The U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn. (David M. Santos/U.S. Coast Guard)
Seven more former U.S. Coast Guard cadets filed claims that they were victims of sexual abuse at the service’s academy, the latest round of complaints tied to the Fouled Anchor scandal.
The Coast Guard now faces $290 million in claims from the sexual assault scandal at its academy in New London, Conn. The administrative complaints were filed Thursday under the Federal Tort Claims Act, the first legal step in initiating a civil lawsuit against the federal government.
The new filings bring the total to 29 cadets and prospective cadets who have filed complaints, according to Christine Dunn, an attorney with the Washington, D.C., law firm Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, which is representing the cadets.
The legal complaints follow a year of scrutiny for the U.S. Coast Guard Academy that began with the revelation that the service concealed a report that found academy officials had routinely mishandled reports of sexual assault among cadets. The report, known as Operation Fouled Anchor, was the result of a six-year internal review of 102 reports of sexual assault and harassment cases at the academy between 1990 and 2006.
Fouled Anchor’s existence became public after CNN learned of the report and the decision in 2020 by the Coast Guard not to release it. Only after the news network reported on Operation Fouled Anchor did Coast Guard officials go to Congress with it. Congressional committees and the Department of Homeland Security inspector general have since opened investigations into the cover-up, and the Coast Guard Investigative Service has begun criminal investigations into the cases included in Fouled Anchor.
Dunn said lawyers expect more claims will be filed in what she called a “collective action” against policies that resulted in sexual assaults at the Coast Guard’s college for officer candidates.
“This is the first systemic and pervasive issue of sexual abuse at any of the service academies,” she said.
The Coast Guard issue a statement Thursday that it would resolve all claims in accordance with federal law.
“The Coast Guard is committed to protecting our workforce and ensuring a safe environment that eliminates sexual assault and sexual harassment, and has devoted significant resources to improving prevention, victim support, and accountability,” the service said.
The claims are filed against the U.S. Coast Guard, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Transportation, which included the Coast Guard until a government realignment in 2003.
The former cadets claim they were assaulted or abused by fellow cadets while attending the academy. The cadets blamed academy rules, including one prohibiting them from locking their dorm room doors.
One woman said in her claim filed Thursday that she woke on several different occasions at the academy to find inebriated, naked male classmates sexually assaulting her. Another said she was drugged by a fellow cadet at a party and was raped after falling asleep on the ride back to her room.
Some cadets said their assailants frequently spread rumors after the assaults about their sexual behavior that ruined their standing at the academy with their classmates. Some said they did not report the incidents because of what they saw as lax or even punitive responses from school officials.
“I did not report my assault due to fear of retaliation,” one former cadet wrote in her claim. “I personally witnessed those who spoke up about sexual assault being subjected to victim-blaming and shaming, getting kicked out of the academy, being removed from the service with no benefits, or losing their appointment.”
Adm. Linda Fagan, the former commandant of the Coast Guard, was fired by President Donald Trump on Jan. 20, the first day of his second term.
Trump said he fired Fagan for “leadership deficiencies, operational failures, and inability to advance the strategic objectives of the U.S. Coast Guard.”
