Coast Guard releases action plan to prevent sexual assault, support survivors

The Coast Guard on Thursday released a detailed action plan to prevent and respond to sexual assaults within the ranks following years of scrutiny from veterans and Congress that the service was failing to follow its own policies and support victims.

“Our people are our greatest treasure. We have a sacred duty to take the very best care of our teammates,” Adm. Kevin E. Lunday, Coast Guard commandant, said in a statement. “Every Coast Guard man and woman — active duty, reserve, civilian, and Auxiliary — has a duty to take action to prevent and respond to sexual assault. Every one of us will act with the same courage and bias for action expected of us in rescuing someone in peril at sea.”

The Sexual Assault Prevention, Response and Recovery Action plan includes 17 specific actions and a timeline for implementation. Each action falls within four lines of effort: prevention, response, recovery and accountability.

It follows an outcry for change from veterans and members of Congress following CNN reporting in 2023 that the Coast Guard had mishandled reports of sexual misconduct and then buried an internal report about its failures.

The report — completed in 2020 and known as Operation Fouled Anchor — was an internal review of sexual assault and harassment cases that occurred between 1990 and 2006 at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn. It found the academy knew of 30 people accused of misconduct, yet only five were reported to criminal investigators as required.

Several investigations sprang from that public revelation, and the Coast Guard has issued reforms to mitigate similar mistakes. However, a Government Accountability Office report released in January found the service could do more to improve its effectiveness regarding sexual misconduct.

Following the GAO’s report, Lunday ordered the service to take aggressive action to implement its recommendations.

“The SAPRR Action Plan is centered on our vision: every sexual assault stopped before it occurs, every member treated with dignity and respect, every victim and survivor met with expert care, and every offender held accountable under the law. Leaders at every level are being measured on the results of this plan, not just the effort, a service spokesperson said Thursday in a statement.

The 20-page plan outlines each action item’s deadlines for progress and completion, with all pledged for implementation by the beginning of 2028. Items range from data collection, training, survivor response, victim protections, standards for investigations and accountability reporting. It also included retaliation prevention and enforcement through training, tracking tools and an evaluation of existing systems to find improvements.

“Leaders at every level, myself included, are responsible and accountable for combating sexual assault,” Lunday wrote in an opening letter of the plan. “That starts with discipline — setting and upholding the highest standards across the service.”