Transcripts For CSPAN2 Whistleblowers 20240706

This hearing of the subcommittee an investigation 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 justice. 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. 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. 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. Its accountability, it is when you get accountability have expose it and yet to tell the truth and you have to tell the truth aboutt individuals and thn you had to be held accountable and theyll have to pay a penalty for doing this. If we do that effectively, hopefully we can impact this to a significant degree but we need to use every power we have as congress and we have allowed thoseho powers of oversight to atrophy. We can allow that anymore. Acrosstheboard we need to demand accountability and we start with the coast guard. Again i appreciate you holding this. I cant tell you how impactful this testimony is. We have got to do something about it, and we know we need to do. What you see here is bipartisan agreement. Exceedingly rare. And thats the result of your powerful testimony and im very grateful for your supporting this inquiry and part of what we are trying to do is create safe spaces for this kind of bearing witness. Qu again, i appreciate you coming forward and accountability begins here. Thanking mr. Chairman and thank you to all of the witnesses who have come and to those of you in the audience who support them. What they are doing is in sharing their stories and telling the truth about some ofe the most powerful organizations in our country is not an easy task. All of you are here in support of them and many of them know in this moment when others have failed them, you continue to stand with them so ive want to appreciate all of you who are here in their support. A couplepp of questions that i have. Mr. Chair and want to get to my questions but i also dont want to lose the opportunity to note that i respect our Ranking Member and his having frustration and his freedom to share those frustrations. At the start of opening remarks, while iraq it nice that i am the newest member of the subcommittee, the most junior senator in the body and i also happen to bebe the only woman sitting on this dais. I understand that their frustrations abound in terms of the work that we all have to do on behalf of their constituency and the most that we could do is to honor that these witnesses have come here to share their testimony and allow them to get the stories out that they have prepared so nervously to offer. And as the only woman sitting on this the dais they didnt want to lose the opportunity, i would correct that to say im advocating my responsibility to speak on behalf of the women who work here here and those who are watching to honor their stories, to honor their time and honor their preparation to the survivors who are here. You have shared a lot of your recommendations for the things that this body could do and how congress could join you in partnership to begin to orient towards action in addressing these challenges. And i thank you for being specific in offering those recommendations. The question that i have is relative to what happened after the assault. After you have made the courageous choice and decision to report it and after you have been repeatedly victimized by the reporting structure 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 them in time and what kinds of services would you advocate that we include in our action oriented continued oversight of this issue and i would love to start with ms. Maro. Thank you for your question. I hope i answeredd completely. After 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 confided in a civilian professor by accident. I was going to head for help because my grades were struggling and i was struggling with my schoolwork and i told him i was extremely unhappy and i hated it here and i wantedd to leave and told him about what i was experiencing daily in the barracks. He told me you know im obligated to report this, correct . And my heart just sank to my feet. Because i knew what was going to happen tom me. Actually to my surprise nothing much came of it and my memory is fuzzy but it wasnt immediate. I had to answer to my commander who asked me and when the investigation was forced he proceeded to bring everyone, the 30 people who were in the room at the time in for an interview which meant that all my classmates knew exactly what i accused one of the other shipmates of. I would have doors slammed in my face. The rumort mill rampant. Rumors were so and it destroyed my reputation. I had no one to turn to. I was mocked in the hallways and it just became so heavy that i was like theres no way im going to be able to function in the Service Without support from my shipmates. The bullying and the retaliation is crushing. I see the pain still on your face. Thank you. Colonel holmstrup you talked about your. Leadership role. You are very specific in the recommendations he thought that congress should take. Can you talk to me about the Mental Health services and other kinds of posttraumatic support that you feel are necessary as a continuing action s. Senator. Thank you for thatth question. Really what i have to say at those what caitlyn just said. I also do not want to come forward about my case. I finally, a couple of weeks after the assault i asked a member to talk to me and she stayed in my room and i had to have the door open. I told her what had happened. I heard someone walk outside my doorto and stop. Thats when i stopped talking