“We cannot have the media be the policeman on the beat.” Maria Cantwell, chair of the Senate Commerce Committee said at a subcomittee hearing Thursday. We cannot tolerate the fact that the Coast Guard did not notify us this,” Sen.

“It is heartbreaking, maddening, frustrating and untolerable where we are today with this sexual abuse and assault within the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard only briefed members of Congress in June about the secret investigation after inquiries from CNN. A 2019 draft report stemming from the probe, exclusively reviewed by CNN, concluded academy leadership had been more concerned about reputation than victims’ wellbeing.ĭespite findings of wrongdoing, the probe was quietly closed. The chairwoman of the Senate Commerce Committee called for an inspector general investigation into the US Coast Guard in the wake of revelations of systemic mishandling of sexual assault allegations at the US Coast Guard Academy.ĬNN recently revealed that Coast Guard leadership for years kept confidential the findings of a probe that revealed a history of rapes, assaults and other serious misconduct at the US Coast Guard Academy from the late 1980s to 2006 that officials ignored or even covered up.