Transcripts For CSPAN Whistleblowers 20240706

This hearing of the subcommittee on investigations will come to order. Welcome, everyone. Thank you for being here. My colleagues who are here especially the witnesses who have joined us. This hearing is about a culture of cover up. Its a culture of cover up that the coast guard has spawned and sustained for decades. It has discouraged and deterred victims and survivors of sexual abuse from coming forward. It has denied them justice and it has failed to protect them from retaliation and reprisal when they have stood up and spoken out. It has denied them justice and it has failed to protect them from ret for years, this culture enabled Sexual Misconduct to occur despite evidence of widespread, unaddressed and egregious violations of basic norms. We want to make sure that there is not only transparency but also accountability going forward. This culture has continued to refuse accountability. The type of accountability that comes from naming names and Holding Wrongdoers Accountable. This culture has continued to refuse accountability. The type of accountability that comes from naming names and Holding Wrongdoers Accountable. It is the type of accountability that requires full cooperation with the subcommittee inquiry which so far the coast guard has failed to fully do. As we will hear today, its a culture that has all too often victimized survivors twice. First, when they are assaulted or harassed and later when the leaders in command have failed to hold the perpetrators fully accountable. It is a culture that has fostered fear. Fear of coming forward, fear that lives would be destroyed. Fear that all too often has been proven right. This is not just about foul danger. Its about lost anchor. Its about a coast guard that has lost its way in justice for women who are victims and survivors of Sexual Assault. Its about a coast guard that has abandoned its moral compass and lost its ethical sonar. We are here because the coast guard has continued this problem. We know that the culture can and must be fixed. This past summer we learned that the coast guard failed to disclose to congress a multi year internal investigation into dozens of instances of Sexual Assault at the academy that had been reported but not adequately investigated or otherwise addressed. That investigation known as fouled anchor looked at 102 instances of rape or Sexual Assault from the 90s through 2006 ultimately identifying 43 perpetrators with a total of 63 victims. Yet, that investigation failed to even scratch the surface. The majority of our witnesses here today will talk about violations of their rights. Sexual assault that occurred outside of that. So it was not covered by operation foul danger. The investigation found that the academy had previously been aware of allegations against 30 of those 43 alleged perpetrators, but that only five had been reported to Law Enforcement at the time. The report from this investigation concluded that the Academy Leadership who oversaw these cases did not, and i quote, instill a culture intolerant of any form of Sexual Misconduct. He did not promote and maintain a climate conducive to reporting incidents of Sexual Assault and they did not adequately investigate alleged offenses as serious criminal matters and hold perpetrators appropriately accountable. This subcommittee opened the bipartisan inquiry soon after operation fouled anchor was disclosed. The inquiry which is ongoing has already found that operation fouled anchor failed to address Sexual Misconduct in a vast number of cases. We have heard accounts from numerous individuals with disturbing personal stories. Gripping, painful stories of Sexual Assault and harassment at the Coast Guard Academy and in the coast guard. Those include both men and women and they span nearly 5 decades of coast guard alumni and retirees. Four of these brave individuals are here with us today. On behalf of myself and all of my colleagues, i want to thank each of you for being here. I want to thank each of you for your courage and tenacity in coming forward. The stories we are going to hear today show how the Coast Guard Academy fostered that environment where assault and harassment not only persisted, but they fueled the culture of cover up were survivors who did come forward were not treated with the seriousness and respect they deserved. I want to share part of one, just one individual story from a former cadet who is not here today but is one of numerous accounts that the subcommittee has received in recent weeks. We will make some of them part of this record. This woman who is a constituent was assaulted twice in her first year of the academy but did not disclose the us assault is got these results to anyone for decades, including members of her family. I am quoting, the rumors that exist about of the girls that reported assaults were awful and they eventually left the service because they were not taken seriously. In some cases they were blamed. I hit the assaults from everyone that i knew including my family and closest friends. This is a woman who chose the academy, a woman who was committed to Public Service and chose to serve her country. Because of what she experienced she decided to forgo a lifelong career in the coast guard. Our nation is worse off for it. The stories we have heard from survivors that we are going to hear from our Witnesses Today are echoed by the coast guards own data, the 2022 survey of cadets revealed that nearly 30 of female cadets experienced unwanted Sexual Conduct and contact since arriving at the academy. That means that for every four female cadets, one or more has experienced unwanted sexual contacts. That same survey found that only 15 of female survivors reported their assault and half of those who did experienced retaliation. More than half of female cadets surveyed reported experiencing Sexual Harassment in the last year. I am encouraged that the coast guard is ready to take this problem seriously. The coast guard recently released the results of a 90 day accountability and transparency review ordered after operation fouled anchor was disclosed. This includes recommendations aimed at addressing the deeply rooted cultural issues within the coast guard. We support these efforts, and i believe them to be a positive first step. Let me be very clear. There is no accountability in the report. There is no naming of names. There is no reason given for the 3 1 2 year delay between completion of operation fouled anchor and its disclosure to congress. The report was concealed, hidden, and withheld from the United States congress. This 90 day review with no way provides accountability. The coast guards Accountability Task force did not recommend any steps to hold accountable past perpetrators, or generations of coast guard leaders who oversaw and enabled the culture of misconduct to build up and enabled the cover up. Accountability is essential to ensure justice for victims and survivors. There is no deterrence without accountability. Perpetrators must know that their actions will be punished. And that the survivors and victims will be protected. The coast guard also has to do more to fully cooperate with the subcommittee investigation and produce documents we have requested in order to reveal the full scope of the culture of cover up that has existed on their watch. While we are encouraged that the coast guard has produced some records, we have yet to receive a single internal email related to the decision of whether or not to disclose the report on operation fouled anchor. Not one internal email disclosed so far. These critical documents must be provided without further delay. Let me just say finally, while this is primarily focused on the coast guard and specifically the academy, we know that these issues are not limited to the coast guard or the Coast Guard Academy, the culture of cover up has inevitably bled from the ranks of the academy to the coast guard itself. These problems persist in other military services and we need to read all of our military of Sexual Assault and harassment. The coast guard has a long and storied history of service to our nation. It is vital to domestic safety and National Defense. I have been a strong supporter of the coast guard. Strong supporter of the academy. Strong supporter of the museum that will tell the story of the coast guard. The strongest supporters of the coast guard out of be the most determined to rid it of this scorching scourge. I hope that this hearing and the others that will follow it in the investigation will help in that effort. I will turn it over. Thank you. There is not much more i can add to what you have already said. It is beyond unfortunate that we have to have this hearing, but this hearing is imperative. I will just ask that my own Opening Statement be entered into the record. Reading through the testimony, going through the briefing here, it is outrageous what you have had to endure. I appreciate your courage coming forward. It is an obvious lack of leadership. The culture of cover up is pervasive to have allowed this to continue for decades shows the extent of the problem. This committee is not going to solve the problem. It has to be solved in these services themselves and the government agencies. This is the subcommittee investigation. We should be the premier investigatory and oversight body of the senate. I agree with senator blumenthal when he said that the coast guard needs to do more to cooperate. We have gotten some records in response to the general letter we sent. Im glad you mentioned the fact that we have not gotten an email talking about the internal discussion of why they decided to withhold the results of the report for 3 1 2 years. By the way, that was not their decision after 3 1 2 years to give it to congress. Fortunately we had cnn, a news investigation that was inquisitive enough to do the investigative reporting and review it. They did not complete them come clean on their own. This was exposed and they came clean prior to that. What i am hoping he will do, mr. Chairman, is if they do not respond on time, theres no reason they cant start with production documents. Its not that hard to go into the emails and produce some of these documents in terms of what communication resulted in this coverup. So what im saying is they do not produce those documents at least begin the production of those critical emails on the date we have given them i will support you in issuing the subpoena. We will certainly take that action if necessary. I would like to take this moment, i dont get a lot of opportunities to expand a little bit. You talked about the culture of coverup. Thats not just in the coast guard. Its also the department of defense. It is also throughout federal agencies. Mr. Chairman, i have written you some lengthy letters over the weekend. I just want to talk to those issues. One, the letter is requesting the issue of subpoenas to hhs on the fact that they have not been responding to my investigation requests as relates to the coverup of the creation of the for example, Anthony Faucis funding of the wuhan lab. They have provided this to a freedom of information request. Congress is not subject to those reactions. We