Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D- Connecticut) discusses this week’s hearing in Washington about the alleged Coast Guard coverup of sexual assault and harassment claims, and next steps when it comes to protecting victims.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D- Connecticut) discusses this week’s hearing in Washington about the alleged Coast Guard coverup of sexual assault and harassment claims, and next steps when it comes to protecting victims.
Mike Hydeck: Covering up sexual assault cases for decades. Keeping investigation results away from Congress for years. Those are just some of the accusations against the Coast Guard and the Coast Guard Academy in New London. Commandant, Admiral Linda Fagan, faced a Senate committee this week to defend the academy.
Adm. Linda Fagan: To the victims survivors, I am truly sorry for what you have had to go through. Our failure to share the report with Congress was a mistake that prevented appropriate oversight and further eroded trust.
Mike Hydeck: Senator Richard Blumenthal is the Chairman of the Permit Subcommittee on investigation. Senator, welcome back. You led the investigation this week questioning Admiral Fagan. Is this a systemic cover up of assault?
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Richard Blumenthal: It is a systemic problem and it involves a cover up, not only specific action, but a culture of concealment. You know, Mike, when we began this investigation about six months ago, we were told by Coast Guard, these issues of assault and harassment are a problem of the past. We have a new organization now. We're committed to full disclosure and transparency and caring about survivors and stopping assault. But what we've seen most recently is dozens, literally as many as 40 or more survivors of assault come forward to us with complaints about problems that have occurred literally within the last few years. So it is far from a problem of the past. It is systemic. It is a problem of the present, still persistent and unacceptably prevalent. And instead of providing for full disclosure, the Coast Guard actually has refused to give us documents that it calls sensitive, which is just another word for embarrassing. And I urge the commandant yesterday to come clean with the American people with full disclosure and specific action, not just rhetoric, but real, working action to stop the harassment.
Mike Hydeck: So Senator, the victim's advocate at the Coast Guard Academy, says in an interview with CNN that she was misled by her superiors, meaning the current commandant, as well, about what victims were supposed to hear when she talked to them. She was so upset, she quit her job and posted an entire reason for it on YouTube. Have you spoken to her yet?
Richard Blumenthal: I have spoken to her. And frankly, the document that she sent to us, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation, was one of the most damning pieces of evidence that I have seen in my 13 years in the United States Senate and as a law enforcement officer for some 25 years before, because she says, not only the Coast Guard lied to her, but it caused her to lie to the survivors and victims, which was not only insulting and painful, but also deprived them of essential care and benefits because they were not given the opportunity to sign certain forms that enabled them to get those care and benefits from the VA. So I've not only talked to her, but I've committed to work with her. And as you said, and I just want to emphasize, she is what is known as the SARC, every major installation has one, Sexual Assault Response Coordinator. She is the one responsible for dealing with instances of assault, and she is saying that the Coast Guard is failing miserably at this task of preventing sexual assault and providing full disclosure.
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Mike Hydeck: So the commandant apologized during the hearing this week, her critics say, though, previous comments she's made about this situation are basically lip service. The investigations and as you mentioned just now, the victims and the benefits were slow rolled. So how do we change that? How do we take the next step so these victims can actually both get due process and the benefits they deserve now, after being denied them for so long?
Richard Blumenthal: Firstly, accountability for the suppression of information, for the concealment of relevant fact, for the culture of cover up. And, number two, specific accountability for anyone and everyone responsible for sexual assault, whether it was yesterday or three years ago or 10 years ago, and the answer she gave to my questions, I don't want to call them lip service, but they were not real action. They were not a commitment to specific measures and when I asked her about 33 recommendations made by a specific group that was given the task of giving a roadmap, 33 specific recommendations, she couldn't tell me which ones have been completed. In fact, as of a few months ago, only five of the 33 were completed. So I think we need a new era, a different chapter, in the way the Coast Guard deals with these cases of sexual assault, to deter them and prevent them and to punish anyone responsible. And I said to her, we need an unsparing commitment to truth telling and to accountability, even if it's embarrassing to your colleagues, even if it is uncomfortable for you, you need to break with the past.
Mike Hydeck: Senator Blumenthal. We have to leave it there. So much more to talk about. We do intend to follow this closely, and we hope to have you back as the investigation continues.
Richard Blumenthal: Thank you very much.
