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The Coast Guard has been in hot water for years over rampant sexual misconduct charges and accusations of cover ups. Things took a dramatic turn last week when lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee wrote a terse letter to Admiral Linda Fagan, the Guard’s Commandant. She was also dragged up on Capitol Hill for an intense grilling by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The latest twist involves recently revealed information on the “Operation Fouled Anchor” probe. When Shannon Norenberg learned from the update she had been used as a pawn and tricked into deceiving victims, she handed in her resignation and went public with her story.
Coast Guard cover-up exposed
U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Linda Fagan wasn’t happy to open her mail last week. She got a nasty letter from the House Oversight Committee, dated June 11, “demanding the release of more documents.” Congress doesn’t enjoy being treated like a mushroom.
They’re being kept in the dark and fed bullcrap. That particular committee has been probing “cultural issues at the military branch” along with charges the Academy mishandled sexual assault cases.
Last July, they politely requested relevant documents. They sent another list in December. The Coast Guard has been unreasonably slow in responding. The letter to Fagan advised they’re “concerned” about the “failure to produce sufficient documents.”
Coast Guard Academy official resigns, says she was directed to lie to Congress as part of ‘cruel’ sexual assault coverup…
Operation Fouled Anchor, a secret internal probe into a history of sexual assault coverups that #CNN exposed last summer.https://t.co/UQlWncfXQI
— 101 Damnations (@otherKellie) June 10, 2024
They’re expecting 1.8 million of them. After nearly a year only 8,338 were provided. They have a pretty good idea what’s behind all the foot-dragging. “Since sending these requests, the committee has heard from whistleblowers.”
Brave inside informants risked their careers to “recount traumatizing experiences.” The part that bothers Congress is that these insiders have “revealed additional cultural deficiencies and alleged incompetence and misconduct by current and former leaders.”
The Coast Guard officials know they’re really in trouble this time. That’s because along with the signature of the committee’s chairman, James Comer, it has approval from the panel’s ranking Democrat, Jamie Raskin, who rarely agrees with Comer on anything.
Ordered to lie
If things weren’t bad enough for Coast Guard brass, former academy official Shannon Norenberg went on social media to hand in her resignation.
The current sexual assault response coordinator at the academy “became ‘literally sick‘ after claiming she was directed to lie to victims of sexual assault from the Operation Fouled Anchor report to cover up the cases from Congress.” That was just one of the shocking things to come to light recently.
In an attempt to do some damage control, the Coast Guard issued an official statement noting “that they offered briefings to victims of the findings in the Operation Fouled Anchor report to spread awareness of support services.” It appears that heads are about to seriously start rolling over this one.
.@SenatorCantwell Can you believe @ComdtUSCG Lying Linda Fagan had known about Operation Fouled Anchor for years, and that she was actively participating in concealing the investigation from you when this pic was taken? Why aren’t u calling 4 her resignation?@commercedems https://t.co/5cTK7UXQ6l
— MLAA (@maritimeleglaid) May 27, 2024
As Norenberg prepared to meet with abuse victims, she was ordered to use certain talking points indicating that Congress had been notified. The truth is that they kicked it around but never actually told anyone. A full 10 months after the talking points were set forth, Congress still hadn’t been told.
In defense, Administrators claim in their statement that “a former member present at each of those meetings reports that the issue of Congressional notification was not addressed with any of the victims.”
Not only that, “furthermore, the Coast Guard is not aware of anyone telling members of that team to lie regarding any aspect of Operation Fouled Anchor.” Not aware is a “safe” answer. Denying the charge outright can be grounds for perjury later.
