CNN reports that the U.S. Coast Guard Academy’s head of sexual assault prevention, Shannon Norenberg, announced she will resign from the position and issue an apology to sexual assault survivors, asserting that top leaders directed her to lie to sexual assault victims and Congress – making her an unwitting accomplice in a coverup of decades of abuse.
Norenberg told CNN that she made it her mission to help sexual assault survivors at the Coast Guard Academy for more than a decade, but was devastated after discovering old records indicating that leaders had used her as part of a coverup of Operation Fouled Anchor – a secret internal probe into a history of sexual assault coverups exposed HERE by CNN last summer.
For example, multiple Coast Guard officials – including two chaplains – have been removed from their positions for ‘a loss of confidence.’ This included the Coast Guard’s top chaplain, who reportedly failed to take appropriate action when learning of another chaplain’s sexual misconduct.
The CNN report may be read in full HERE.
Shannon Norenberg’s detailed June 9, 2024 public announcement regarding her concerns about the Coast Guard’s Operation Fouled Anchor may be read HERE.
My brothers and sisters, honesty and transparency, even in the military, are attributes that foster trust and respect. In the long run, such attributes also result in military effectiveness, as the fighting force is not hiding ‘rotten apples’ within the organization.
Of course, it’s true that Ms. Norenberg’s assertions are hers and there is always more than one side to every story; however, the facts as she presented them and as reported by CNN, indicate the likelihood of an apparent systemic problem within the Coast Guard regarding its longstanding unwillingness to publicly acknowledge sexual misconduct and to take strong corrective action. In fact, the bible says that we are to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
As this writer is a former USAF Office of Special Investigations special agent who investigated multiple allegations of sexual assault or misconduct, I can assure you, with human nature being what it is, that sexual assaults do occur and that attempting to hide them (whether within the military or from the public and the U.S. Congress) is not going to end well.
It strikes me that Ms. Norenberg’s allegations and the Coast Guard’s actions relative to Operation Fouled Anchor represent the wisdom of the world vs. the wisdom of God being applied. The scriptures would have the truth to be presented, in love, and addressed as a matter of justice.
Hiding sin, in the short run, may have the desired effect, but in the long run, as coverups mature, the lies and mounting evidence will eventually make their way to the light – as all evil will eventually be brought into the light.
Let’s pray that the truth would be brought forth, properly addressed, and that all of the sexual assault victims from with the Coast Guard (and the military in general) would come to know that peace and forgiveness only available through Christ Jesus. We should also pray that those who have committed such acts would truly repent before the Lord.
The bible is clear about sin and the works of evil coming to the light:
Luke 12:1-3 (NKJV)
A Warning from Jesus to the Disciples – Beware of Hypocrisy
“…first of all, ‘[b]eware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light [emphasis mine], and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.’”
John 3:19-20 (ESV)
“And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light [emphasis mine] and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.”
Ephesians 5:8-14 (NKJV)
Walk in Light
“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them [emphasis mine]. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says: ‘Awake, you who sleep, [a]rise from the dead, [a]nd Christ will give you light.’”
Praise Jesus forevermore!