A Coast Guard Academy official steps down, alleging she was instructed to deceive Congress during a 'cruel' sexual assault cover-up.
Shannon Norenberg has decided to step down from her position as the head of sexual assault prevention at the Coast Guard Academy and also issued a formal apology to the victims. In a statement, she expressed her discontent with the way she was used by the organization, calling it a "deep betrayal."
Norenberg claims she was made to participate in a cover-up over Operation Fouled Anchor, an investigation into the Coast Guard's history of ignoring sexual abuse claims. This revelation comes before Congressional hearing where the current Commandant, Linda Fagan, is expected to testify.
According to Norenberg, she's been working with survivors for over a decade and was utterly dismayed when she uncovered evidence of the old records that showed how leaders had exploited her role in the cover-up of the operation. In 2019, she was given a list of topics to cover during briefings with the assault victims. One of these topics was that Congress was already aware of the operation, something she found out was not true later.
The Coast Guard argued that it was a mistake to have that topic in the list given to Norenberg, maintaining that it was not a conspiracy but a genuine mistranslation. They also added that an interview with a retired Coast Guard officer who was present during these meetings confirmed Norenberg never brought up the topic. Norenberg, on the other hand, had one-on-one calls with some of the victims, which might not have been attended by the retired officer.
In her statement, she commented on how she would have notified the lawmakers if she knew they weren't aware of the happenings. "Why should anyone trust anything the Coast Guard has to say about Operation Fouled Anchor now?", she asked.
Additionally, she claimed that she was instructed not to provide the victims with essential documents that could have helped them access mental health services and veterans' benefits and that the whole cover-up had been orchestrated to maintain the Coast Guard's image and to avoid any scandals.
Admiral Fagan has been facing backlash for her handling of the situation for quite some time now. Despite her repeated promises of reform, a series of controversies has surfaced, underscoring the ongoing sexual misconduct issues at the Coast Guard.
In recent weeks, Facebook accounts anonymously dedicated to exposing how sexual assault cases have been mishandled and covered up in the Coast Guard and not just at the academy have gathered a huge following. One of the anonymous account holders known as Whistler McGee wrote, "They cannot bury this... do not let them scare you. The floodgates are open." Their response came after several users shared their experiences of sexual assault and harassment. In response to this, Fagan emailed the workforce and encouraged victims to make formal reports, but some users ridiculed this response. One user wrote, "Are you even listening? Do you grasp the overall issue which sparked all these discussions? Reporting incidents is your best course of action right now? THE REPORT SYSTEM HAS FAILED far too many of our members."
In an effort to educate the public about sexual assault, three Coast Guard survivors shared their stories on camera. However, the officials in charge warned that publicly promoting these testimonials would "continue to exacerbate the narrative ... that the Coast Guard is in a sexual assault crisis now". The videos were later posted on the Coast Guard's website, but only after the survivors released them online themselves. The Coast Guard attributed the delay in posting the videos to internal debates and preparations for media and congressional attention.
Last year, 32 Coast Guard officers were set for promotion, but due to concerns about their past misconduct, President Joe Biden was asked to withdraw and resubmit their names. Among the two officers removed from the list, one was accused of making inappropriate sexual comments, and the other for having "negative matters of record associated with sexual assault."
Yet another Coast Guard officer, who was to be promoted to a high-level position, is currently under investigation for sexually harassing and groping a cadet who reported him two decades earlier. The details surfaced during the testimony of the former cadet at a congressional hearing, but the criminal investigation was not started until months later when the woman alerted senators about his name on a promotion list. Records revealed that the officer was reported for sexual harassment at a Florida bar last year. The Coast Guard confirmed the former cadet's allegations are under investigation.
Over the past few months, multiple Coast Guard officials, including two chaplains, have been removed from their positions due to a loss of confidence. The Coast Guard's top chaplain was removed after he failed to take adequate action when he learned of another chaplain's misconduct. In a statement after his removal, the chaplain said he believed he had reported the matter at the time, but now understands that the information may not have made it to all the right people.