and i said i think hes outside. She walked outside and there was the listening to my story. I was infuriated because he was my nextdoor neighbor. And he had a very angry outburst. The next day i went and i made an unrestricted report to our duty officer. They did everything right. They informed everyone in my chain of command. They went through theda entire checklist that they now have to do and i was offered an ncc which is a special Victims Council lawyer. I got in touch with the Victim Advocate who saved my life quite frankly and then i got to talk to a chaplain. When i went to talk to that chaplain he asked me who assaulted me and i told him and he said oh no hes such a good guy. Nt and then he proceeded to talk about how his kids were adopted from the same agency. I didnt go back. But i did seek a counselor on campus and i have for three years now. We do have some measures of support in place and i healed by helping others get through this process. So 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 in my last quick comments mr. Chair ive been 9yearold daughter and if she is so fortunate to have examples like you to create a better coast guard, i would be excited for her to join. Thank you mr. Chair. Sankey senator butler. They may thank you mr. Chairman andr thanks to you in the rankg member foror holding this today and thank you for being here thank you for your courage and thank you for your service to our Country First of all. And thank you for serving your country today i being here today. To shine a light and expose what has happened. I just want to say i cant believe we are sitting here today. First of all words fail me in seeing what is happened each of you in offering condolence but i also cannot believe that the extent of the coverup for years and years and years and years and i also cant believe mr. Chairman that the coast guard has had this report since 31 january of 2020 and they sat on it for three plus year to deliberately conceal itt from us and i mean deliberately conceal it. I want to ask you about something you said in your testimony. I cannot imagine what this was like for you. You said you found out from cnns figure case was included in operation not from an Academy Representative not from c. Gis and not from congress but the news is broken by press over the phone while i was wiping my childs running nose. Tell us what its like to frankly be betrayed in a way. You have a member of the press and thank goodness they got it and the whistleblower whomever leaked it to them. But just tell us what that was like getting a call to here by the way this is report youve never heard of. Guess i hadd several. I would like to start by saying that i wish i could put the whistleblower on my Christmas Card list for the rest of my life because without that whistleblower something that i thought that i had put to bed was just resurrected. I had been minding my own business the last several decades. I left the academy, i havent had careers like the other ladies up here. Im living a blissfully average life with my husband andle my children. In imam bone and leggings i found that link in my messages saying look at the cnn article. For you at the academy during this time. Mask . And again my heart hit my feet and i read the report and i immediately contacted the cnn reporter. She immediately contacted me back and said i had been looking for you. Your name is in mr. Sport and ive been looking for you. And it was clear to me that even though i had been in therapy all those years that i had not healed. And like i mentioned that my testimony i was wiping my sons runny nose with my phone up to my ear listening to her tell me that i still dont have support. Ive been suffering since june. I went back into therapy and finally found a great counselor who diagnosed me with complex ptsd. And that was in many ways a blessing for me because i finally had a diagnosis for this thing that i hope you were just personality quirks for the last 20 years were actually ptsd. I dont know if that answers your question fully. You bet it does. Can i ask you about something you said it few minutes ago talking about that when you were at the academy talking about carrying people on your back and pushing them up over the wall thing Obstacle Course and none of them would come forward and support you and you said something that struck me. He 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 leader shoulders. The bigger the stripes the bigger the threat. We all know this. Walk us through that. What was the threat . That they supported you and they said shes telling the truth what would happen quick i would be blacklisted in the way. I dont know how else to explain that. Every person that has gotten into the Service Academy knows how difficult it is and how driven and how hardworking you have to be to get there. Its not like the normal acceptance routine that most kids have to go through to get to college. They are very very special people. They are talented and hardworking and they are smart. And to get there you have to work your tail off. And to be, to stay there you have to work equally as hard and it was a lot to lose. To be kicked out put on the street without any va help for depression or suicidal thoughts. Its 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 turned down the Naval Academy to go there too. Ive been, after one semester was out on the street. It was a lot to lose. Yes, it is and just help me understand come help us understand the culture. Leadership doesnt want, they dont want to hear it but there is