know that the pages exist. As an accommodation we said we want to see these unredacted. They did not give them to us. But they did allow was over the course of many months they allowed us to go into a secure room and they provide those documents. We could not take copies. We could take notes. We asked for 400 pages. We have been able to review 350. We are down to the last 50 pages. This has been over a year. This is what they have produced to us so far. I dont know about you, but this makes me pretty curious about what hhs is covering up in emails between Anthony Fauci as it relates to his funding of the wuhan lab. I am asking you to issue a subpoena to hhs to give these and other documents i have requested about the function research and coverup in terms of their funding. The other point i want to make, another issue that has been near and dear to my heart is vaccines and the lack of transparency of the agencies as related to vaccine injuries and their analysis of the reports. They had what they called a procedure that they were going to do proportional reporting ratios or in pure goal analysis. We talked about this openly before they got the emergency use authorization on the vaccines. On occasion they say they did not do it then they admitted they have done it. For a couple of years i have been asking them to give me their own analysis of what they are seeing in terms of safety signals from the adverse event reporting system. This is information that the public has a right to know. We fund these agencies. They have these Surveillance Systems on vaccines that the American People in order to have informed consent ought to know. A few little figures here, to date, worldwide deaths associated with the Covid Vaccine were up to 36,726 worldwide. What is notable about that is 8976, 24 are zero, one, two following vaccination. That is a correlation that concerns me. I cannot understand why it is not concerning the fda and cdc. The other problem is it dramatically understates the number of adverse events. Often times i get the push back that we have given billions of these doses so of course any medical intervention is going to have problems. There is risks associated with everything. If you take a look at deaths per million does. It is not that easy because we do not have doses compared to flu vaccine. There have been 25. 5 deaths per million doses of the Covid Vaccine. Compare that to the flu vaccine assuming 70 of the distributed vaccines actually injected, there is. 46 deaths per million doses. That is a 55 fold increase deaths per million doses with the Covid Vaccine versus the flu vaccine. 55 fold increase. This ought to concern the fda and cdc. I have written close to 60 oversight letters out of things i have gotten. Virtually no response on any of these things. It is about time we start to subpoena them at a minimum for their analysis of what the system is telling them. I am asking you to use this subcommittee, the premier oversight Investigatory Committee of the u. S. Senate to start getting these federal Health Agencies to be transparent because there is a culture of coverup not only in the coast guard but throughout federal government that unfortunately we have allowed the oversight to atrophy over time because federal agencies realize we just dont enforce the Constitutional Authority to do so so again switching back to this hearing i truly appreciate you coming forward and telling your stories. They are hard to read and they are hard to listen to but they are important stories for the American People to hear the truth because the only way there is going to be accountability here is through exposure of the truth. The only way you get exposure of the truth is if we get these documents and these agencies stop covering up. Thank you for appearing here. I am not looking forward to the testimony because i have read it. It will be hard to listen to. You should not have had to endure this but i appreciate you coming forward and we will listen to your testimony. Thank you for your comment. As we discussed and i have read your letters from the weekend, we want to work with you and discuss your concerns a little bit later. I am going to introduce the witnesses that will swear you in and hear your testimony of the questions. Afterward i think probably seven grounds, we are very fortunate to have with us first commander jennifer young. To commander graduated from the Coast Guard Academy in 1981, part of the second class of women to graduate from the academy. Commander young served in the coast guard for more than 20 years where she served in a variety of positions including as the second woman to command a United States combatant. Since retirement, amanda young has held leadership commissions in Higher Education and served as a member of the Advisory Board of women in the coast guard. Commander young is also a leader of coast is thriving together, an independent action team of volunteer coast guard veterans serving survivors of military sexual and physical trauma. Today commander young will share her personal experiences at the Coast Guard Academy and the coast guard. Caitlin e merrill. Caitlin is a former member of the Coast Guard Academy class of 2008. She was honorably discharged from the coast guard after completing one semester. She graduated from Roanoke University with a ba in Political Science and has completed horse work toward a masters in American History from rutgers university. During her studies she served as an intern in the house of representatives and with the Senate Commerce committee. Misses merrill mrs. Merrow now lives in tennessee with her husband and children. Lieutenant melissa mccafferty. Lieutenant mccafferty is a 2011 graduate of the Coast Guard Academy. She served as director of operations and Deputy Director of operations and the coast guard response to hurricanes america maria, and carmen. She is a tillman and truman scholar. She received a masters in applied economics from Johns Hopkins university and is a 2023 graduate of Georgetown University law center. Lieutenant mccafferty is currently in private practice in washington, d. C. And will share her personal experiences as well. We have cadet home , a member of the Coast Guard Academy class of 2024. For the past two years she has served as the president of cadets against Sexual Assault, a student run organization that provides resources for her peers who have experienced Sexual Assault and advocates for improved policies and procedures. Colonel lori fenner, United States air force retired. Colonel fenner is the director of Government Relations at the Service Womens Action Network and organization advocating for the needs of over 350,000 servicewomen and 2 million Women Veterans in the United States. Colonel fenner served in the u. S. Air force for 26 years and commanded units at various levels. After retiring she worked on capitol hill leading research teams, published and edited work on women and minorities in the military. Colonel fenner holds a phd and masters degree in history for the university of michigan and a masters in National Security strategy from the national war college. Her expertise will help us understand how military culture policies in the coast guard and elsewhere can foster a culture of coverup that is tolerant of Sexual Assault and harassment. If you will please rise and raise your right hand i will swear you in. Do you swear that the testimony you give today is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god. Thank you. Why dont we go left to right. If you would please begin. Yes, sir. Good morning, senator blumenthal, Ranking Member johnson and members of the committee. I entered as the second class of women in 1977 and graduated in 1981. I had a 20 year career with the coast guard and retired as the Commanding Officer of the cutter thoughtless. Afterwards it became a maritime professor. Today i am a leadership coach, consultant, and trainer. I am testifying because i love the academy and the coast guard. I cherish and appreciate the training, education, and lifetime of opportunities the academy and the coast guard provided me. I bleed coast guard blue. I am not testifying to damage the coast guard or the academy. I am doing so to make it better. My first assault while in the Coast Guards Service happened in the spring of 1978 during an academy tradition known as the latenight two cadets broke down my roommates and i walked door, entered our room and jumped on top of us. We were paralyzed with fear. At some point and for whatever reason the cadet on top of me got up. I am not sure why. He then pulled his classmate of my roommate and they both left us, closing the door behind them. Several days later the damage to the door was noticed by the inspecting officer. Without any questions about how the door was damaged, my roommate and i were given demerits for destruction of government property. I did not report this assault because i did not believe my experience would be taken seriously. How could i when i, not my attacker, received punishment after the assault . Unfortunately, this was not my only experience with Sexual Misconduct while in the coast guard. After graduation i faced Sexual Harassment on two separate ships. The emotional on mental consequences of which almost cost me my career. Throughout my 20 year career, the service has repeatedly attempted to assure me that it has improved its systems and policies to better protect its own. However, our testimony, the operation fouled anchor report, and the stories you have heard throughout the years all indicate that the coast guard has simply not done enough. Sitting in front of me is a stack of studies and reports beginning with the 2016 report to congress and ending with admiral fagans directed actions. It has not been enough. The worlds greatest coast guard letdown all the women and men who have survived Sexual Assault and trauma for the past 47 years and 50 years since women first entered the service. This status quo can no longer continue. My written testimony includes several recommendations. They range from limiting Alcohol Consumption at the academy to improving veteran Record Management so coast guard survivors can receive disability compensation. They include improvements to the academys board of trustees and improved academy dormitory supervision. However, the recommendation that means the most to me is accountability. Throughout the operation fouled anchor, coast guard leadership has insisted on focusing on the future. As a member of the class of 81, i say until the coast guard acknowledges the breadth and seriousness of what has happened which has been a systemic problem that has impacted the very culture of the institution, we cannot move forward and take the steps necessary to effect meaningful change. A cultural transformation of the academy and the coast guard must occur so that surviving is no longer the norm and thriving is. Thank you. Thank you very much, commander young. Firstclass cadet hallstrom. Good morning, chairman blumenthal, Ranking Member johnson, and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity for me to speak publicly today. I am firstclass cadet keira holmstrup. While i respect and empathize with my fellow