’s ongoing investigation into the USA Coast Guard (USCG) following allegations of pervasive sexual assault and misconduct.
The memorandum particulars how the USCG hid “Operation Fouled Anchor” from Congress, failed to handle each historic and chronic sexual misconduct on the USCG Academy, and uncared for to assist victims and maintain perpetrators accountable.
Key Takeaways from the Interim Memorandum:
USCG management made a cognizant determination to withhold Operation Fouled Anchor and different associated misconduct evaluations from Congress and the general public. Former USCG Commandant Karl Schultz admitted in a transcribed interview with Committee investigators that he personally made the choice to withhold Operation Fouled Anchor and different associated misconduct evaluations from Congress and the general public.
Former USCG Academy management didn’t notify the correct authorities and refused to comply with USCG coverage when coping with situations of sexual assault and misconduct. Former USCG Investigative Service (CGIS) Director, Michael Berkow, testified that almost all circumstances investigated beneath Operation Fouled Anchor weren’t correctly dealt with after they initially got here to mild. He additionally indicated that paperwork and data associated to misconduct weren’t correctly saved by the USCG Academy.
The USCG Academy steadily declined to inform CGIS, as required, and as an alternative improperly dealt with situations of misconduct internally. When CGIS was notified of misconduct, USCG Academy management ignored USCG insurance policies and took actions throughout ongoing investigations, limiting accountability.
U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Providers was not a totally functioning legislation enforcement company on the time of the assaults investigated in Operation Fouled Anchor. CGIS was not a correctly functioning legislation enforcement company and lacked enough sources to conduct thorough investigations in the course of the interval investigated by Operation Fouled Anchor.
In December 2023, Home Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Subcommittee on Nationwide Safety, the Border, and Overseas Affairs Chairman Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) opened a probe into the USCG’s mishandling of significant misconduct, together with racism, hazing, discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape, and the withholding of inner investigations into these offenses from Congress and the general public. The Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) and USCG have obstructed the investigation and haven’t supplied fulsome Reponses and paperwork pursuant to the committee’s request. This lack of compliance led the Committee to hunt info from further sources, together with a rating of whistleblowers and several other former USCG senior leaders. In the middle of the investigation, the Committee performed transcribed interviews with a number of former senior leaders of the USCG.
Learn the total memorandum HERE.
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