retaliation and repercussion. If someone supports you they will get blacklisted because the leadership doesnt want to deal with the problem. Explain that piece of it to us. Why not just say, why was the leadership in your casing this is unbelievable, this is terrible and a crime. For many of you it is a crime to describe. Its not just bad behavior, its criminal behavior. Help us understand the culture that says oh we are just going to see no evil, hearim no evil d look the other way. We dont want to deal with it. If you press the issue be setbacks when i was assaulted the next i was rape. They just said we have to silence you and shut this down. Help us get to their mindset. They do keep in mind i was only there for one semester some i experience would beha more limid than the other ladies up here. Like others have touched on theres a fear of retaliation and then the academy itself is an incredibly, especially her freshman year is incredibly strong Pressure Cooker type environment. When i was there you arent allowed to have cellphones. You werent allowed to have ipads. Ib so theres no music. Theres no connection to the outside world and you have two be on squares. I dont know if you know what that is. You are trained. You have to have your eyes on the book. Theres no relief from the pressure. And i forget exactly where i was going with that, excuse me. Its a Pressure Cooker type environment that creates this difficulty in trying to youre just taking care of yourself. You are in survival mode so to speak. And so its hard to see someone suffer and then to speak out about it because it might spotlight you. So if you are guilty of consuming alcohol under age are guilty of doing something that would merit a demerit, you just keep your shut. I cant handle the merits on my record. I had bad grades and i dont want to spotlight myself. So to get it out of the way and i hope that answers your question. I would be interested in her sponsor that question question from everybody. Please go ahead. Senator hawley will try to make this as macrois possible given my 12 years. Every level of my renovation from a cadet to the front office of commandant advisory the frot office staff from 2016 until i was medically retired in 2019 for 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 each other for each other. I call these people the gatekeepers. Time and time again i would go to these gatekeepers, my immediate boss who was in 05 commander. 06 and that it would come to them with legitimate problems with reams and reams of data. Example, 2016 we had a retention problem then and its only gotten worse. I tried to bring this to the awareness of admirals and was told out right not to do it. The gatekeepers prohibited access to him so that they did not have to give them bad news. The reason they did this is because they were up for promotion. I hate to say it, i honestly hate to be the one to call this out but but this is the reality. This is it. They want to make the next rank andup they want to become a captain. The captain wants to becomei an admiral and they want to join a socalled esteemed and privilege club. Thats exactly what it is and they dont care about the carnage left in their wake. They do not care about their loyalty to the oath. They dont care. They just want to make the next rank and ive seen it. At the academy at the seniormost level and ive seen it time and time and time and again. Well i really do applaud my colleagues optimism i have seen the reality and ive not been then out that long. I resigned, 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 there, it refused toer do something they could easily do tonight. Te should admiral begin do something she could recall every single one of those Senior Leaders tonight. She could charge them under her Authority Given to her by the ucmj and she could hold them accountable butt the unspoken ad the unwritten rule that i ive learned from my own experience, and again i need the caveat is that not everyone in the flag or not and are bad. Many, many are good. But the onesom in power, the wat to make the decisions and the ones who overrule criminal conviction are the ones who often stay the longest and rise to the ranks to the highest point. And then when you add in the complexity of the gatekeeper and 06 a one star commander they are simply not getting the information that they need. And thats just the reality of the situation. It comes down to individual ego and their need and desiree to promote for power. Thank you senator hawley. I think we have time for additional questions. Im going to ask some and if you have any. Let me begin by asking you about a specific incident to prove your point. Thereve been public reports that the coast guard leadership declined to courtmartial professor after he was found to have had Inappropriate Communications with the student. Even though investigators recommended charges for conduct unbecoming an officer and willful dereliction of duty. I think you experienced harassment from the captain. Let me ask you about that experience and what was the decision not to prosecute and what it tells you about this culture of coverup . I think that what has happened and forgive me i know longer address him as captain because frankly i dont believe he deserves that level of respect according to that position so i just call him glenn. But i think its a perfect example in the most visible example and certainly one of the most welldocumented examples. Here you have a situation where captain of the United States coast guard activeduty captain who was the dean of the