Comer & Grothman Demand Full Disclosure from DHS Amid USCG Misconduct Investigation
WASHINGTON—House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Chairman Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) today are pressing U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to release documents to the Committee as part of its investigation of U.S. Coast Guard’s (USCG) mishandling of serious misconduct at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.
“It has been made clear that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of the General Counsel (OGC) is taking responsibility for reviewing and approving the production of USCG documents requested by the Committee in this investigation. Over the course of this investigation, the Committee has received 12,521 pages of documents in response to its inquiries. However, hundreds of pages of responsive documents specifically requested by the Committee—including responsive email communications—have only been made available in camera to Committee investigators and have not been produced,” wrote the lawmakers.
In December 2023, the Oversight Committee launched an investigation into the USCG’s mishandling of serious misconduct at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, including racism, hazing, discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape, and the withholding of internal investigations into these offenses from Congress and the public. Whistleblowers have come forward to the Oversight Committee to recount traumatizing experiences and have revealed additional cultural deficiencies and alleged incompetence and misconduct by current and former leaders within USCG.
“The only purported rationale offered for withholding these documents is that they are ‘sensitive’ and can therefore only be provided in camera. However, sensitivity concerns or fear that a particular document could be embarrassing to the Department are not valid legal justifications for withholding responsive documents from Congress. In a staff-level briefing with DHS officials on July 19, 2024, the Department alluded to certain privileges as justification for withholding documents. It failed, however, to assert or specify those privileges. Despite multiple Committee requests for DHS’s written legal justification for withholding why these documents, the Department has not provided any such justification, explanation, and/or privilege log to the Committee,” continued the lawmakers.
The Department of Homeland Security has until October 1, 2024, to produce all draft versions of the Operation Fouled Anchor report, the Accountability Transparency Review, and emails reviewed in camera by Committee investigators.
Read the letter to Secretary Mayorkas here.
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Comer & Grothman Probe U.S. Coast Guard’s Mishandling of Serious Misconduct