The U.S. Coast Guard apologized on Friday for overlaying up scores of documented sexual assault and harassment circumstances that befell on the service’s academy, and failing to correctly examine or self-discipline these accused in dozens extra circumstances over a span of almost 20 years.
The character of the incidents, which befell between 1988 and 2006, was disclosed to the Senate Commerce, Justice and Science Committee final week throughout a casual briefing, in keeping with two Democratic senators who despatched a letter on Friday to the Coast Guard’s commandant, Adm. Linda L. Fagan, demanding extra particulars.
In line with Senators Maria Cantwell of Washington, the panel’s chairwoman, and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, an inner Coast Guard assessment known as “Operation Fouled Anchor” decided that 62 incidents of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment both befell on the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., or have been dedicated by cadets throughout these years.
These circumstances could solely be a part of the issue. In line with the letter, Coast Guard officers informed senators through the briefing that their inner inquiry had yielded one other 42 circumstances of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment that have been by no means correctly investigated. The letter mentioned officers additionally revealed what Ms. Cantwell and Ms. Baldwin known as a historical past of leaders who “discouraged survivors from submitting formal complaints or in any other case disclosing their assaults.”