GAO: USCG needs to act further on sexual assault and harassment

Image: GAO

A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) finds that while the U.S. Coast Guard has taken actions to address sexual assault and harassment (SASH) it has not developed a plan to assess its efforts.

In a 2020 internal investigation called “Operation Fouled Anchor,” notes GAO, the Coast Guard examined 102 separate allegations of sexual assault from 1990 to 2006 at the Coast Guard Academy and concluded that the academy often mishandled these cases. More recently, service members reported a total of 263 sexual harassment allegations between September 2020 through April 2023, according to Coast Guard data. After media reporting on Operation Fouled Anchor in June 2023, the Commandant directed a 90-day review of policy processes, practices, and service culture relevant to countering sexual assault and harassment in the Coast Guard. The resulting report identified areas for organizational improvement to ensure a culture of accountability and transparency.

In November 2023, the Commandant directed the Coast Guard to implement 33 initial actions by certain dates to address the findings of the review and help ensure service members have an experience free from sexual assault and harassment .

The actions span six categories, including training, the academy, and information and data. According to Coast Guard officials, the agency had completed five actions as of February 2024.

“However,” says GAO, “the service has not developed an evaluation plan to assess the results of its 33 initial actions. According to Coast Guard officials, they have had discussions about assessing the results of the actions but have not developed plans or mechanisms to do so because measuring culture change is difficult. However, these officials identified certain resources, such as employee surveys and Department of Defense officials, that could prove useful in this effort.

“Developing an evaluation plan and mechanisms for assessing the effectiveness of actions taken to improve its culture of accountability and transparency would better ensure that Coast Guard has the information it needs to evaluate whether the actions are helping service members have an experience free from sexual assault and harassment. Further, taking these steps would help ensure the service is improving its culture, which could assist in the recruitment and retention of its workforce.”

• Download the Coast Guard’s final report on the “Fouled Anchor” investigation HERE
• Download the full GAO report HERE