Comer & Grothman Seek Testimony from Former U.S. Coast Guard Officials Related to Misconduct Investigation - United States House Committee on Oversight and Accountability

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.) are continuing the Committee’s investigation into the U.S. Coast Guard’s (USCG) mishandling of serious misconduct, including racism, hazing, discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual assault, and the failure to disclose internal investigations into those issues to Congress. The lawmakers are requesting transcribed interviews with four former senior officials to understand the extent to which the USCG withheld reports from Congress, how incidents of misconduct were handled, and what actions they took to hold individuals accountable. To date, the Department of Homeland Security has stalled in producing documents to the Oversight Committee in a timely manner.

“The Committee on Oversight and Accountability continues to investigate the U.S. Coast Guard’s mishandling of serious misconduct, including racism, hazing, discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual assault, and the failure to disclose internal investigations into those issues to Congress. One of the key questions the Committee is examining is the extent to which senior USCG leadership willfully concealed internal reports from Congress that would have informed policy changes needed to combat, and further prevent, future incidents of misconduct.” wrote Comer and Grothman.

First reported publicly on June 30, 2023, Operation Fouled Anchor (OFA) was an internal USCG investigation into allegations of sexual abuse at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy from the 1980s to 2006. Operation Fouled Anchor found that “school leaders routinely failed to report serious allegations to law enforcement, intentionally avoiding the criminal justice system.” In addition to OFA, on November 28, 2023, the Committee received an April 2015 USCG report titled “Culture of Respect (COR) Integrated Process Team (IPT) Phase I Report.” Among the highly findings of the report, USCG investigators found systemic issues including a lack of training on sexual assault and harassment; methods used by the USCG to track sexual assault and harassment were ineffective and inefficient; USCG training did not include a focus on sexual assault or harassment; and senior leaders misunderstood basic USCG leadership competencies.

“The Committee is interested in learning more about what you did to combat the issues raised by internal reports and what efforts were made to notify Congress or conceal misconduct. We therefore request that you make yourself available voluntarily for a transcribed interview,” continued Comer and Grothman.

Read the letters here:

Oversight Leaders Press Coast Guard Over Failure to Cooperate with Committee’s Investigation of Misconduct & Possible Coverup