panelists here today, i want to be clear that their statements are their own and i do not necessarily endorse all that they have to say. These are also my views and not the view of the coast guard or the Coast Guard Academy. I hope to share my story today to exemplify the progress that our Academy Still must make and i hope to humanize the many statistics on Sexual Assault. We have become all too comfortable hearing them. It has been a privilege to attend the Coast Guard Academy. I am grateful to all those along the way who have helped me find my place within the academy and the coast guard. My story begins my second week as a cadet during my freshman year. I had gotten close to a classmate in the same training platoon during the summer. What i thought was an innocent ice cream date on campus turned into a Sexual Assault that is haunted me ever since. We are always told that you just have to say no. No to him was an invitation to try again. I was 19. What i did not know then was that after making an unrestricted report out of fear for my safety i would be thrown into the darkest year of my life. The process of my case was plagued by unenforced no contact orders, a disconnect between myself and my special Victim Counsel and false hope of the perpetrator being removed from campus. My classmates stopped talking to me as as i spiraled into a d depression. We always talk about how trauma stems from the assault, but the reporting system continues to revictimize and causes trauma of its own. From my time as the president of cadets against Sexual Assault, i have seen this process continue to revictimize those who courageously come forward and force others to hide in the shadows until graduation. With our new coast guard Academy Leadership, there has been some progress made. Without your help the academy cannot continue to progress within the bounds that have been set by congress. This committee may not be able to solve Sexual Assault, but you can solve some of the barriers that we face. Today i come with recommendations on how together we can better the reporting system for cadets. One, cadets who are kicked out of nonjudicial punishment for assault or Sexual Harassment should not be allowed to enlist in any service. Two, no contact orders must be enforced on campus through cadet regulations or administrative gains for the safety of all involved. Three, we must readdress section 539 of the National Defense authorization act of 2021, that covered the separation of alleged victims and alleged perpetrators with stakeholders and cadets from the u. S. Coast Guard Academy in order to better our environment. Four, special Victims Counsel must be afforded the opportunity to review the entirety of the case file for the clients in order to give them the best counsel. Furthermore, svcs should not be allowed to be first year lawyers and musthave expense in a different well realm of the coast guard before working with victims. Five, the u. S. Coast Guard Academy must adopt the Safety Report policy that each Service Academy follows. Despite seeing the worst of the coast guard, i have also been lucky enough to experience the coast guard at its best through mentors, friends and classmates. Truly, i am excited for the future coast guard that my class will serve in come may. Thank you. Thank you very, very much misses narrow. Morning senator blumenthal, Ranking Member johnson and distinguish members of the subcommittee. I want to thank you senator blumenthal for inviting me here today. I have been telling my story publicly for 17 years now. I want to thank you for your interest in this critical issue. I told my story to your colleagues in the u. S. House representatives back in 2006 and i am praying today is the day Congress Takes action. I entered the academy in june 2004 and had no choice to leave after one semester of study as my physical safety was at stake. The open secret that you are privy to is that the academy and the coast guard at large is fraught with cronyism, power addicts, and abusers. My written testimony contains the details of my experience while a freshman at the academy. The sort of my story is that i was groped several times, sometimes with 30 laughing witnesses, and sexually harassed on a daily basis. The environment was so consuming that i had to take my School Assignments down to the baseball dugouts in the dark with a flashlight. After i reluctantly reported my insults i was simply asked by my Company Commander, is this worth investigating . I told him , i dont know. It was then that the matter was dropped. In a later meeting after an investigation was forced, the same Company Commander admitted that he did not start an investigation because quote, he figured that it happened on a date. You do have blonde hair and you wear makeup. Having no one to turn to, no one to help me, i decided to voluntarily resign in february 2005 after it became apparent that my career in the coast guard was over before it even began. My reputation was destroyed, the trust that existed between me and my shipmates was gone. Transparency and accountability in the u. S. Coast guard and the academy has never existed, and it still does not exist today. I am here to tell you that must change. To Start Operation failed anchor needs to be made public. Accountability cannot happen until there is transparency. My personal request for the operation filed anger report was denied over the summer. It was then i went directly to the Coast Guard Academy itself for my own personal records. The Current Assistant, dont of cadets commander eric told me to submit a for your request for my personal documentation regarding my Sexual Assault. That is something that i am entitled to under the privacy act of 1974. Imagine that, a for your request for my own documents. I wonder what they are hiding in there. As for accountability, the highest Ranking Member of the coast guard, admiral linda fagan told your colleagues, and in july all victims are listed in the filed anger report were notified. Im here to tell you that is a lie. I was never contacted by the coast guard and i found out about my inclusion in operation filed anger from a writer at cnn in june 2023. I am the great, great, great granddaughter of a drummer who led Union Soldiers into battle at both antietam and gettysburg. I am the great, great granddaughter of a navy sailor who died on the battleship maine. There are others that served on both fronts in both world wars i wanted to serve my country as they did admiral fagan also told your colleagues in all cases where the coast guard had jurisdiction action was taken on perpetrators. Senators, my main perpetrator is currently a Lieutenant Commander in the coast guard. He is driving in a career that i had hoped for. Thank you very much misses maro. Lieutenant mccaffrey. Senator blumenthal, Ranking Member johnson and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to speak with you my name is Melissa Mccaffrey and i am he retired lieutenant at the u. S. Coast guard. At the foot of the coast guard is a monument with these words inscribe, honor, respect, devotion to duty. On its best days any coast guard members live and breathe these values. Unfortunately many do not. While a freshman at the academy i expense my first Sexual Assault. I was befriended by a upper class male cadet who invited me to go to new york city and having grown up in a small village of michigan, i had never been to the big apple so i agreed. He told me he booked separate hotel rooms. When i arrived i discovered only one. It was then that i realized this person was not my friend. Over the course of three days he repeatedly raped me and that room. When i returned to the academy i told no one i feared if i reported this incident i would face discipline. My fears were not unfounded. I later witnessed the restriction of a classmate who is brave enough to report a rape. To add insult to injury Senior Leaders permitted herto graduate and received his commission and to my knowledge he is still serving. My second Sexual Assault occurred in my third year at the academy. I was asleep in my room when an intoxicated classmate broken, climbed into my bed and began undoing his shorts. Thankfully i was able to stop him. I escorted my classmate to his room to put him to bed and i never spoke of the incident. My experiences are not isolated events. There are hundreds of similar stories within the academy and throughout the fleet involving officers and enlisted members alike. As a result, there exists a corrosive pattern of Sexual Assault, harassment, abuse, bullying, intimidation and retaliation area this is insidious. This is pervasive. This is continuing to this day. Throughout my career i have personally experienced and observed behavior that leads me to this tragic can conclusion. There is an incredibly strong correlation between our views of culture and the continued failure by coast guard Senior Leaders to hold themselves and others accountable from abhorrent and at times criminal behavior. Whats worse, i have witnessed the harassment, bullying and retaliation against coast guard members who have shown the integrity to speak up. After exercising integrity they are often forced out of the organization. For some, including myself, when the abuse becomes so unrelenting, so omnipresent, and so insufferable we seek relief in suicide. I survived my attempt, tragically, many, many of my shipmates did not. My purpose today is to bear witness to these problems through my own experiences and observations and to lend my voice to those who have been silenced. It is an abject failure of integrity that Senior Leaders have concealed, condoned and otherwise enabled this behavior to thrive it is an abject failure of leadership that they have refused to address the systemic nature of this abuse. It is an absolute abject failure of character that they have continued to prioritize loyalty to themselves and to each other over that of our organization and people. Through their continued failure to hold perpetrators accountable for their actions, Senior Leaders have advocated their authority under the uniform code of military justice. They have failed to uphold congressional and statutory mandates, and they have violated their oaths office. I have repeatedly witnessed Senior Leaders dismiss substantiated reports of harassment, assault, abuse, and retaliation in order to shield their fellow officer and friends from any form of discipline. As evidence of this i direct your attention to the several failed attempts by Senior Leaders to bury these damaging reports. Perhaps the most visible example of this failure is the well documented case of former Academy Department head glenn so macy. As document it in the news, not only did Senior Leaders overturn prosecutorial recommendation from lawyers, they also knowingly concealed his behavior and falsely attested to his character by writing him a letter of recommendation. These actions enable him, a known sexual predator to obtain possession positions at two civilian colleges, first as a provost and then president unfortunately i count as one of his many victims and refusing to acknowledge and address the past, Senior Leaders have implicitly condemned the future and make no mistake, i