Humanities Department over years not only reached out inappropriately touched them inappropriately and forbid my knowledge and i cant confirm or deny this because its just through rumors had with cadets as well and continued to do it for years. When i first started having interactions with glenn ive reported it. Ive reported it to a midlevel officer at the academy and the impression i received from that conversation was the reality is reporting aside he is untouchable. He is productive that very protected at high levels and we know its happening we are aware of it and they are unaware of it and nothing will be done. When i learned, and this is the only reason im here today. Like my my colleagues that was founded to place physically emotionally and mentally to put all this behind me. It took me almost four years after my suicide attempts to regain any semblance of composure and rationality and reality. The impacts were devastating. I cannot understand. Its devastating on the reason im here today is because the classmate sent me a news article that they were opening a Womens College so a known sexual predator within our organization documented and verified, substantiated with not only allowed to retire with honors and a pension they wrote him a letter of recommendation endorsing his integrity and his character and they continue to , protect him. The sad reality is i have receive communications with civilians, civilians who have been impacted by his conduct. We knowingly left a sexual predator into the world to become in another position of power and not just once. To colleges where multiple women have been impacted. This is not a textbook case of exactly what im mentioning. I honestly do not know what it is. And to my knowledge as of today they still done nothing. They could bring him back and even if they could substantiate substantiate substantiate charges under rape retaliation or bowling or the numerous outlined in the mca they could easily charge him with dereliction of duty. They choose not to. And that is the problem right there at its core. Ms. Maro i was struck by you telling us that the coast guard wouldnt give you your own records and by your question what are they hiding . Thats the question that lingers here and will linger after this testimony and will be the challenge for this committee. And it will be a focus for this committee and demanding the emails that go to the reasons for example of senator hawley said for three and a half years the report was withheld. With was the result of an investigation that started in 2014. It took six years to complete even though it was covering only a limited time period and a limited number of and then in january of 2020, to june of 2023 nothing. Until cnn disclosed it. If cnn hadnt disclosed it, we might still not know about it. So maybe talk about what you think this concealment of your records and other facts that are important for us to know to us means to us us. And i think you that question and i appreciate the chance to answer that. The report came out and i immediately filed for a foia request. It was denied. Like i mentioned at that point i reached out directly to the Coast Guard Academy just trying to do my best to gather as much about my file isis possible. It was clear there was a lot missing because the very last piece of paper that was and not 132 page file by the way and i was only there for a semester with this email. It was frompi the then civilian professor that i confided in to my companyme commander calling e unstable in this email to my Company Commander and at the very end he has a very small side mentioning something about harassment and assault in the barracks and i trust you are looking to at this. The bottom theres a handwritten note from my Company Commander, it looks like to then, don cadet commander saying this turned out not to be about Sexual Harassment but a dispute with her first Quest Division leader who wouldnt let her boyfriend study with her during study hour. My Company Commander who wrote that note never talk to me about this. He never got that information from me and this was the last thing that was in my file. I noticed the rest of the investigation that supposedly happened was not in their so i went back to the person at the academy asking her where the remainder was. Ppall of a sudden i found myself talking to the current commandant commander castellazzo told me to submit a foia for my own personal reasons. I shared my frustrations with the foia process. They would reserve the right to redact anything and everything. Even that aside should have tipped foia for my own document. They are mine and they belonged to me. Further to expand on that i was working with a staff member up on the Commerce Committee after the hearing be held in july with the admiral and she had her boots on the ground in august i believe that the academy to investigate what came up. And the academy released part of that investigation into her without my express permission. They academy released documentation to Congress Without my permission and they wouldnt release it to me. I so i think you. I have one more question because i know we are going to hear from people that this is really regrettable and its too bad the members of the coast guard had to go through this experience and frankly we got this comment a lot. Dont you have Better Things to do and that you have mourned porton things . This is about National Security but the coast guard is a military service. They not only rescue people who are desperate at sea they interdictt illegal drugs. They