MLAA Files FOIA Request Seeking MARAD Response to Senate Commerce Committee’s Demand for Answers to Allegations of Rampant & Unchecked Maritime Sexual Abuse Posted on MLAA Website
Maritime Legal Aid & Advocacy, Ltd.
help@maritimelegalaid.com
December 30, 2021
VIA E-MAIL to “ost.foia@dot.gov”
Attn: Michael Bell
OST FOIA Officer
U.S. Dept. of Transportation
Re: Freedom of Information Act Request
Dear Mr. Bell,
This letter constitutes a request under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) and is submitted on behalf of Maritime Legal Aid & Advocacy (“MLAA”) to the United States Department of Transportation (“DOT”).
Background:
MLAA is a non-profit legal aid and advocacy organization advocating for the human rights of mariners.
On October 12, 2021 Senator Maria Cantwell, Chairwoman of the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, sent an official letter to acting Maritime Administrator Lucinda Lesley requesting information related to allegations of sexual assault, rape and sexual harassment posted on the MLAA website. In her letter to Lucinda Lesley, Senator Cantwell wrote:
Through the Maritime Legal Aid & Advocacy (“MLAA”), a legal advocacy group formed on behalf of mariners, victims’ stories of shipboard sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape have bravely shared their personal stories in blog posts on the group’s website. You and Deputy Secretary Trottenberg sent an open letter to the King’s Point community and posted it on the USMMA website on Saturday, October 2, 2021 acknowledging these allegations and expressing your unwavering support for the individual who shared her story on September 27. The despicable accounts put forth by brave young women and men just starting promising careers in the maritime industry are frightening and unacceptable. Many of these allegations involve a repeated pattern of crimes and intimidations committed by people in positions of power and responsibility on merchant ships, and include alleged poor oversight or policy failures of USMMA officials and Coast Guard investigators.
In light of the seriousness of these allegations, I ask that you provide the committee with a description of the steps that have been taken by Maritime Administration (“MARAD”), the DOT, and the USMMA to investigate the allegations made on the MLAA’s website, and actions taken in response to findings in those investigations. Additionally, I request the following information:
1. How many reports of rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment or related offenses have been reported by or concerning midshipmen of the USMMA in the last 10 years? Please provide a breakdown of these reports that includes whether the incidents occurred on campus, off campus, or at sea during Sea Year, the party that conducted the investigation(s), and the outcome of that investigation.
2. In the event that a midshipman is removed from a vessel following a sexual assault or harassment report(s), does USMMA remove all midshipmen onboard the vessel for their Sea Year? Please include copies of the USMMA policy, regulation or other guidance on this matter.
3. If a vessel or its parent company is the subject of a sexual assault or sexual harassment complaint, does the USMMA assign midshipmen to those vessels in the future? Please include copies of the USMMA policy, regulation or other guidance on this matter.
4. In the event that a midshipman makes an informal or formal complaint of sexual assault, harassment, or discrimination, may they request to be assigned to a different vessel for the duration of their Sea Year? Please include copies of the USMMA policy, regulation or other guidance on this matter.
5. What actions can be and have been taken by the Coast Guard to withdraw or suspend credentials of mariners with a history of allegations of sexual assault and harassment against Sea Year midshipmen?
The maritime industry and United States Merchant Marine are a vital part of our national security and our nation’s economy. Sexual harassment, sexual assault, and other offenses are unacceptable, and the USMMA must immediately take action to stop this behavior and protect the men and women of the USMMA both at the Academy, and at sea. To that end, I request responses to these questions no later than October 26, 2021…
Sincerely,
MARIA CANTWELL
Chair
CC: Admiral Karl L. Schultz, Commandant, United States Coast Guard
Consistent with our organization’s mission, and pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552, MLAA respectfully requests the following information from DOT:
Documents and Data Requested:
DOT’s response to Senator Cantwell’s letter of October 12, 2021, and all documents related to the response including data, reports, notes, and communications used to create the response.
Since January 1, 2021, all communications between DOT and Congress, Congressional Committees, or Congressional staff that include one or more references to the USMMA Sea Year program or to the EMBARC standards released by DOT on December 15, 2021.