love this organization i have spent half of my life fulfilling the Mission Working for and its people. My test my today brings me no joy. That said, joy shall never eclipse integrity. While good people exist in our organization. They are almost always outranked and overruled the bad. In fulfilling our charge to protect humanity and to defend the nation, coast guard Senior Leaders have failed to protect us against the worst of all enemies, ourselves. And you. Thank you lieutenant mccafferty. Colonel fetter. Good morning senator blumenthal, senator johnson, senator butler. Thank you for inviting swan to speak with you today. As you mentioned we represent very many active duty Women Veterans especially working against Sexual Assault and for a culture change. As you mentioned i served in the air force, mostly in intelligence but i taught two tours at the air force academy. My phd is in military history but part of my focus was women in the military. I am honored to be sitting here with these with these women. I am okay. It is unbelievable, but it is so important that you have them here today because it emphasizes this is not about policy and legislation. It is about real people. People who we care about and who are the foundation of the mission of safety and National Security for our people for those of us who are older , this is like groundhog day. Unfortunately something happens. Fortunately it might come to our attention, then we have a lot of energy, policy, legislation, and then we do what we call fire and forget. We think we have solved the problem, but as you pointed out and as these ladies have pointed out, these are persistent cultural problems that will continue. They will continue to emerge in the public eye. Just because it is not in the news every day, does not mean its not happening every day. Us doing the same thing over and over again, that stack of reports, that is not going to solve the problem. Whats missing . My longer testimony has other suggestions. What we can say is what you started today and im glad that you will continue, sustained and intense oversight. Dont fire and forget with the coast guard, with the complexities of authorities and responsibilities, this will be a whole of government, whole of congress attempted oversight between committees and on both sides of capitol hill. Dhs and dod must Work Together, sometimes they do and inexplicably sometimes they dont. It has to be from top to bottom and i am so glad that the new leadership at the Coast Guard Academy is reenergizing the board of visitors. Title 14 section 701 about cooperation can be readdressed and military Service Organizations and veteran Service Organizations stand by to help you or your this must be a combined effort at oversight. Admiral fagan asked for resources. Sometimes the Services Work together and sometimes they are not they should Work Together in military Justice Reform in the os tc and svp establishment and the oversight that they are doing can be combined. The Coast Guard Academy and the Merchant Marine Academy should be included in dod every two year report. Backwoods does entertain the coast guard sometimes but in the visits they do not go to the Coast Guard Academy. That should be started. Independent investigations are very important. Reporting and accountability are a circular problem. If there is not public naming and shaming it will not come about three it it is not just about the perpetrators as everyone has said, it is about the leaders. We must force ourselves into anticipatory leadership. You cannot just walk into a unit and be ignorant and be shocked that gambling is going on dont be shocked, dont wait until it hits you in the face, do not do one more commanders call we talk about zerotolerance, dont force one more powerpoint set of slides for training, we must be held accountable and that will encourage reporting. If you do not have accountability you do not have reporting, if you dont have reporting you do not have accountability. I would also advocate for the v. A. To do specific outreach. They are getting better, it is not perfect, it needs work, but specific outreach to Coast Guard Academy attendees and graduates from the 1970s on. Do that outreach that the Investigative Service said that it did, but did not reach everybody. Make sure those women know what the v. A. Offers now, that the evidentiary standards for military sexual trauma has changed, and that their claims will be more easily processed and that they should take advantage of what veteran Service Organizations offer to help them with. Please do not fire and forget this time. Thank you. Thank you colonel fenner. We are going to begin the questions before i do, i just want to say mama this testimony is some of the most powerful i have heard in my entire term in the United States senate, and i have heard a lot of powerful testimony. It is horrifying and heartbreaking, it is also uplifting because of your courage, your strength and tenacity, and your determination to serve our country by bringing to light this problem to improve a service that you love and that you have given your all to make better. Youre right, colonel fenner, this is about real people , about real women. There is a saying, the coverup is worse than the crime. The crime here was absolutely horrific, but the climate of coverup encourages more of the crime. I want to begin with cadet holmstrup by asking you, do these problems persist . You are currently a firstclass cadet at the coast guard in your senior year. Do these problems persist . Thank you, senator, for that question. Coverup in my opinion does not exist at the Coast Guard Academy with the current leadership. I think if there is time, or a place for change within the coast guard and Coast Guard Academy it is now. They have been very active with speaking with casa cadets against Sexual Assault. Im optimistic for the future for high school is coming into the academy. When you say that they are active, is it matched by action . Are the good intentions matched by action that meets the problem . Senator, i do not believe that there is any person within the Coast Guard Academy that believes that Sexual Assault is not a pervasive issue. In my written testimony that i submitted i talked about how our assistant superintendent was able to secure a 100,000 endowment for our Sexual Assault prevention and response and Recovery Office and 40,000 of that was given, or is going to c. A. S. A. , primarily. I do believe that there is some action. Like i will talk about today, there are some things that we need you to help with, some of the barriers that we really face and that we struggle with at the academy. We should not depend on news organizations to report what is going on at the Coast Guard Academy or the coast guard. We learned about the fouled anchor report only because cnn found out and reported on it and has continued to report and recover fax. I think the current leadership may have good intentions, but they are only going part of the way, the 90 day review does not name names, it does not achieve accountability, which everyone of you have said is vital. What horrifies me is what happened to each of you and also the effect the fact that some of your attackers are serving in positions of external responsibility and command let me ask commander yount. What was your reaction to the disclosure of fouled anchor and what did he tell you about the academy and what was your reaction to the 90 day review of accountability transparency review . I cannot say in public what my initial reaction was, sir. A little too salty . A little too salty, with all due respect. I was very angry. I could not believe it, quite frankly. I had hoped for much more from my coast guard after all of these years. Maybe i prayed for much more from the coast guard for all of these years, to find out that one, it was still true, even worse, they covered it up was just absolutely the worst. I became extremely angry and even more frustrated. Then a group of us older, grayhaired veterans got together and build a coalition to start trying to fight the problem. That would be how the reaction was. In seeing the report, you can see i have the stack of reports here, if i can just talk about that, i am a little bit of a geek sometimes with this stuff, so i carry these things around, gosh knows why i do this. We can go back to a 2016 report which was by admiral resume cough talking about a culture of respect and we have to look at our core values. We can talk about the diversity report done by then commandant scholz. It talks about a culture of respect and then needing to look at the core values. I forgot to talk about the other hidden report it is the cultural culture of respect report from 2015 which was also covered up. Interestingly enough that report that was covered up that was just released in conjunction with the accountability and transparency report. The task force was actually put together with the intent to look at Sexual Assault training to address respect issues and improve our culture. That was its purpose, ironically. That was looked at from august 2011 to march of 2012. The report was issued in april 2015 and that was hidden until the release of our report with the accountability and transparency report. When i look at this report and i look at all these other reports, i say to you, i dont believe it. What is different with this report than any of these other reports that have been done for the last many years, sir . No shortage of reports, a shortage of action. Yes, sir. Let me ask you lieutenant mccafferty, you describe that trip to new york you took with a fellow cadet. One factor that impacts a cadets decision to report or not to report is the fear of being punished for collateral misconduct whether it is drinking or taking a trip with another cadet. Was that a fear among your fellow cadets and decided not to report, i will ask the same question of others. Thank you for that question, senator. Yes, that was a fear of mine. I had knowingly gone to new york city with a upperclass cadet and we have strict recognize administration rules, so i was aware that i take responsibility , and for years i blamed myself for what happened because i made that decision. In terms of the culture, i have repeatedly over the years, my four years at the academy, seen countless cadets penalized for minor infractions, i would argue minor infractions, that ultimately led to a Sexual Assault or rape. I have witnessed male cadets, one of whom was date raped found in the basement completely naked and no one was held accountable and he was restricted from buying alcohol. Another classmate was restricted after reporting a rape for drinking alcohol. Another classmate never reported a rape because she to drink alcohol. The focus and the parties belie logic. You do not have to be a scientist to know that when a rape occurs you do not blame the person for drinking alcohol. In my case, when i went to new york city i was stone cold sober, i had nothing to drink. The fear that they instill on us and the ability to escape any level of accountability is breathtaking. They will use whatever means they can to downplay the action and they will penalize the victim who speaks up and