As pressure mounts on Fagan, lawmakers have become increasingly frustrated with the Coast Guard's handling of the controversy. Senator Ted Cruz's office discovered non-disclosure agreements given to victims under Fouled Anchor that stopped them from speaking publicly about their assault. In a letter to Fagan, Cruz criticized the practice. The agency responded by issuing a directive to no longer execute these agreements for victims.
Lawmakers have also questioned Fagan's evasion of congressional oversight during the various government investigations and why those responsible for covering up misconduct have not been held accountable. They demanded that she appear at a Senate hearing on Tuesday, accusing the Coast Guard of avoiding congressional inquiry and making another attempt to cover up the embarrassing truths of their mishandling of cases involving sexual assault and sexual harassment.
Norenberg's allegations have also been brought to the attention of senators and are expected to be part of the discussion at the hearing. Her attorney told CNN about this.
“They didn’t care about the impact on us or why we wanted to share this information,” said a former Coast Guard Academy cadet who was visited by a Coast Guard criminal investigator in 2018. She had reported being raped by a classmate in 2005. However, despite being found that the alleged rapist had had non-consensual sexual intercourse with her, no criminal charges were filed. After giving her interview as part of Fouled Anchor, she said she never heard from the Coast Guard again about her case.
Not even Norenberg knew the full extent of the Fouled Anchor scandal until CNN's investigation, which showed that the operation had been quietly closed and concealed from Congress by agency leaders. This resulted in some perpetrators climbing to high-ranking positions within the Coast Guard and other military agencies while some victims quit the academy after their assaults and have been dealing with the consequences to their careers and mental and physical health.
Norenberg spoke about how she started having doubts about her association with the Fouled Anchor following CNN's news reports. She went through her files and discovered a five-page list of talking points that, according to her, proved that her involvement was actually an attempt to shield the Coast Guard's image instead of assisting victims in rebuilding their lives. About this discovery, she knew she had to quit.
Norenberg shared with CNN her discontent that many of the issues uncovered by the Fouled Anchor, such as offenders not facing punishment and victims confronting retaliation for speaking up, continue to exist now even with claims of change from Commandant Fagan. Her expectation was that through her work leading the Coast Guard Academy's sexual assault prevention initiatives and aiding victims, she could enhance the cultural norms. She affirmed her efforts to assist victims in filing official reports, hence investigating their allegations, and improving access to victim advocates, but she continued to worry about the absence of appropriate consequences for several perpetrators. Rare indeed were criminal prosecutions, she explained, with only three instances before the academy court-martial trials throughout the 11 years she served there. Additionally, she frequently raised concerns with academy superiors regarding offenders ejected from the academy being permitted to enlist in the armed forces.
Norenberg informed superiors of her plan to resign in late May. In the process of deciding her next steps, she connected with a legal representative named Ryan Melogy. She came across Melogy after he represented a US Merchant Marine Academy student whose rape allegations set off a movement within the commercial shipping sector years ago. When she informed Melogy of her thinking about publicly expressing her worries, he inquired if she had been following the recent social media activism.
At that point, she was unaware of it. Nevertheless, upon reviewing the series of posts, including numerous cases where employees reported misbehavior and yet received no response, she gained more confidence to share her concerns. Being a survivor of military sexual assault herself, she articulated that her personal experience of being raped by a boot camp instructor when she was 18 had influenced her profession, and now compelled her to become vocal.
She mentioned that seeing numerous people sharing their stories of feeling misled by the Coast Guard motivated her. Hoping for a shift in attitude, she intends to establish a YouTube channel to converse with survivors.
"Maybe this is the time when people will finally listen to us," she asserted.
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Norenberg mentioned that she was asked to include the topic of Congress's awareness of Operation Fouled Anchor in the list of topics for her briefings with victims, but she later found out that this was not actually the case.
In her statement, Norenberg expressed her concern that the Coast Guard had instructed her not to provide essential documents to victims that could have helped them access mental health services and veterans' benefits.
