Veteran Pushes Change to Help Sexual Assault Survivors

Coast Guard veteran K. Denise Rucker Krepp sent a letter to senators earlier this month, urging them to amend the law to make it easier for government employees with knowledge of sexual assault and harassment to testify before Congress. In a recent interview with Newsweek, Krepp said she's advocating for survivors of sexual assault because "I don't want this to happen to my daughters."

An investigation launched in 2014 by the Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS) uncovered dozens of alleged sexual assaults at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy (USCGA) that were reported between 1988 and 2006.

As previously reported by Newsweek, Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, celebrated the Coast Guard ending its "indefensible practice" of using nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) on sexual assault survivors.

However, Krepp believes more needs to be done to help sexual assault survivors and victims of sexual harassment.

In a letter dated on June 5, which was obtained by Newsweek, Krepp asked Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, "that federal law be amended so that federal government employees can use federal government time instead of annual leave when talking with Congress about assault and harassment."

Krepp, a former maritime administration chief counsel, noticed a need for this legislative change during her own trips to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. She is currently a Navy civilian and was advised to take annual leave when she shares her knowledge of sexual assault and harassment to Congress and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Inspector General (IG).

"I am being required to burn vacation time when I have all these conversations with the Hill," Krepp told Newsweek via telephone Thursday. "I think that we should be clarifying this so that more people feel comfortable talking and then they're reassured that you can do this on government time. The crimes happened on government time, why can't we report them on government time."

Senator Blumenthal chairs the Investigations Subcommittee within the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Senators Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, in his capacity as the ranking member of the Investigations Subcommittee; Maria Cantwell of Washington, in her capacity as chair of the Commerce, Science and Transporation Committee; and Cruz, in his capacity as the ranking member of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, were cc'd on the letter.

No lawmaker addressed in the letter has responded to Krepp as of Sunday. Newsweek reached out to Johnson, Cantwell, and Cruz via email as well as Blumenthal via telephone outside of normal business hours for comment.

"I am being very public about this now because I don't want this to continue. The criminal activity happened during my era. It happened when I was 25 [years old]. I'm 51," Krepp said. "I am using my name publicly now and standing up because I don't want this to happen to my daughters. I cannot with good faith tell with my two children, 'follow mommy into the military'...because I don't trust my own service."

Krepp was a political appointee in the Barack Obama administration. In her role as a maritime administration chief counsel, she was responsible for the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, in Kings Point, New York.

"I was notified of sexual assault, and I asked for an IG investigation back in 2011," Krepp said. She said that a senior administration official told her that she "should not have done that." Krepp was given the option to be fired that day or resign and she chose to resign.

Krepp's advocacy work really kicked off after an Investigations Subcommittee hearing in December 2023 titled, "Coast Guard Academy Whistleblowers: Stories of Sexual Assault and Harassment."

In the opening statement of the hearing, Blumenthal said, "We have heard accounts from numerous individuals with disturbing personal stories; gripping, painful, stories of sexual assault and harassment at the Coast Guard Academy, and in the Coast Guard."

"That hearing made me so angry," Krepp recalled. "I walked straight over to House Oversight [Committee]...I said, 'Hi, my name is Denise. Somebody's going to want to talk to me."