Former U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Karl Schultz has told CNN he deliberately withheld an agency report that detailed allegations of sexual assault and misconduct at the Coast Guard Academy in New London.
CNN unearthed the report, called Operation Fouled Anchor, last year. The abuse allegations are from the late 80s to the early 2000s.
Christine Dunn is the managing partner of Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, a law firm representing 25 of the victims. She said his decision to withhold the report was a gross miscalculation.
“I can’t tell you how many of my clients I’ve spoken to who have said that it really opened up the wounds to have to relive this during the Operation Fouled Anchor investigation,” Dunn said. “But what was really devastating to them is that nothing came of it. They opened up these wounds, they relived their trauma, and then nothing happened. And so, it was very harmful to them that he withheld this information.”
Schultz told CNN he withheld the report for fear of Congress exaggerating it and revealing the names of victims.
“I don’t think that’s a very compelling argument,” Dunn said. “There are all kinds of sensitive congressional inquiries, and there are ways to protect victim’s names. If anything, I really think he did victims a disservice and caused them more harm by withholding it.”
The Coast Guard did not reply to questions about Schultz’s statements from WSHU.