has courage to speak the truth. I have worked in the front office and i have worked with these officers and i have seen Senior Leaders in action, this culture is not isolated to the academy. When i say Senior Leaders, i use those words deliberately. I use those words very precisely because these Senior Leaders, currently, and those who have since honorably retired continue in this behavior and they continue to pick and choose which infraction to enforce and upon whom. Many of which are defenseless enlisted members, young and midgrade officers and none of them are themselves i have attached in my written reports 10 accounts from women currently in the field who have had countless times of interactions with admirals and above documenting their behavior , their abhorrent behavior and yet no one has come forward and held each other accountable. I am well aware of this issue. Like my colleague has stated, it has been issued time, and time, and time again did we have the data, we have the analytics, but the unspoken and unwritten rule is the flag corps and the captains will look out for themselves and they will not hold accountability and they will not exercise authority. Either they are incapable or otherwise unwilling to do so. Every single time we have these discussions, we end up here promising future oriented action, faith in the coast guard within its own members is destroyed. It is just destroyed the only way Senior Leaders can hope to fix this is to go through every Single Member of the flag corps who was involved in these coverups to bring them out of retirement which they have the authority to do and to hold them accountable. Thank you. A central element of this culture of coverup is blame the victim. That is one of the oldest tactics in denying justice for Sexual Assault. I am going to turn to the Ranking Member, let me just assure everyone here, so far as this committee is concerned, we are not going to fire and forget. We will pursue what you told us and make sure that there is accountability. Senator johnson. I want to second what you said earlier. I have been here or than 12 years and this is some of the most powerful, important and on point testimony you have done extra neri job in a difficult situation laying out what the facts are and what the problem is, plus what the solution is it is accountability, it is exposure, it is naming and shaming. It is obvious what needs to be done and it is also obvious it has not been done. You can only talk about improving culture for so long before you start doing it. The only way you do it is accountability, exposure, the truth, naming and shaming. Here is my disconnect. I am a father, i have daughters, i have a sister, i cannot even watch a rape scene in a movie much less begin to contemplate what it is like to be raped. It is horrific. Murder is bad but it ends, rape continues. It is a horrific crime. You have got men serving in these commands, i dont understand why they dont come to grips with this. Why are they outraged . I am sure that there are instances where there are he said she said, i understand that , but some of this is so clearcut and you have dna evidence. Can someone splenectomy . The other disconnect is, you say you love the coast guard, so there are good elements. I hope the vast majority are good people that are serving that are patriots, defending our freedom and they look out for each other. Can you get down to the core of why this has been allowed to get go on . I will start with you commander yount. Does the question make sense . The question make sense, i am not sure have an answer. I would say from my experience particularly as a cadet, there were two things that were predominant, certainly one is alcohol. A lot of the experiences were definitely alcoholbased. Thats what might have led to the incidents, why the cover up . In your, our era, you mentioned in your testimony that there was certainly an attitude back then that women do not belong here. Right. Does that attitude continue . Decades later . You would have to ask kyra that one. If i may, that attitude does not continue. My class is 40 female and our top cadets in the class are female. I would like to just touch on a little bit what your question is asking. Men are outraged. Men and women are both victims of Sexual Assault in the coast guard. I have many mentors who are meant who are supporting me today and who were outraged when they heard my story. I do not think there is anyone in the coast guard that isnt outraged about this. Talking a little more about the culture, we have this saying called ship, shipmates, self. First you take care of the ship, then you take care of your shipmates and then you can finally take care of yourself. Really what i saw and i still see today is with peers. When you come forward and talk about an assault that has occurred, especially in my case , he was a popular basketball player, his friends came to my room and said, youre going to ruin his life but he ruin yours. That was my argument. Youre also a shipmate. I am. Ms. Maro , your testimony is striking. When i needed them to testify to what they witnessed they were silent. They were. You had people who you help and you needed them to come forward to testify, my guess is that is common. Is it literally i am not going to get a promotion . Sure shipmate, but you are a shipmate as well. That does not explain it. There Something Else going on. Help me understand that. Why didnt your friends come forward to say this is wrong . We need to end this, we need to expose this accountability and exposure name and shame, these people need to be drummed out of the service so it does not happen. Emits a very public examples of a few people and by a large that will go a long way to solving the problem but they have not done that, they havent even begun, years, decades later, they are not doing the one thing that needs to be done. I have filibustering periods sorry. Thats okay your making way too much sense. I am asking the same questions. Piggybacking off of what kyra just said about her perpetrators friends coming to her room to intimidate her. The same thing happened with me. In this particular instance where i had accused the now Lieutenant Commander, who was in class with me when i was assaulted and i was assaulted and groped in a room with 30 of my peers, and they watched, and they left. These are people, like i said in my testimony, who i had quite literally pushed over the wall in the Obstacle Course, or literally carried on my back during a swim test. Imagine people joining the coast guard who do not know how to swim, i had to carry them on my back. When it came time for them to speak up about what they had seen, they were so fearful that they kept their mouth shut. It just plays into the culture that exists. I cannot imagine that it has changed very much. There is that deep fear of losing your career, like i did. I was the one that was pushed out. Mr. Chairman, my time is up, but again, largely the solution is known. It is what were doing here, accountability, the only way you get accountability is you have to expose it. You need to tell the truth. You have to tell the truth about individuals, they have to be held accountable and there has to be a penalty for doing this. If you do it effectively, hopefully we can impact this to a significant degree. We need to use every power we have as congress. We have allowed those powers of oversight to atrophy and we cannot allow that anymore. Across the board with these investigations we have to demand accountability from these agencies. We can start with the coast guard. I cannot tell you how impactful this testimony is, we have to do something about it and we know what we need to do. What you see here is bipartisan agreement, exceedingly rare. It is the result of your powerful testimony. I am very grateful for your supporting this inquiry. Part of what we are trying to do is create safe spaces for this kind of bearing witness. Again, i appreciate you coming forward and accountability is beginning. Senator butler. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you to all of the witnesses who have come and to those of you in the audience who have come to support them. What they are doing is, in sharing their stories and telling the truth about some of the most powerful organizations in our country is not an easy task. All of you are here in support of them and letting them know in this moment, when others have failed them, you continue to stand with them. I appreciate all of you who are here in their support. A couple of questions that i have. Mr. Chair, i want to get to my questions, but i also do not want to lose the opportunity to note, i respect our Ranking Member and his having frustrations and his freedom to share those frustrations. At the start of opening remarks, while i recognize that i am the newest member of this subcommittee and the most junior senator and the body and i happen to be the only woman sitting here. I understand that there are frustrations abound in terms of the work that we have to do on behalf of our constituency and the most that we can do is to honor that these witnesses have come here to share their testimony and allow them to get those stories out that they have prepared so nervously to offer. As the only woman sitting on this dais, i did not want to lose the opportunity, i correct that to say that i abdicate my responsibility to speak on behalf of the women who are here and those who are watching. To honor their stories and to honor their time and honor their preparation getting to that. To the side of ivers survivors who are here, you have shared your recommendations for things that this body could do and how congress can join you in partnership. To begin to orient towards action in addressing these challenges. I thank you for being specific and offering those recommendations. A question that i have is relative to what happens after the assaults, after you have made the courageous choice and decision to report, after you have been repeatedly victimized by the reporting structures and systems that you are obligated to abide by. What happens to you . What are the kinds of support services, including Mental Health support . Did you receive in the time . And what kinds of services which you advocate that we include in our action oriented continued oversight of this issue . I would love to start with ms. Maro. Thank you for your question and i hope i answered it completely. I reluctantly came forward. I was dedicated to keeping my mouth shut because i knew what would have happened if i accused shipmates of what they had done. I had confided in a professor by accident. I was going to him for help because my grades were struggling. I was struggling with my schoolwork and i told him i was extremely unhappy and i wanted to leave and i told him what i was experiencing daily in the barracks. He told me, you know im obligated to report this, correct . My heart just sank to my feet. I knew what was going to happen to me after. To my surprise, nothing much came of it until my memory is fuzzy, it was not immediate, i had to answer to the Company Commander who asked is this worth investigating and i said no and later the investigation was forced and