New Legislation to Support U.S. Coast Guard Cadets

I am co-sponsoring a piece of bipartisan legislation that would help protect our U.S. Coast Guard Academy cadets from being disciplined for minor collateral misconduct (think: underaged drinking, or violating curfew) when reporting sexual assault.

Why now? Three reasons:

1. Operation Fouled Anchor: New information is available from a six-year internal investigation that looked into dozens of cases of sexual assault and misconduct from 1988-2006. The Coast Guard Academy has been mishandling these cases and must swiftly course-correct.
2. Consistency Across Academies: This policy change not only helps support survivors of sexual assault get the care and support they need, it also ensures that the Coast Guard cadets have the same provisions as the Department of Defense military academies through The National Defense Authorization Act in 2021.
3. Supporting Survivors: Finally, there is no shortage of action we can take at the Congressional- and community-level to help support survivors and work towards a world where these egregious assaults are a thing of the past.

Through policy changes like this one, we can usher in a new era of safety and security.

Rick