Shannon Norenberg, the former sexual assault response coordinator at the United States Coast Guard Academy, recently announced her resignation, saying she was used in a “brutal” attempt by the school to cover up numerous sexual assaults.
last year, CNN An investigation into the Coast Guard Academy uncovered a “disturbing pattern” of alleged cover-ups of rape and assault and that the findings of the investigation were kept secret for years, the report said.
“They didn’t want to give the victims any proof that their cases even existed.”
The investigation, dubbed “Operation Foul Anchor,” uncovered wrongdoings involving more than 75 investigators and 20,000 hours of investigation between the late 1980s and 2006, as previously reported by the Blaze News.
“There was a disturbing trend of not treating reported sexual assaults as criminal cases,” the 2019 draft report said.
The report said senior officials “failed to adequately investigate the allegations as serious criminal cases and to hold perpetrators appropriately accountable.”
CNN reported that the findings were not reported to Congress until last summer.
On Sunday, Norenberg letter She announced her recent decision to resign after realizing that the USCG had misled her and sexual assault victims.
“The Coast Guard lied to me. Worse than that, they used me to lie to victims, used me to silence victims, and used me in a coordinated effort to prevent victims of sexual assault at the Academy from speaking before Congress about their assaults and the Coast Guard’s investigation,” Norenberg wrote.
She explained that she was assigned to Operation False Anchor in 2018 and that as part of her duties, she was ultimately instructed to meet with victims in what she believed amounted to an “apology tour.” Norenberg said she was initially instructed to provide victims with a CG-6095 form to report sexual assault to the Coast Guard. She said:[ed] “Why are they handing this over to the victim now when the investigation has already lasted four years?”
Norenberg concluded that if the victim had not filled out the official form, the sexual assault allegation likely would not have been entered into the Defense Department’s database of sexual assault cases.
Norenberg said his meetings with the victims were “highly emotional.”
“Many of the victims we met with cried throughout the sessions. One of the things the victims were most upset about was that none of their perpetrators were held accountable for their crimes. Their anger at not being held accountable continued throughout the sessions. Some victims were outraged that the Coast Guard had ripped open wounds inflicted at the Academy years ago and then failed to take any action against their perpetrators,” Norenberg wrote.
“Some said they were having to relive trauma that had been buried for so long,” she continued, “and some said they still felt proud to have served despite what had happened. Some victims couldn’t bear to see us and sent their parents instead. Some were happy to at least hear something back from the Coast Guard, to get some recognition.”
Norenberg explained that he was instructed immediately prior to his first interview not to give any of the victims a CG-6095 form.
“The CG-6095 provides verification to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that a victim reported being sexually assaulted while in the military. This form makes it much easier for victims of military sexual trauma (MST) to receive services from the VA to address their trauma,” she explained.
Norenberg argued that the decision not to turn over the documents was likely an attempt to prevent Congress from discovering the covert operation.
“I believe another reason the Coast Guard did not provide CG-6095 to the victims is because they did not want to give them evidence that their cases existed or were investigated,” she continued. “This was a cruel cover-up at the expense of the victims, designed to preserve the Coast Guard’s image and avoid scandal, and they used me as part of that plan.”
The Coast Guard Academy has not responded to Norenberg’s allegations. The Hill report.
“The Coast Guard is committed to supporting and addressing the needs of victims, improving access to justice, holding perpetrators accountable and ensuring a coordinated response to sexual assault and harassment,” the Coast Guard said in a statement to CNN last year.
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