Blumenthal Applauds Reforms Included in NDAA to Support Sexual Assault Survivors in the Coast Guard

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Ranking Member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, applauded Senate passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026, which includes several provisions Blumenthal championed to support sexual assault survivors within the Coast Guard.

"I am proud of the significant reforms in this bill that will help protect current cadets and Coasties from the kind of harrassment, abuse, and retaliation uncovered by my investigation," Blumenthal said. "There is still significantly more work that needs to be done to combat the Coast Guard's culture of coverup, but these provisions are an important first step."

In September 2023, as then-Chair of PSI, Blumenthal initiated an inquiry into the Coast Guard's failure to disclose Operation Fouled Anchor, an internal Coast Guard investigation into the decades-long systemic mishandling of sexual misconduct at the Coast Guard Academy. The NDAA includes numerous provisions requested by Blumenthal to protect survivors of misconduct and hold accountable perpetrators of sexual misconduct and those who enabled them, including:

• Requiring the Coast Guard to maintain, for at least 50 years, evidence of sexual misconduct and sexual assault reporting forms, as well as affirming survivors' rights to access records related to their investigations;

• Requiring a record of a complaint of misconduct to be placed in the non-restricted record of any service member who was convicted by courts martial, punished administratively, or a recipient of non-judicial punishment for the misconduct, regardless of grade;

• Permits a Board of Review to review and downgrade the discharge status of anyone who was found by clear and convincing evidence to have committed sexual assault or harassment while on active duty;

• Permits reopening of retired grade determinations for members who knew of and failed to report misconduct in their command or who failed to carry out applicable law; and

• Requires the Coast Guard to annually report instances of misconduct at the Academy and detail plans to reduce and prevent such misconduct for the next year.

Blumenthal also supported provisions to improve the Coast Guard Academy, including:

• Requiring the door to each cadet room to be equipped with a functioning electronic door lock to prevent unauthorized access, and

• Establishing concurrent jurisdiction with the state of Connecticut over the full Academy grounds, ensuring survivors of sexual assault and harassment have access to the civilian justice system.

Blumenthal also led the Coast Guard Academy Safe-to-Report Act, provisions of which were included in the final NDAA. This legislation will protect survivors of sexual assault at the Coast Guard Academy and throughout the service, requiring Coast Guard to implement a safe-to-report policy to protect servicemembers and cadets from punishment for minor infractions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice when reporting incidents of sexual assault.

Background on the PSI Investigation into the

Coast Guard's Sexual Misconduct Coverup

In September 2023, under Blumenthal's leadership, PSI opened a bipartisan inquiry into the Coast Guard's internal review of sexual assault and harassment cases that occurred between 1990 and 2006, which was called Operation Fouled Anchor. The Subcommittee's inquiry focused on the Coast Guard's original mishandling of these cases and the Coast Guard's failure to reveal the conclusion of Operation Fouled Anchor, and its associated report, to Congress and the public. The Subcommittee also examined the ways in which the Coast Guard currently handles reports of sexual assault and harassment. The full text of the Senators' initial letter to the Coast Guard is available here.

In December 2023, the Subcommittee held a hearing in which four current and former Coast Guard Academy cadets testified about the Coast Guard's mishandling of their cases. Video of the Subcommittee's hearing in December featuring testimony from survivors can be viewed here.

In February 2024, the Subcommittee released additional documents showing that the Coast Guard was concerned that, should Operation Fouled Anchor be made public, it would "risk the initiation of comprehensive Congressional investigations, hearings, and media interest" and that "[t]he rates of sexual assault reporting have not appreciably changed, calling into question impact of Coast Guard actions taken over the past decade to change CGA climate/etc." Handwritten notes on one document, which according to the Coast Guard were made by then-Vice Commandant Admiral Charles Ray, state, "Problem is one of the past... ."

In June 2024, Admiral Linda Fagan, then-Commandant of the Coast Guard, testified before PSI. The Subcommittee's hearing invitation to Admiral Linda Fagan is available here, and the video of Admiral Fagan's testimony in June 2024 is available here.

In August 2024, Blumenthal released a majority staff report highlighting firsthand accounts of Coast Guard enlisted personnel, officers, and Coast Guard Academy cadets who have experienced sexual assault, harassment, and other forms of misconduct ahead of a field hearing in New London, Connecticut, featuring testimony from two current and three former members of the Coast Guard. The majority staff report highlighting the testimony of survivors of sexual assault and harassment in the Coast Guard is available here.

In December 2024, Blumenthal released a bipartisan interim staff report on the inquiry into the Coast Guard's efforts to conceal the investigation into mishandled cases of sexual assault and harassment at the Coast Guard Academy. The report, Coast Guard Efforts to Conceal the Operation Fouled Anchor Investigation from Congress and the Public, includes several newly released documents, among which is an email explaining that then-Commandant Admiral Schultz chose not to affirmatively disclose Operation Fouled Anchor to either Congress or the public based on the continuing nature of the investigation.

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