he proceeded to bring everyone, the 30 people who were in the room at the time in for an interview, that meant that all of my classmates knew exactly what i had accused one of the other shipmates of. I would have doors slammed in my face, the rumor mill ran rampant. The rumors were so ugly it destroyed my reputation. I had no one to turn to. I was mocked in the hallway and it just became so heavy that i decided to leave. I said there is no way i can function in the Service Without support from my shipmates. The bullying and the retaliation is crushing. I can see the pain still on your face. Thank you. Kennett holmstrup you talk about your leadership role and you are very specific in the recommendations that you thought congress should take. Can you talk to me about the Mental Health services and other kinds of posttraumatic support that you feel like are necessary as a continued action oriented package . Thank you for that question. Really what i have to say echoes what kaitlyn just said. I also did not want to come forward about my case. I finally, a couple weeks after the assault i asked a c. A. S. A. Member to come and talk to me and she stood in my room and we had to have the door open. As i was telling her what had happened, i heard someone walk outside my door and stop. That is when i stop talking and i said i think hes outside. She walked outside and there was the perpetrator listening to my story. I was in fear because he was my nextdoor neighbor he had a very angry outburst. The next day i went and made a unrestricted report to the duty officer. They did everything right, they informed everyone in my chain of command. They went through the entire checklist that they now have to do and i was oscar offered a special Victims Counsel lawyer. I got in touch with a Victim Advocate who saved my life, then i got to talk to a chaplain. When i went to talk to that chaplain he asked who assaulted me and i told him he said oh, no , he is such a good guy. He proceeded to talk about how his kids were adopted from the same agency. I didnt go back. I did speak with the counselors on campus and i have for three years now. We do have some measures in place of support and as c. A. S. A. President i have healed by helping others get through this process. To answer your question. We do have a lot of measures in place to support victims and survivors after they report. Like i referenced in my written testimony, we still need to buttress some of those. Thank you so much for my last quick comment. I have a nineyearold daughter. If she is so fortunate to have examples like you fighting to create a better coast guard, i would be excited for her to join. Thank you. Mr. Chair. Thank you, senator butler. Senator holly. Thank you mr. Chairman, thank you to you and the Ranking Member for holding this. Thank you to each of you for being here. Thank you for your service to our Country First of all, thank you for serving your country today by being here today to shine a light and expose what has happened. I cannot believe we are sitting here today. First of all words fail me in saying what has happened to each of you and offering condolences, it does not begin to cut it. I cannot believe that the extent of the cover up for years , and years, and years, and years i also cannot believe, mr. Chairman, the coast guard has had this report since january 2020 and they sat on it for three years and deliberately concealed it from us or you ms. Maro i want to Say Something about what you said in your testimony. You said you found out from cnn that your case was included in operation fouled anchor print i want to read what you said, not from an academy representative, not from cgi yes, not from congress, the news was broken to me from the press over the phone while i was wiping my childs runny nose. Tell us what it is like to be betrayed in that way. You have a member of the press. Thank goodness they got it, thank goodness the whistleblower leaked it to them, otherwise we probably still would not know. Tell us what that was like to get a call and say there was this report that you never heard of and your cases in it and do you have a comment . Yes, i have several. I would like to start by saying that i wish i could put that whistleblower on the Christmas Card list for the rest of my life. Without that whistleblower, something that i thought i had put to bed decades ago was just resurrected. I had been minding my own business the last several decades, i left the academy, i have not had careers like the other ladies, i am living a blissfully average life with my husband and my children in tennessee. In a mom bone and dirty leggings, my very good friend sent me a link in my Text Messages saying, look at this cnn article. Werent you at the academy during this time. . Again, my heart hit my feet. I read the report and i immediately contacted the cnn reporter. She immediately contacted me back and said, i have been looking for you. Your name is in this report, i have been looking for you. It was clear to me that, even though i had been in therapy all those years i had not healed. Like i mentioned in my testimony i was wiping my sons nose with the phone up to my ear like this listening to her tell me this. I still dont have words. I have been suffering since june , since i heard and i went back into therapy and finally found a counselor who diagnosed me with complex ptsd. That was very freeing. This, in many ways, has been a blessing for me. I finally have a diagnosis for the things that i thought were personality quirks these last 20 years and it was actually ptsd. I dont know if that answers your question fully. You bet it does. Can i ask about something you said a few minutes ago, talking about when you were at the academy talking about caring people on your back in the pool and pushing them over the walls on the Obstacle Course and none of them would come forward and support you. You said something that struck me you said they were so fearful tell us about that dynamic. What were they fearful of and why . Frankly they were fearful of the stripes on leaders shoulders. The bigger the stripe the bigger the threat. We all know this. Walk us through that. What was the threat . If they supported you and said she is telling the truth, what would happen . You would be blacklisted in a way grade i do not know how else to better explain that. Every person that has gone into the Service Academy knows how difficult it is and how driven and how hardworking you have to be to get there. It is not like the normal acceptance routine that most kids have to go through to get into college, they are very, very special people. They are talented, they are hardworking and they are smart. To get there you had to work your tail off. To stay there you have to work equally as hard. It was a lot to lose, to be kicked out, thrown out on the streets without any v. A. Help for depression or suicidal thoughts, it is crushing. I had to start over from square one. Like i said in my written testimony, i had several ncaa, division i rowing scholarships. I chose to go to the Coast Guard Academy to serve my country, i even turned down the naval academy. After one semester i am out on the streets, so to speak. It was a lot to lose. Yes, it is. Help me understand, help us understand the culture. Leadership does not want to hear it. There is retaliation and repercussion, if someone supports you they are blacklisted because the leadership does not want to deal with the problem explained that piece of it. Why not just say, why was the leader can leadership in your case saying this is terrible, this is a crime, for many of you it is a crime, Sexual Assault is a crime, rape is a crime, its not just bad behavior it is criminal behavior. Help us understand the culture that says we are going to see note evil, hear no evil, look the other way grade if you press the issue and say i was assaulted i was raped, they say we have to silence you. We have to shut you down we cannot deal with this. Why is that . Help us get in their mindset. Keep in mind i was only there for one semester so my experience is limited than the other ladies up here. Like others have touched on, there is a fear of retaliation and the academy itself is incredibly, especially your freshman year, is incredibly strong Pressure Cooker type of environment. When i was there youre not allowed to have cell phones, you were not allowed to have ipods, when they were a thing, theres no music, no connection to the outside world and you have to eat on squares, i dont know if you know what that is. You are braced up you have to have your eyes there is no relief from the pressure. I forget where i was going with that. This Pressure Cooker type environment creates this difficulty in trying to you are trying to take care of yourself and you are in survival mode. It is hard to see someone suffer and then to speak out about it because it might spotlight you. If you are guilty of consuming alcohol under age, or guilty of doing something that would merit a demerit, you keep your mouth shut. I cannot handle the merits on my record, i have bad grades, i do not want to spotlight myself. I hope that answers your question. It does. I do not want to monopolize the time, mr. Chairman. I would be interested in a response to that question from everyone. Is that okay . Please, go ahead. Senator hawley i will try to keep this as macro as possible given my 12 years of experience. At every single level for my fourth class year as a cadet to the front office staff. I served on the Front Office Group for admirals from 2016 until i medically retired in 2019 for sustained ptsd. What i observed directly in headquarters at that office where i am surrounded by the cream of the crop of leaders, Senior Leaders is that they implement safeguards within the safeguards within each other and for each other. I call these people the gatekeepers. Time and time again i would go to these gatekeepers. I will go to my commander with legitimate problems backed by reams and reams of data. Example, 2016, we had a retention problem then and it has only gotten worse. I tried to bring this to the awareness of people and gatekeepers prevented access to him so they did not have to give him bad news. The reason they did this as they were up for promotion. I hate to be the one to call this out but this is a reality. This is the reason. I just wanted to promote and they wanted to make the next rank and become a captain. A captain wants to become an admiral and they want to join that esteemed and Privileged Club and they dont care about the carnage left in their wake and they do not care about their loyalty to the oath. They dont care. They just want to make the next level. I have seen it time and time and time and again. While i really do applaud my colleagues optimism, i have seen the reality and i have not been out that long. I retired in 2019 at the pinnacle of my career. Having saved with my teams nearly 17,000 people and yet, this organization, the Senior Leaders who are still here, refuse to do something they could easily do tonight. Should admiral fagan be called to action, she could recall every single one of those Senior Leaders tonight and charged him under her authority, given to