Since January 1, 2021, all communications between DOT and any Whitehouse officials or staffers that include one or more references to the USMMA Sea Year program or to the EMBARC standards released by DOT on December 15, 2021.
Request for Expedited Processing:
Expedited processing is justified because:
This request is made by an organization “primarily engaged in disseminating information to the public” which MLAA accomplishes through its large mailing list of newsletter subscribers, via its widely read blog located at https://www.maritimelegalaid.com/blog, and via its instagram account;
This request covers information about which there is an “urgency to inform the public about an actual or alleged federal government activity”; and
The subject of this request, which is the sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual abuse, and rape of USMMA students by USCG-credentialed merchant mariners aboard U.S.-flag cargo ships is of widespread and exceptional media interest and the information sought involves possible questions about the government's integrity which affect public confidence.
There is an “urgency to inform the public” about the operation of the USMMA Sea Year program. Questions asked of DOT by the Senate Commerce Committee ask about whether or not the DOT is sending vulnerable students out to serve aboard cargo ships with known sexual predators. The answers to questions such as, “If a vessel or its parent company is the subject of a sexual assault or sexual harassment complaint, does the USMMA assign midshipmen to those vessels in the future?” are urgent questions that affect the physical safety of hundreds, possibly thousands of young mariners.
The public and USMMA students themselves deserve to know the answers to these questions. If the DOT is indeed sending students out to ships with known sexual predators, students at the USMMA who are at sea aboard U.S.-flag vessels participating in the Sea Year program remain at a greatly heightened risk of sexual assault aboard their vessels.
There is a “compelling need” for this information, because a failure to obtain the requested records on an expedited basis could reasonably be expected to pose an imminent threat to the life or physical safety of an individual or individuals. The information MLAA seeks in this request has the potential to immediately prevent actual sexual assaults at sea from occurring. This is an incredibly urgent need. Any delay in processing this request could literally result in mariners being sexually assaulted at sea.
Expedited Processing Certification:
*I hereby certify that the reasons for expedited processing I have given here are true and correct.*
Request for “News Media” Fee Status and Fee Waiver:
MLAA is a “representative of the news media” for fee waiver purposes. Based on our status as a “news media” requester, we are entitled to receive the requested records with only duplication fees assessed. Further, because disclosure of this information will “contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of government,” any duplication fees should be waived. Under FOIA, “Representative of the News Media” is defined as “[a]ny person or entity that gathers information of potential interest to a segment of the public, uses its editorial skills to turn the raw materials into a distinct work, and distributes that work to an audience.”
Please visit maritimelegalaid.com to find numerous examples of news articles created by MLAA which required our organization to take raw materials from documents obtained via the Freedom of Information Act and then use those raw materials to create completely distinct works that were distributed to a global audience.
There is no doubt that the information we are seeking will contribute significantly to public understanding of the true policies of DOT with respect to sending USMMA students into isolated environments with known sexual predators. The FOIA’s fee waiver amendments were enacted to allow further disclosure to nonprofit, public interest organizations, since the FOIA as a whole is to be construed broadly in favor of disclosure. See, e.g., Dep't of Air Force v. Rose, 425 U.S. 352, 366 (1976).
Further, the disclosure of this information is of no commercial interest to MLAA. Under the FOIA, a commercial interest is one that furthers a commercial, trade, or profit interest, as those terms are commonly understood. See, e.g., The Freedom of Information Reform Act of 1986; Uniform Freedom of Information Act Fee Schedule and Guidelines, 52 Fed. Reg. 10012, 10017–18 (Mar. 27, 1987). None of those interests are present in this request, as MLAA works to achieve its goals through media outreach and public education.
Conclusion:
We are willing to pay up to $1,000,000.
Thank you for your consideration of this request. As provided for by federal regulation, I will anticipate your determination of our request for expedited processing within 10 business days. For questions regarding this request I can be contacted via email at help@maritimelegalaid.com.
Respectfully Submitted,
J. Ryan Melogy
MLAA Chief Legal Officer
Coordinator, MLAA Open Government Project
*I hereby certify that the reasons for expedited processing I have given here are true and correct.*