provide essential National Security services for the coast is a really important military Security Institution and let me just ask colonel fenner is an air force member not a member of the coast guard but as they historian and scholar would you agree this issue is a National Security and National Defense issue . Absolutely sir and thank you for the question. As an historian it is shocking that it is not new. Its shocking that it has continued for so long. But to speak to National Security again i have a background that secretary austin tried to emphasize over a short tenure, the people drive the ships, the people rescued the other people. The people fire the weapons. So ifd you dont take care of your people and their families then you have this recurring problem in at this retention problem in this readiness problem. All of the associated problems of Mental Health and depression and then you have an effective ready force to put in the field under stress and under fire. So taking care of these people, all the people meant it that didnt have these experiences and the aftermath of their loved ones being assaulted and ostracized in this way, all of us and it is true of senator johnson that one can ask themselves where are these people with daughters and wives and sisters and some in some cases who are not outraged and who are not taking corrective action. That is to me shocking that Everybody Knows somebody and yet nobody knows anybody. On the plus side a historical story in the 1940s women were part of preparedness and they made up their own uniforms that they could be militaristic and they were going to do homefront things. All of the generals on the joint staff did not want women in the service to actually serve. And specifically in the reserves. Then the dodgers started talking to their fathers and all of a sudden the whole bunch of generals were converted to a green to put women in the military. How do we affect the fathers and brothers and the spouses . In my case and a Sexual Harassment i was a faculty member. It was my male colleagues who helped me report and supported me. When demand are interested in this problem on a larger scale as the women are we might see a changeth in a positive directio. Thank you sir. So nick thank you. Senator johnson. Thank you miss her term. But before he is the rational trying to keep women of the surface is we want to protect them. So now the women are showing how they are and we are doing up good job protecting them. And we are trying to protect them from the enemy and yet the enemy within is the problem now. Ms. Maro i hope youre successful in your foia report and if you are thats what youre going to get. What i would suggest the first subpoena we should issue and we should not wait to subpoena the records to be delivered to ms. Maro she deserves to have her Service Records. She deserves to have them now. I would request if its possible to subpoena somebody else. She can do whatever she wants but she deserves those Service Record so i would suggest a subpoena. Also i would say we have someone currently serving her firstclass cadet holmstrup. We have all kinds of whistleblower protections in the laws and they are not very effective. Its really sick. But how effective and pervasive retaliation against courageous people who come forward and congress. I want tois make sure the coast guard and the service is on notice that this committee will not tolerate any. Retaliation against any witness here. Thats extremely important. Again i want to talk about how effective then import this testimony was. I have an opening question. Why doesnt somebody step forward and in answering senator hawleys question particularly in your case ms. Maro at, not looking for promotion and all of an sudden you see this scandal that could erupt where a female cadet is while 20 other cadets witnessed it and giggled about it. Now you are going to, lose the class of 20, 30 maybe morere individuals and im not condoning itit at all but you hp me understand why this is not been addressed. And its all about promoting and that would be a on my career i do want to be the, bound in an academy with that scandal erupted so i would imagine theres an lot of pressure and not condoning it at all. The thank you again for your testimony. It got me to understand a whole lot more about what thesc problm is. Again. As witnesses they will basically said the solution here is accountability and exposure which requires this committee to the absolute dedicated to issubpoena and make sure these records are made available so we can expose them and get the truth so there can be accountability. Thank you senator johnson. Senator hawley. Y. I want to followup with something you said but he said a second ago this is about a National Security which i completely agree with but its also about the its one thing to have Corporate Leaders come in here and lie to us and frankly they do it all the time. We have people coming into this hearing room and lie and mislead us and withhold information and when our own government does it it is absolutely, to say its unacceptable doesnt begin, with we opt to have a salty language you are talking about earlier. Op we couldnt keep this hearing. She and say what needs to be said. The fact that these people, this leadership commissioned this report in 2014 which was too late and sat on it for years and not just sat on it. Actively worked to conceal it is unbelievable. I just want to say im glad we have the press here. H for the leadership of the coat guard it is not acceptable and i tido want to see any more memos