Coast Guard whistleblowers recount sexual assaults and leadership failures
Aug. 8—NEW LONDON — An assault during an X-ray procedure. A car ride that turned uncomfortably sexual. A gang rape carried out by shipmates.
Those stories and others were shared by a panel of past and active enlisted U.S. Coast Guard members during a congressional subcommittee hearing Thursday aimed at spotlighting the emotional and physical damage suffered by service members and their subsequent re-victimization by superiors who failed to address the crimes.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs' Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, hosted the 2 1/2-hour hearing inside Connecticut College's Evans Hall that featured testimony from five Coast Guard enlistees, including two still on active duty.
Blumenthal said the assaults and harassment suffered by the whistleblowers, as well as the branch's penchant for burying or downplaying such allegations, "revealed a deep moral rot" in the Coast Guard upper echelons.
"This is not a past problem and not limited to the Academy," he asserted, referring to the U.S. Coast Academy located just a street away from the hearing. "It's persistent and pervasive and continues to this day."
Several of the witnesses said they encountered troubling issues soon after leaving boot camp and arriving at their first duty stations. Tina Owen, who served for 22 years before retiring in 2018 as lieutenant commander, recounted being assaulted in an X-ray room by a technician later found to have taken more 100 inappropriate X-rays before being sent to the brig.
Petty Officer 1st Class Crystal Van Den Heuvel, who enlisted right after graduating from high school in 2011, recalled taking recruiter training in 2022 that required her to travel to New Jersey with a fellow trainee.
She said the colleague spent the journey making sexually explicit comments that culminated with him attempting to steal her underwear. But as bad as the abuse was, the way her superiors reacted was just as troubling.
Van Den Heuvel said commanding officers stonewalled the investigation and took a victim-blaming approach to the matter, a tactic the other panelists said mirrored their own experiences.
Chief Warrant Officer Julian Bell, the other active-duty witness, said he was drugged and raped in 2004 by a fellow Coast Guard shipmate and two Navy sailors.
"After that traumatic experience, I felt isolated and alone," he testified. "I worked directly with the person who assaulted me but felt that speaking up would only lead to further ostracization."
Years later, Bell reported the assault, but he said the investigation was closed, as was a second probe. He said the shipmate who assaulted him was allowed to retire soon after.
"The stories of survivors like myself are far too common, and we have a responsibility to change the narrative," Bell said. "We must create an environment rooted in care and transparency."
Two other panelists, Meghan Klement, who served from 2012 to 2015, and Shawna Ward, who retired in 2018 after 24 years of service, both shared their personal stories of being sexually assaulted and their superior's inexplicable decisions to downplay or ignore the incidents.
"When I brought these issues to my leadership, I was told to 'play the game,' " Ward said. "Although I told others what I was experiencing, my concerns were dismissed and was repeatedly told it couldn't be that bad."
Report says sexual misconduct continues
Blumenthal's committee on Wednesday released a report asserting that sexual misconduct in the Coast Guard and at the Coast Guard Academy in New London has been widespread and is ongoing.
According to the report, more than 80 whistleblowers have shared their personal experiences with the subcommittee since it opened an inquiry last September.
The subcommittee began its inquiry after CNN uncovered the existence of "Operation Fouled Anchor," an internal Coast Guard report of the academy's mishandling of sexual assault cases from 1990 to 2006. The Coast Guard launched the investigation in 2014 after a Coast Guard officer disclosed to her supervisor that she had been raped by an upperclassman at the academy in 1997 and that the academy had mishandled the case.
None of the panelists said they were surprised the Coast Guard attempted to bury the report, calling it indicative of a leadership culture that prizes optics above all else.
Bell said it's common for leaders to try and run the clock down on an investigation until a defendant can quietly retire.
"They're more concerned with the image of the Coast Guard," he said. "They're really good at flag-waving — and we do incredible stuff — but that doesn't highlight what needs to be helped."
As part of "Operation Fouled Anchor," the Coast Guard Investigative Service looked into 102 events of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment committed by academy cadets or that otherwise occurred at the academy. The CGIS ultimately identified 63 potential victims and 43 alleged perpetrators.
The "Operation Fouled Anchor" investigation culminated in a Jan. 31, 2020, report that found the academy had previously been aware of allegations against 30 of the 43 alleged perpetrators. Only five of the cases had been reported to CGIS and/or local law enforcement.
The witnesses offered several recommendations to Blumenthal, including having a third-party agency carry out assault and harassment investigations, publicly identifying the accused and pulling retired personnel back to active duty as part of an investigation.
Blumenthal noted other military branches face similar accusations of not addressing sexual assault and harassment complaints, though the Coast Guard is the only one to initiate and then cover-up an investigation.
The witnesses said they were doubtful any meaningful change could be enacted quickly and certainly not until "leaders are willing to do the right thing," Ward said.
Despite their experiences, none of the panelists expressed regret in enlisting in service that lifted some of them out of poverty or provided them with a sense of mission.
"I love the Coast Guard, but I am heartbroken they had 24 years during my career to fix their culture," Ward said.