her, via the ucmj but the unspoken the unwritten rule that i have learned from my experiences and i need to caveat that not everyone in the flag core are bad. Many, any are good. But the ones in power and the ones who make the decisions. The ones that overrule criminal convictions are the ones who stay the longest and rise to the highest point. Then when you add in the complexity of the gatekeeper a one star or a commander, they are not getting the information that they need. That is just the fundamental reality of the situation. It comes down to individual ego and ambition and their need and desire to promote for power. Thank you, senator hawley. I think we have time for some additional questions. Let me begin by asking you, lieutenant mccafferty, about a special instant a specific instance that proves your point. Or happen public reports that coast guard leadership declined to courtmartial former Coast Guard Academy professor captain Glenn Sulmasy after he was found to have had Inappropriate Communications with a student, even though it was recommended he face charges for unbecoming conduct and willful dereliction of duty. I think you experienced harassment from captain sulmasy. Let me ask you about that experience. What is what does the decision not to prosecute tell you about this. I think that what has happened with Glenn Sulmasy and forgive me i dont address him as captain because i dont think he deserves the level of respect with that rank but i think that is the perfect example of the most visible example. It is one of the most well documented examples. We have a situation where a kind a captain, an United States coast guard captain, the dean of the Humanities Department over years not only reached out to cadets inappropriately, touched them inappropriately, and god forbid, to my knowledge, and they cant confirm this, had sexual intercourse with these cadets as well and did it with impunity for years. When i first started having interactions with Glenn Sulmasy i reported it to a midlevel officer at the academy and the impression i received from that conversation is that, reporting aside, he is untouchable. He is protected at very high levels and we know this is happening and we are aware of it and they are aware of it and nothing will be done. And this is the only reason that i am here today. I was finally at a place where physically, emotionally, mentally, to put this all behind me. It took almost 4 years after my Suicide Attempt to gain any semblance of composure and rationality. The impacts were devastating. It is devastating. The only reason that i am here today is because a classmate sent me a news article that Glenn Sulmasy was running a womens college. So a sexual predator documented, verified, substantiated. He was not only allowed to retire with honors in a government pent pension. They wrote him a letter of recommendation endorsing his integrity. I have received communications from civilians, civilians who have been impacted by his conduct. So we knowingly let a sexual predator into the world to become in another position of power. And not just one but two colleges were multiple women have been impacted. If this is not a textbook case of what we are mentioning, i dont know what is. To my knowledge, as of today, they have done nothing. They could bring him back and even if they couldnt confirm charges of rape, Sexual Assault, bullying, or numerous issues, they could easily charge them with dereliction of duty and conduct unbecoming of. They choose not to and that is the problem right there in its essence, at its core. Miss admiral linda fagan, you told us that the coast guard would not give you your own records. What are they hiding crash . That is my question. I think that is the question that lingers here and will linger from this testimony and will be the challenge for this committee and will be a focus for this committee in demanding the emails that go to the reasons, for example, that 3 1 2 years, the anchor report was withheld. It was the result of an investigation that started in 2014. It took six years to complete. Even though what was covering only a limited time period. And a limited number of cases. And then, from january 2020 until june 2023 nothing. Until cnn disclosed it. If they had not disclosed it, we might still not know about it. So, maybe talk a little bit about what you think this concealment of your records and other facts that are important for us to know, means to us. Thank you for that question. I appreciate the chance to answer that. The anchor report came out. I found out about it and i immediately filed for a request for that report and it was denied. At that point i reached out to the Coast Guard Academy trying to do my best to gather as much about my file as possible. I got some of it but it was clear that there is a lot missing because the very last piece of paper that was in that 132 page file, by the way, and i was only there for one semester, was this email. It was from these civilian professor that i confronted. It was to my Company Commander. Called me unstable in this email, to my Company Commander. At the very end he has a very small signs saying fourth class stopper. At the bottom there is a handwritten note from my Company Commander it looks like to then assistant commandant pulver saying this turned out to not be about Sexual Harassment but a dispute with her firstclass Division Lead who would not let her boyfriend study with her during study our. My Company Commander, who wrote that note, never talked to me about this. He never got that information from me. This is the last thing that was in my file. I noticed that the rest of the investigation that supposedly happened was not in there. So i went back to the person, amanda thiesen, at the academy, and asked her where the remainder was and then all of a sudden i find myself talking to the Current Assistant commandant of cadets, commander who told me to submit a request for my records. I share your frustration with the process because if if i had done that they wouldve reserved the right to redact anything and everything. Even that aside i should not have to do that for my own documents. I was and she had her boots on the ground in august at the academy to investigate what came up. The academy released part of that investigation to her without my express permission. So, the academy will release documentation to Congress Without my permission or the permission of an individual but they will not release it to me. I have one more question because, i know we are going to hear from people that this is really regrettable. Thats too bad. Members of the coast guard had to go through this experience. Frankly, we get this comments a lot. Dont you have Better Things to do or more important things . This is about our National Security. The coast guard is a military service. They not only rescue people who are desperate at sea. They interject interject illegal drugs. They provide security services. The coast guard is a really important military Security Institution and let me just ask, ask colonel federer colonel fenner, would you agree that this is a National Security issue. Absolutely sir. As a historian, it is shocking but it is not new. It is shocking that it has continued for so long but to speak to National Security, i have the dod background as secretary alston has exercised over his short tenure. The people drive the ships. The people rescue the other people. The people fire people fire the weapons. If you dont take care of your people and their families you have this recruiting and this retention problem and a readiness problem. All of the associated problems of Mental Health and. Then do you have the force to hold back the fire. So taking care of these people. The people that had these experiences that are not sitting here. Those that have dealt with the aftermath of their all of us are affect did and its one can ask them, where are these people with daughters, wives, and sisters who are not outraged. Who are not taking proactive actions. That is to me, as shocking to me as it is to you. That Everybody Knows somebody and yet nobody knows anybody. On the plus side, a historical story, in the 1940s, when we were part of preparedness movements, and they made up their own uniform so they could be militaristic, all of the generals on the joint staff did not want women in the services to actually serve. The worst case, in the reserves. And then the daughters started talking to their fathers. All of the sudden a whole bunch of journals generals were converted to putting women in the territory. How do we affect the fathers, brothers, and the spouses. In my case, it was my male colleagues who helped report and supported me. When the men get is interested in this problem on a larger scale as the women are, you might see change in a positive direction. Thank you sir. Thank you. And senator johnson . I remember the rationale of trying to keep women out of the service because we wanted to protect them. Right . Now women are showing how valuable they are and we are not doing a very good job of protecting them. That is exactly right. We are trying to protect them from the enemy and not the enemy within is the problem. I hope you are successful in your foia we cost , but i guess if you are, this is what you are going to get. So i think the first subpoena we should issue is subpoena the records to be delivered to ms. Maro. She deserves to have her Service Records and she deserves to have them now. This is a private issue. She deserves those records. I would also say, because we have someone currently serving, cut it holmstrup, we have all kinds of whistleblower protections and they are not very effective. It is really sick. How effective and pervasive retaliation is against people. People come forward. I want to make sure the coast guard notice that we will not tolerate retaliation against any witness here. That is extremely important. Again, i want to talk about how effective and important this is. I have my own question just asking why. , why doesnt somebody step forward . In a answering the question from senator hawley, if you are a commandant looking for a promotion and all of a sudden you see this scandal that could erupt, where a female cadet is groped well 20 other cadets witnessed it and giggled about it. Now you are going to lose a class of 20, 30, maybe more individuals. You can understand im not condoning it at all but you help me understand why this has not been addressed. It is all about promoting and is that going to be a stain on my career. I dont want to be the commandant of the economy when that scandal erupted so i imagine there is a lot of pressure. Not condoning it all but thank you for your testimony. You got me to understand a whole lot more about what the problem is. But again, as witnesses, you have all said the solution here is accountability which requires exposure, which requires the truth which requires this committee to be dedicated to subpoenaing and making sure these records are made available. Thank you, esther chairman. You, senator johnson. Senator hawley. You said, mr. Chairman, this is about our National Security which i agree with. It is also about the integrity of our government. It is one