Military Sealift Command Reforms Sexual Misconduct Policies Following MLAA Investigations, Safer Seas Act, and Lawsuit by Elsie Dominguez
New York, NY
April 1, 2024
By: MLAA
On March 28, 2025, the Military Sealift Command (MSC) quietly acknowledged what survivors and advocates have long known: MSC had been intentionally failing to meet its legal obligation to report incidents of shipboard sexual assault and harassment to the U.S. Coast Guard in accordance with 46 U.S.C. § 10104.
In a new memo circulated to all Masters, Chief Engineers and shore staff, MSC’s Designated Person Ashore, Alexandra Winfree, outlined a new policy framework aligning the agency with the Safer Seas Act, passed by Congress in December 2022. The new memo titled “Safer Seas Act Implementation” marks the first time MSC has formally recognized its duties to report allegations of shipboard sexual misconduct to the U.S. Coast Guard in accordance with 46 U.S.C. § 10104 — a decades-old federal law that now requires vessel operators to immediately report sexual assault and harassment allegations to the Coast Guard.
The policy change comes after growing public scrutiny, a wave of investigative reporting by MLAA, and a high-profile lawsuit filed by MSC mariner Elsie E. Dominguez, who alleges she was raped by her commanding officer aboard a U.S. government vessel in 2021. Dominguez’s case exposed systemic gaps in how MSC handles reports of sexual misconduct — and may have finally forced the agency to act.
A Shift in Policy and Tone
The“Safer Seas Act Implementation” memo was accompanied by a revised placard to be posted in every crew stateroom and shared washroom aboard MSC vessels. The placard consolidates critical information on sexual misconduct policies, reporting resources, drug and alcohol rules, and contact numbers for both internal and external support systems. Its mandatory posting is part of a broader compliance effort intended to bring MSC’s internal procedures in line with the Safer Seas Act.
New MSC Shipboard Reporting Placard
Among the most significant changes, MSC now explicitly acknowledges its legal responsibility to report all allegations of sexual assault and harassment to the U.S. Coast Guard — a responsibility long defined by federal law but previously absent from the agency’s practice. Under the updated guidance, MSC’s legal department is tasked with forwarding reports involving credentialed mariners to the Coast Guard “immediately or as soon as practicable,” and developing internal procedures to support command-wide compliance.
Previously, MSC’s operating agreement with the Coast Guard made no mention of 46 U.S.C. § 10104, nor did the Memorandum of Agreement between the two agencies establish formal reporting pathways for incidents of sexual misconduct. Those omissions were first revealed in 2024 by Maritime Legal Aid & Advocacy (MLAA), which obtained the agreement through a public records request and published an in-depth analysis detailing how MSC’s failure to adopt the statute into policy left mariners unprotected and allegations unreported.
A Law on the Books, Ignored in Practice
46 U.S.C. § 10104 was enacted in 1989, but for decades remained a little-known and systematically unenforced provision of maritime law. The statute now requires the master or responsible entity of a U.S.-flagged vessel to report allegations of sexual assault or harassment to the Coast Guard without delay. While the legal obligation was clear, prior to reporting by MLAA, masters and vessel operators uniformly ignored the requirements of the law, and enforcement was non-existent by the U.S. Coast Guard.
In 2021 the agency fined Maersk $10,000 for not reporting Ryan Melogy’s written accusations against Captain Mark Stinziano. The 2021 enforcement action against Maersk for violating 10104 was the first time the Coast Guard had enforced the reporting requirement during the more than 30 years the law had been part of the U.S. Code.
In its article, “The Long, Tragic History of 46 U.S.C. § 10104”, MLAA detailed how the statute was quietly ignored by both commercial and government fleets, and how institutions like MSC developed internal practices that failed to bring federal authorities into the loop when allegations arose. In practice, victims were often told to report through internal channels or not at all. Investigations were handled internally— if they happened at all.
That dynamic is now shifting. The Safer Seas Act not only reaffirmed 46 U.S.C. § 10104 but strengthened enforcement, added penalties for failure to report, and broadened reporting obligations across the maritime industry. While the Act primarily applies to commercial vessels and specifically exempted public vessels, under pressure, MSC has committed to voluntarily adopting its provisions through its Memorandum of Agreement with the Coast Guard.