from you where we say say we to work on our culture. We are past that point now. You have lied to us. They liedm to you they have lid to the American People. Are need to sit where you sitting take the oath and explain to the country what has gone on. Thats what needs to happen. I want to hear anymore of it and i dont want the hear about the memos were anymore if we will do better next time you we are past all of that. We are past that. They broke in our trust. And frankly when you see the trust constantly broken institution after institution of government its no wonder people across this country are in despair. Its unbelievable. If you want to make a comment i will yield my time to you. I appreciate that. With what you just said hawley at what senator johnsons remarks were i think we should all take a moment to reflect on the idea that linda fagan the commandant of the coast guard the first woman commandant ofmo the coastre guard we should be cheering that, right quests its exciting. She is a chance to make this right but i also think its important for us to sit and think about her predecessor left herr with this report in her inbox. She was left to hold this bag from her predecessoror. He is in retirement right now. Sipping a mite send a beach somewhere, dont know whatever retired admirals do with their free time, not sure but i think that both admiral schultz and admiral fagan should come in here. And explain to you all first of all admiral fagan the inconsistencies to her testimony to the Commerce Committee where she said everyone was contacted and everyone on whom she had jurisdiction over was punished by a Lieutenant Commander. I was not contacted. She should come and explain herself and also think admiral schultz should come in here and explain himself and why he left the operation in her inbox but thats all i had to say. Thank you. Thank you miss a maro. You have read our minds. We are certainly going to pursue those two individuals and others and im heartened by the bipartisan support we have for this. Senator hassan. In the thank you chairman blumenthal and Ranking Member johnson for holding this important hearing and to the comments just now mourn partly thank you to all of our words is for your willingness to come before the committee today and testify about your experiences and your courage and your bravery and we are grateful for that. I am deeply disturbed as are the other membersrs of this committe but the coast guardyo inadequate and unjust response to Sexual Assault and harassment at the Coast Guard Academy and the service. It took nearly 40 years for the coast guard andco the academy to take a hard look at its culture forr addressing Sexual Assault and another six or seven years to complete its investigation. And then it took the agency another two and a half years to release the findings of its investigation. Whether it stems from what negligence or malfeasance is unacceptable. The coast guard buried the anchor report for so long. The women and men at the coast guard commit their lives to theirig country and to keeping l of us safe secure and free and they deserve it system that treats them with fairness and dignity and Holding Wrongdoers Accountable recognize the coast guard treats cadets as secondclass citizens undermines its own mission as a result. Co with that i did want to ask a question. I know from others who have been following this hearing all morning a number of my questions have been answered so im not going to make you go through all of that again but i did want cadets holmstrup starting with you in your testimony he explained how your attacker was able to continue to harass you including violating a no contact order even after youve made the unrestricted report the unrestricted reported academy also noted the academy supported handling of your initial report and the reporter ongoing harassment contribute to your trauma. How could the academy better pulled its responsibility to protect victims from continued harassment and renewed trust in the misconduct reporting process . The nick thank you senator for that question. I do believe that there are many things that were dropped in my case. One of those things that i asked for in my written testimony is about special Victims Council. I did not have the ability to understand what was going on with myy case. I like caitlyn talk to foia. I have seen the entirety of it as well. And neither did my lawyer at the time. 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 and they said well, he is going to be out soon so that was kind of my response until they Defense Authorization act of 2021. Same they are still work to be done. I had one other followup. You can each answered or choose notorio to. But what kind of pressure if any did you face from the institutions related to how you made your report . Its like what kind of push back the to get and we will start with you and go right down the line. Senator as i stated i received demerits for having the door broken and i didnt make a report. Eni thought well thats what thy think of this. Thats the signal they sent, right . Okay. Senator i felt very much supported when i made my report. They sent it up the chain correctly and they made everything on the checklist, i was investigated by the coast guard Investigative Services however it was the aftermath of that and some of the policies that congress enacted that really hindered my case and contributed to that trauma. Thank you. Ms. Maro. I didnt receive necessarily any demerits for any specific punishment but i did this thing started to progress