WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th June, 2023) The US Coast Guard Academy mishandled numerous allegations of sexual assault and other misconduct by declining to criminally investigate the accusations, CNN reported on Friday.
Coast Guard officials informed members of Congress about a secret probe launched in 2014, entitled Operation Fouled Anchor, after inquiries from CNN, which reviewed internal documents from the investigation.
Investigators determined that allegations of assault at the academy were handled as administrative violations instead of criminal matters, with punishments as minor as extra homework or lower class standings, the report said.
Consequently, the report added, some individuals who faced accusations rose to high positions in the Coast Guard and other US military branches.
Inversely, many victims who brought the allegations left the academy, and as such, careers in military service, according to the report.
The report also said the probe found the Coast Guard Academy was more concerned about its reputation than the alleged victims.
The conclusions of Operation Fouled Anchor were kept quiet by agency leaders, the report added, many of whom had experience working or studying with the alleged perpetrators.
The Coast Guard told US Senate Commerce Committee staff during briefings that the probe identified more than 60 substantiated cases of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment by cadets at the academy or that took place there, the report said.
The Coast Guard could not take action on nearly 40 cases over which they no longer had jurisdiction over the alleged perpetrators or criminal statutes had expired, although they pressured two of the individuals who faced accusations to retire, according to the report.
The probe found that the academy's leaders failed to adequately investigate allegations or hold alleged perpetrators accountable, the report said.
US Senators Maria Cantwell and Tammy Baldwin sent a letter on Friday to the Coast Guard to ask why the probe had been kept secret.
The senators also inquired as to whether the Coast Guard failed to use its authority to appropriately discipline individuals who were subject to the probe but remain in the service.