A Lawsuit That Changed the Conversation
The timing of MSC’s policy shift coincides with ongoing litigation that brought the agency’s failures into national view. In late 2023, Elsie E. Dominguez, a U.S. Merchant Marine Academy graduate and civilian mariner, filed a federal lawsuit alleging that she was sexually assaulted by the captain of the USNS Carson City in her stateroom while the vessel was docked overseas.
According to the complaint, Dominguez was raped by the Captain of the USNS Carson City in December 2021. When she sought support and guidance from official MSC reporting channels, she was discouraged from filing a report, denied access to confidential services, and threatened she would be removed from her position aboard the ship if she moved forward. In mid-2023 —a year and a half after she was raped—Dominguez reported the rape directly to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and Coast Guard Investigative Service. Her lawsuit argues that MSC’s failure to provide secure accommodations, respond to her report, or inform federal authorities amounted to gross negligence and a violation of her rights.
Dominguez is represented by maritime attorney Ryan Melogy, who represents victims of shipboard harassment and assault. For years Melogy has highlighted the challenges faced by mariners seeking justice in the maritime industy, and he has been outspoken about the structural failures exposed by her case. “Elsie is fighting not just for herself, but for every man and woman who has been harmed aboard a ship and told to stay quiet. She’s forcing the U.S. government to confront a crisis it was able to ignore for decades.” Melogy also emphasized that without dedicated legal representation, achieving justice is exceedingly difficult for those abused at sea.
MLAA covered the Dominguez case in detail in “US Merchant Marine Academy Graduate Files Lawsuit Against Military Sealift Command” and “Elsie Dominguez: Military Sealift Command Sexual Assault Survivor and Whistleblower”, which laid bare how the lack of reporting infrastructure and retaliation protections left Dominguez with little recourse at the time.
Structural Reforms Across the Fleet
In addition to the reporting mandate, MSC’s memo outlines a series of structural reforms tied to the Safer Seas Act. These include:
Master key control systems: MSC Vessels must now regulate and document the use of master keys to staterooms. Access is limited to designated personnel, and all entries must be logged. The lack of such controls was central to the Dominguez case, where her assailant allegedly used a master key to enter her stateroom.
Surveillance requirements: Ships are required to install video and audio surveillance in passageways outside crew quarters. These systems are intended to deter misconduct and provide evidence in the event of an incident. Installation is underway and subject to vessel class and drydock schedules.
Training mandates: All crew must complete annual training in Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (SAPR). The training is designed to educate mariners on how to recognize, prevent, and report misconduct — and how to support victims.
Mandatory placard display: Every berthing area and washroom must now feature a newly designed placard outlining zero-tolerance policies, reporting procedures, legal rights, and contact information for SAPR offices, Coast Guard Investigative Service, NCIS, DoD hotlines, and Equal Employment Opportunity offices. Mariners are informed that they can report misconduct confidentially, anonymously, or through multiple independent channels.
Still a Long Way to Go
While the policy memo marks a clear improvement, key questions remain. The updated operating agreement between MSC and the Coast Guard has not been made public. The timeline for full implementation of the surveillance and security upgrades remains unclear. And there is no indication that past failures to report — including those cited in the Dominguez lawsuit — will be revisited.
There is also no mention of accountability measures for those who ignored or suppressed reports in the past. The reforms may make future incidents harder to ignore, but for survivors like Dominguez, the damage has already been done.
MLAA and other advocacy groups have called for continued transparency, public release of implementation timelines, and independent oversight to ensure compliance. In a 2024 article titled “An Epic Sexual Assault Scandal 30 Years in the Making”, MLAA warned that the Coast Guard and its partners would face increasing legal and political pressure unless they took action to correct decades of underreporting and neglect.
A Turning Point?
Whether MSC’s new policies represent a genuine turning point or a symbolic gesture remains to be seen. Implementation, oversight, and cultural change will determine whether MSC’s new Safer Seas Act Implementation Memo leads to meaningful safety and accountability reforms.
For now, MSC’s March 28 memo stands as an official acknowledgment that the agency is subject to the same laws as the rest of the maritime sector — and that sexual misconduct aboard its ships is not just a personnel issue, but a matter of federal reporting, public accountability, and legal obligation.
“These policy changes are long overdue, but they’re just the beginning,” said Ryan Melogy, the attorney representing Elsie Dominguez. “The real measure of progress will be whether the U.S. government enforces these rules, makes the reports to the Coast Guard, protects those who speak up, and holds those who violate the law accountable — no matter their rank.”