Witness Announced: Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations to Hold Hearing on Sexual Assault and Harassment at the Coast Guard Academy

[WASHINGTON, DC] – U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) Chairman Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Ranking Member Ron Johnson (R-WI) will convene a hearing next Tuesday, December 12, 2023 at 10:00 AM in 562 Dirksen Senate Office Building titled “Coast Guard Academy Whistleblowers: Stories of Sexual Assault and Harassment.”

The hearing will include testimony from:

·       Commander Jennifer Yount, United States Coast Guard (Ret.)

United States Coast Guard Academy, Class of 1981

·       Caitlin E. Maro

Former Member of United States Coast Guard Academy, Class of 2008   

·       Lieutenant Melissa McCafferty, United States Coast Guard (Ret.)

United States Coast Guard Academy, Class of 2011

·       First Class Cadet Kyra Grace Holmstrup, United States Coast Guard

United States Coast Guard Academy, Class of 2024

·       Colonel Lorry Fenner, United States Air Force (Ret.)

Director of Government Affairs, Service Women’s Action Network

In September 2023, PSI opened a bipartisan inquiry into the Coast Guard Academy’s mishandling of sexual assault investigations and its failure to disclose the results of its sexual assault investigation to Congress or the public.

The full text of the senators’ initial letter to the Coast Guard is available here.

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