[The former leader of the US Coast Guard, Karl Schultz, has defended his decision to withhold explosive findings of an investigation into years of sexual assaults at the agency’s prestigious academy. The investigation, known as “Operation Fouled Anchor,” substantiated dozens of rapes and assault allegations from the late 1980s to 2006 that had been botched by Coast Guard officials at the time.
Schultz, who retired in 2022, said he knew that if he had presented the findings to Congress, lawmakers would have seen it as a political opportunity and would have pressed for more information, which would have been leaked publicly and harmed the victims and some alleged perpetrators who had been exonerated by the investigation.
He also said he did not believe he was under any legal obligation to share the findings with Congress, noting that the agency would not typically brief lawmakers on criminal cases. Schultz had already implemented a number of sexual assault-related reforms, including to improve investigations and better support victims.
However, lawmakers and some assault survivors have criticized Schultz’s decision, saying it was an effort to avoid accountability and protect the perpetrators. House Oversight Committee member Raja Krishnamoorthi called Schultz’s reasoning “absurd” and said he was trying to protect the perpetrators, not the victims.
Schultz’s predecessor, Admiral Paul Zukunft, had planned to brief Congress and issue a public apology to the victims, but he retired before the probe was over. The current leader, Admiral Linda Fagan, has issued a series of apologies and directed reforms to how sexual assault cases are handled across the agency.
The Coast Guard has turned over more than 75,000 documents in response to various committee requests, but lawmakers have criticized the agency for continuing to withhold critical records. The goal of the current congressional investigations is to understand how the agency was kept in the dark about Fouled Anchor for so long and to hold the Coast Guard accountable.
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