during my investigation get comments, threatening comments from cadets and leadership positions over me. Prone of my firstclass cadets that was in the division told me that i was looking for somebody to blame on my way out because i was struggling academically. I just wanted to see the world firstgrader first. They didnt receive anything specific. My investigation happened so quickly andde i decided to leave in the middle of my investigation before it was completed and i have documentationre that i received from ac. Senate staffer that received part of my investigation and not me. Some of these letters were forwarded to me and as soon as left theth administrative investigation did not conclude. So i dont even know if i have anything. Thank you and those comments reflect culture along with the leadership lack of action. Lieutenant. Yes, senator again i never reported anything because they know at that point my career wouldwi be over before it had en started. I did absolutely get a demerit prefer example i had a. We had to release him when he was caught and that was three demerits and i at my window open that was three demerits. I never received demerits in retaliation. I never reported anything but what i will say is i representative a first class could that when i was secondclass. She was a sophomore and i was a junior and she told me in confidence about extensive harassment by a group of youngca women. These young men called themselves the gentlemansd t. I told her that i spoke with her at length about the reality and how we should approach this and i said i will support you. If we both go down we both go down but i will go down doing the right thing with you. We ended up coming forward in all of those four individuals, only one was required to leave. He was later allowed to reenlist in the coast guard in michigan, my home state. So this individual who has a misconduct charge was forced out of the academy got to reenlist into the coast guard and is currently serving. So the lesson becomes abundantly clear to all of us who do report, if you do report this is what is going to happen. The majority of this frankly do not because we die you are career and they want to do well and we want to help others and we dont want to jeopardize our own safety in their own health. Time and time again this is exactly what happens. With your indulgence mr. Chair at like two here from the colonel to. Im certainly in a Different Group but to indicate no matter howat much change there is nothg changes perry. Two quick incidences because over the years it happens a lot in the first case as i was harassed as a faculty member at the airs force academy the department levied and the administrative procedure and put a letter of reprimand in two or the more senior officer then my folder that comes out when he transfers but they did transfer him away. They put himth in charge of basc training at Lackland Air Force base instead of getting him out of the chain where he could have assaulted and harassed people and he did retire from the service. The second instance i was on the faculty apparently a number of young women felt comfortable coming to me that they had either been assaulted or harassed. I collected their stories and confided in another faculty may prove somehow that got to the commandant. I was called into the, dont office outside of my chain of command and asked why they weren coming to me, who was it and what they said. I refuse to give in to anything and then they said why dont they us text and a set with all due respect this is why they dont you. As the captain and faculty member outside of the chain of command you get called on the carpet. What a shocking still happening. And i think you all for being here and for your bravery and courage. Thanks. Thank you senator have hassan but i think we have reached a conclusion but i want to thank my colleagues and i am just left with amazement and determination that we will pursue this matter, amazement at your courage and tenacity and your determination and we are going to make sure that they rely on whatever truth telling tools we have two make sure to eliminate and uncover whatever we can hear. I mentioned the statistics before an estimated 51 of cadet women have had an experience with that criteria of Sexual Harassment in just the past year. 51 . 28. 3 of female cadets said they have experienced unwanted contact since entering the academy. 15 , only 15 who experienced unwanted misconduct in the last year reported it and now have experienced retaliation. This is not ancient history. This is a 2022 survey. Last year. So i respect the leadership of the academy. We all know that the new superintendent is and 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 havepr information. Normally we would leave the record open for two weeks but im going to leave it open until february 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 if he wants to submit their story as a number havee done already to us you can do it anonymously. We will take it and make it part of the record. Senator johnson. I want to thank the witnesses and i want to thank you for this is an important hearing and im truly dedicated to doing everything we can to get subpoenas. These folks are not going to cooperate. So we will have two use every compulsory process for to extract the truth out of these folks but im dedicated to doing it and i want to join you in doing so. Again thank you so much for your service and thanks for your testimony. This hearing is adjourned. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]