Admiral Fagan, I’m Not Resigning as Coast Guard Academy SARC Until You Repair the Damage Done to Victims of Operation Fouled Anchor

** This letter was written by Shannon Norenberg, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy’s Sexual Assault Response Coordinator (SARC). For background, read Shannon’s previous bombshell whistleblower statement, published on June 9, 2024 **

July 10, 2024

Admiral Linda Fagan

Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard

2703 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE

Washington, DC 20593

Subject: I Am Not Resigning From My Position As Coast Guard Academy SARC

Dear Admiral Fagan,

In the weeks since I blew the whistle on my role in the Coast Guard's coverup of Operation Fouled Anchor (OFA), the intolerable condition of the trampled survivors remains unchanged. As the current Sexual Assault Response Coordinator (SARC) at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, I am writing to you directly about this critical issue and asking for your immediate help.

The OFA survivors – our fellow Coast Guard members – are in crisis. Many are suffering from severe PTSD and debilitating emotional trauma caused not only by the sexual abuse they endured while students at the Academy, but also by the unconscionable way they were treated during the OFA "investigations" and during the subsequent cruel coverup. Some are even grappling with suicidal ideation. Your ongoing and intentional refusal to care for these survivors is not mere neglect; you are perpetuating an ongoing, life-threatening emergency that demands immediate intervention and leadership.

Every day that you refuse to acknowledge and assist these survivors, you are actively endangering the lives and well-being of those you swore to protect. This letter is a desperate plea for you to refocus your attention on these survivors and take immediate, concrete steps to provide them with the critical medical care and support they urgently need.

Admiral Fagan, over the past six months, I have repeatedly heard you speak of your intention to simply "move this organization forward" when questioned about OFA. You seem to believe that you can move forward without reckoning with the past. I must emphasize that it is impossible to move this organization forward without correcting the grave injustices intentionally directed at the OFA survivors.

The wounds inflicted on the survivors of OFA by the Coast Guard are deep and festering, affecting not only the survivors but the entire fabric of our organization. True progress can only come through accountability, transparency, and concrete actions to right these wrongs. We cannot outrun our past; we must confront it, learn from it, and make amends to those we have wronged.

One month ago, I sat behind you as you testified before Senators Blumenthal and Johnson. You committed to "full transparency" and pledged to ensure that OFA survivors could avail themselves of veterans benefits and receive the support they're entitled to. These were promising words, but that hope has vanished. Since your testimony a month ago, nothing has changed.

You have taken no action to help these survivors or alleviate their suffering. You have done no outreach to OFA survivors, taken no steps to provide them with necessary paperwork or assistance, and you continue to refuse to hold anyone accountable for the coverup of OFA. This is an emergency, Admiral Fagan. People are suffering. Yet you do nothing, except keep busy with other, apparently "more important" matters while you wait for people to stop paying attention to the suffering of the survivors of OFA.

The Coast Guard prides itself on its core values of Honor, Respect, and Devotion to Duty. By neglecting and betraying the survivors of OFA, you are violating not just our most sacred obligations, but the very core values that define us as a service. When our brave Coasties are injured in the line of duty, do you deny them medical care and VA benefits? The survivors of OFA are no different. Some of these survivors were asleep in their beds in the barracks at the Academy when they were attacked and raped by fellow Coasties. They didn't ask for that. No one asks to be sexually abused.

Every day you delay in alleviating the suffering of the survivors of OFA is another day that you fail in your most basic duty to those you are supposed to lead, and it is another day that you betray the values you claim to uphold. In order to immediately address this crisis, I demand that you take the following immediate actions: 

1. Immediately establish a dedicated team to conduct outreach to all OFA survivors. I volunteer to lead this OFA Survivor Outreach Team.

2. Order the OFA Survivor Outreach Team to immediately contact all of the OFA survivors. Each survivor should be offered the comprehensive support, resources, and mental health care services they should have received years ago.

3. Create a transparent, fast-track process for OFA survivors to access their complete case information, investigative files, and any related documents or records in the possession of the Coast Guard they may need for benefits or closure.

4. Offer each OFA survivor the opportunity to complete a form CG-6095 (Victim Reporting Preference Statement) that they were wrongfully denied during the coverup. 

5. Immediately and properly enter all OFA cases into the Defense Sexual Assault Incident Database (DSAID), as required by Coast Guard policy and federal law.

Admiral Fagan, in considering whether or not to care for these survivors of Coast Guard Academy sexual assault, I ask you to consider your legacy as Commandant of the Coast Guard. Do you want to go down in history as the Commandant who trampled on injured Coast Guard members as part of a sexual abuse coverup? Or do you want to be remembered as the Commandant who had the courage and integrity to right these wrongs?

As the SARC at the Coast Guard Academy, my first and foremost duty is to help survivors of sexual assault at the Academy. I am required by Coast Guard policies to help survivors who are current Academy students, as well as those survivors who are former students at the Academy. Taking care of these people is my primary responsibility, and I intend to faithfully fulfill my duties to these survivors.

I have been on paid leave since I blew the whistle last month, but I have now returned to my post at the Academy. Until the survivors of Coast Guard Academy sexual abuse receive the support and resources they need, I will not resign, and will not sign any resignation paperwork, as Coast Guard legal has requested of me. Instead, I will continue to serve dutifully in my role as the Coast Guard Academy SARC, as I have for the past more than 11 years, but now focusing on finally assisting the survivors of OFA.

This is not just my job; it's my moral obligation. I stand ready to fulfill this duty, but I need your commitment and action to make it possible. The survivors of sexual assault at the Coast Guard Academy must no longer be forgotten or neglected. They are my primary concern, and they should be yours as well.

Sincerely,

Shannon Norenberg

Sexual Assault Response Coordinator

U.S. Coast Guard Academy