thing to have Corporate Leaders come in and sit here and lie to us. Frankly, they do it all the time. We have people come into this hearing room and lie to us, mislead us, withhold information. But when our own government does it it is absolutely unacceptable. We ought to have the salty language you were talking about earlier. We could not keep this earring pg and say what needs to be said. The fact that this leadership commissioned this report in 2014, which was too late and sat on it for years. And they actively worked to conceal it. It is unbelievable. I just want to say, and im glad we have press here, i want to say for the leadership of the coast guard, it is not acceptable. I dont want to see anymore memos from you saying we need to work on our culture. We are past that. They have lied to us, they lied to you, he lied to the American People. They need to sit where you are sitting, take the oath, and explain to the country what is happening. I dont want to hear anymore of the softly worded memos. I dont want to hear anymore of the we will do better next time. We are past that. They have broken our trust. Frankly, when you see the trust constantly broken, it is no wonder that people across this country are in despair regardless of the politics. Ms. Maro, he wanted to make a comment and i will yield my time. Speaking off of what you just said in the final remarks from senator johnson, i think we should all take a moment to reflect on the idea that linda fagan, the first commandant of the coast guard, she has a chance to make this right. But most important i think it is okay it is important for us to sit and think about that her predecessor left her with this report. In her inbox. She was left to hold this bag from her predecessor. Carl scholz. He is in retirement right now, sipping a mai tai on a beach somewhere. I dont know. Whatever retired admirals due. But i think admiral scholz and admiral fagan should come in here and explain to you all , first of all, admiral fagan inconsistencies to her testimony to the Commerce Committee were she said everyone was contacted. When not everyone was punished. My assailant was not punished. I was not contacted. She should come in here and explain herself. I think that admiral scholz should come in here and explain why he left operation failed anchor in her inbox. Thank you, mrs. Maro. You have read our minds and we are going to pursue those individuals and others. I am really heartened by the bipartisan support that we have for this continued effort. Senator hassan. Thank you for holding this hearing and be a comments just now. And thank you to all of our witnesses for your willingness to come before the committee today and testify about your experiences. I am deeply disturbed, as are the members of this committee by the coast guard in adequate response to Sexual Harassment at the academy. It took nearly 40 years for the coast guard and the academy to take a hard look at the culture and processes for addressing Sexual Assault and another six or seven years to complete the investigation. Then it took the agency another 2 1 2 years to release the findings of the investigation. Whether it stems from negligence or malfeasance, it is unacceptable that the coast guard buried the report for so long. The men and women of the coast guard to commit their lives to the country and keeping all of us secure, safe, and safe is accountable to Holding Wrongdoers Accountable and recognizes that a coast guard that treats women as second class citizens undermines its own ambition as a result. With that, i do want to ask a question. I know from others that have been following this hearing all morning that a number of my questions have been answered so i wont make you go through that again but i do want cadet holmstrup to go through you explained how your attacker was able to continue to harass you even after you made an unrestricted report to the academy. You also noted that your reports of ongoing harassment contributed to your trauma. How could the academy better uphold its and review conduct. Thank you senator. I do believe that there are many things that were dropped during my case. One of those things that i asked for in my written testimony is about special victims councils. I did not have the ability to understand what was going on with my case. Like caitlin maro i have to foia to get my case. I have not seen the entire record. Neither did my lawyer so he was not able to fully prepare me for what i was going into. The no contact order was very difficult as well because when i tried to communicate with my command what was going on, they said, he is going to be out soon so that was kind of my response until the National Defense authorization act of 2021. Helpful to know but still work to be done. I have one other followup. You can each answer it or choose not to. What kind of pressure, if any, did you face from the institution related to how you made your report . What kind of pushback did you get . We will start with you and go down the line. Senators, as i stated, i received the merits for having the door broken. And i didnt make a report because i received a merits for a door broken and i thought, that is what they think of this. That is the signal that they sent. Cadet. Senator, i felt very much supported by my command when i made my report. They sent it up the chain correctly. They made everything they hit everything on the list. I was investigated by the coast guard and services however, it was the aftermath after it and the policies that congress enacted that really hindered my case and contributed to the trauma. Thank you, miss maro. I did not receive any demerits or specific sorts of punishment but i did, as things started to progress during my investigation, get comments intimidating and threatening comments from cadets in leadership positions over me. A firstclass cadet that was over me told me that i was looking for somebody to blame on my way out because i was struggling academically. That i just wanted to see the world burn. And so, i did not receive anything specific. My investigation happen so quickly and i decided to leave in the middle of my investigation, before it was completed. I have some documentation that i received from the senate stoffer that received part of my investigation, but not me. Some letters were forwarded to me and there is proof in there that as soon as i left, the administrative investigation did not conclude. So back to senator johnson, i dont even know if they have anything. And those comments certainly reflect culture. Along with the leadership lack of action. Lieutenant. I never reported anything because i knew at that point my career would be over before it had even started. I got the merits during my four years. For example, i had a pet crab in my dorm with my roommate. We had to release him. When we were caught. I left my window open and i received demerits. I never received demerits in retaliation for reporting anything because i did not report anything. What i will say is that i represented a third class cadet when i was a secondclass. I was a sophomore and she was a junior. As she approached me about extensive harassment by young men and they called themselves the gentlemans club. I told her and i spoke with her at length about the reality and what we should do and how we should approach this. I said i am happy and i will support you. If i go down we will both go down. We both came together. All four were brought to mast. Only one was relieved. This individual that had a Sexual Misconduct charge was forced out of the academy and they got to reenlist and is currently serving so the lesson becomes abundantly clear to all of us, if you do report, this is what is going to happen so the majority of us frankly do not because we value our career. We want to do well and we want to help other people and we dont want to jeopardize our own career, our own safety and our Mental Health because time and time again, this is what happens. With your indulgence, i would like to hear from the clonal kernel too. No matter how much changes, nothing changes too quick. In the first case, as i was harassed as a faculty member, the Department Led an administrative procedure and they put a letter of reprimand into the folder of the more senior officer and that came out and they do transfers. Put him in charge of basic trainees at Laughlin Air Force base instead of getting him out of the chain where he could assault and harass people. He did make 06 and retire. In the second instance, i was on faculty and a number of young women came to report to me that they had been assaulted or harassed. I collected their stories and i happened to confide in another faculty teammate and somehow they got to the commandant. I was a junior cap and. I was called into the office of the commandant outside of the chain of command and asked why they were coming to me, who was it, what they said. And i refused to give names. And then they said, why dont they report to us . And i said, with all due respect, this is why they dont report to you. F the captain faculty member gets called on the carpet, this is what happens. It happened way before them and frankly, it is still happening. Thank you for being here and for your bravery and service. I think we have reached the conclusion for now. I want to say thank you for to my colleagues. I am just left with amazement and determination that we will presume this matter. Amazement at your courage and tenacity. And determination that we will rely on whatever truth telling tools that we have to make sure that illuminate and uncover whatever we can hear. You know, i mentioned these statistics before. An estimated 51 of cadet women have had experiences that include criteria for Sexual Harassment. Just in the past year. 28. 3 of female cadets said that they had experienced unwanted sexual contact since entering the academy. 15 , only 15 who experienced unwanted Sexual Conduct in the last year reported it and half of them have experienced retaliation. This is not ancient history. This is a 2022 survey. Last year. So, i respect that there is no leadership at the academy. We all know who the new superintendent is an to the previous one was. We know who the past commandants have been and to the present one is. We are going to explore these issues with past and present leadership. As well as others who may have information. Normally we would leave the record open for two weeks. I am going to leave it open until february 1, 2024 so that others who have these kinds of stories can submit them. And we will make them part of this record. In other words, anybody who is hearing about this hearing and who wants to submit their stories, as a number have done already, they can do it anonymously. We will take it and make it part of the record. Senator johnson. I just want to say thank you to the witnesses. This is an important hearing and i am truly dedicated to doing everything we possibly can. It will take subpoenas. These folks are not going to cooperate. So we will use every compulsory process we have to extract the truth. I am dedicated to doing it and i want to join you in doing so. Thank you so much for your service and your testimony. This hearing is adjourned