Op-Ed: Social Media Helps Coast Guard SASH Survivors Connect

 

A platform that was originally intended “to connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful” is now being used to push for long-overdue reform of the US Coast Guard. In the wake of the revelation of the US Coast Guard’s disgraceful ‘Operation Fouled Anchor’ report in June of 2023, LinkedIn has been providing a nontraditional advocacy path for victims of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment (SASH) in the U.S. Coast Guard and other branches of the US uniformed services. 

The Coast Guard culture that we each served in was one of silence. We were prevented from sharing our stories of sexual assault and sexual harassment. We were scoffed at for demanding accountability - and still are. As a result, we were individual islands harboring the same decades-old pain. Thanks to the unique networking capability of LinkedIn, we’ve learned that we are far from alone in our experience. We are harnessing this capability in an effort to finally clean up the Coast Guard and make it a healthy and effective workplace - a workplace safe for our own children.

CNN first reported on the existence of Operation Fouled Anchor (OFA), a years-long internal investigation into botched sexual assault investigations and leadership failures at the US Coast Guard Academy in June of 2023. The investigation was never shared with Congress, nor was it ever shared with many of the victims named in the report itself. In the year since the existence of this withheld report was publicized, both chambers of Congress and both major parties have supported inquiries into the extent of the Coast Guard’s coverup. 

Caitlin Maro first blew the whistle on sexual assaults at the US Coast Guard Academy in 2006 in front of the US House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, after first reporting it to her command in 2005. It wasn’t until 2024 that the Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS) started investigating her assault. CGIS’ failure to investigate the allegations in a timely manner is now allegedly preventing the Coast Guard from prosecuting the assailant.  

Caitlin is using LinkedIn to highlight the Coast Guard’s continued failures, in spite of the Coast Guard’s claims that these issues are problems of the past. In one example, victims are still required to submit Freedom of Information Act requests for their Reports of Investigation, personnel and medical files. The Coast Guard then responds to these requests with reams of blacked-out sheets of paper.

Caitlin is also bringing to light the stress placed on victims’ families by the Coast Guard’s failure to properly address SASH in the service. Her children were at home when CGIS agents showed up unannounced at her house in March of 2024. They were in the house when CGIS agents came back to interview her the next day. The children had a front row seat to their mother’s trauma, and that’s a memory that they will carry for the rest of their lives.  

K. Denise Rucker Krepp is reposting Caitlin’s letters on LinkedIn. Additionally, she’s sharing articles about Operation Fouled Anchor written by Military.com, Stars and Stripes, CNN, Connecticut Mirror, and Newsweek reporters, encouraging other Coast Guard veterans to ask questions. It was a slow start in the beginning. But gradually, as the year went by, more and more people joined the discussion, and there is now a vibrant conversation between survivors and advocates regarding accountability and justice.

Denise - a former Coast Guard JAG - created a timeline, entirely based on public documents, of the individuals who were involved in the execution of Operation Fouled Anchor and the subsequent coverup. She posted the timeline on LinkedIn to help Coast Guard veterans better understand the number of individuals involved in the OFA investigation, the financial cost of the investigation to the US taxpayer, and the federal laws that required the Coast Guard to share the report.

She also organized a petition this summer, leveraging LinkedIn contacts to get the signatures of nearly seventy Coast Guard members within 24 hours, encouraging Congress to subpoena former Coast Guard leaders and inquire about their participation in OFA. This was only possible using LinkedIn, since these contacts don’t live in DC, nor do they work in the same area of expertise. Without LinkedIn, these survivors would still be suffering alone.

LinkedIn is uniquely suited to supporting the broader maritime movement for a healthy and productive workplace. It has been instrumental in furthering the discussion of the fallout after Operation Fouled Anchor, and continues to be a place for professionals to connect on issues adjacent to maritime SASH. Other social media platforms would not be able to support this sort of movement. We ask that the broader maritime community join us in this discussion, which will inevitably affect the entire industry.

K. Denise Rucker Krepp is a former Chief Counsel of the Maritime Administration. Caitlin Maro is a former USCGA cadet and holds a masters' in American history from Rutgers. The authors met on LinkedIn.