MSC Investigation: MLAA Submits FOIA Request to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Seeking 20 Years of Criminal Sexual Assault Investigation Records Involving MSC Crew Members
To submit anonymous tips or stories regarding sexual misconduct within Military Sealift Command, click here.
For MLAA’s comprehensive July 14, 2022 FOIA Request to Military Sealift Command, click here. For information regarding MLAA’s ongoing FOIA lawsuit against the U.S. Coast Guard, click here. For information regarding MLAA’s ongoing FOIA lawsuit against the U.S. Maritime Administration, click here.
Maritime Legal Aid & Advocacy, Ltd.
July 19, 2022
Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS)
Attn: FOIA Officer
VIA E-MAIL to “ncis_foia@ncis.navy.mil”
Re: Freedom of Information Act Request
FOIA Officer,
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 Naval Criminal Investigative Service (“NCIS”).
Background:
MLAA is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization advocating for the human rights of seafarers and fighting to make the maritime industry safe for everyone.
Over the past 2 years our organization has been contacted by numerous mariners who were subjected to horrifying sexual harassment and sexual assaults aboard vessels owned and operated by the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command. Several of these brave survivors subsequently chose to publish their MSC horror-stories on our website…
Taken together with the numerous unpublished accounts we have received from victims of horrifying sexual misconduct aboard MSC vessels, these published accounts paint a deeply troubling picture of rampant sexual misconduct and a culture of coverups within the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command. They also paint a picture of an organization that operates vessels that are unsafe.
Despite extensive research, MLAA has been unable to locate any information regarding the prevalence of sexual misconduct within the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command. We believe this is a subject that should be thoroughly investigated.
Because the NCIS appears to be the primary federal law enforcement agency responsible for conducting criminal investigations into allegations of sex crimes committed aboard MSC vessels, NCIS maintains important records directly relevant to the public’s understanding of the scale and the pervasiveness of the problem of maritime sexual assault within the MSC.
Consistent with our organization’s mission to advocate for the human rights of seafarers and to help make the maritime industry safe for everyone, and pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552, MLAA respectfully requests the following information from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service:
Documents and Data Requested:
Complete Investigation Reports and all Associated Records related to investigations of sexual assault and other forms of potential criminal sexual misconduct involving Crew Members of vessels operated by the Military Sealift Command, initiated or conducted since January 1, 2002. “Crew Members” includes MSC CIVMARs, active duty Navy personnel assigned to MSC vessels, and cadets serving aboard MSC vessels, whether the alleged criminal conduct occurred onboard a vessel or ashore. “Crew Members” also includes all victims, witnesses, or alleged perpetrators. “Complete Investigation Reports and all Associated Records” includes all communications, including electronic communications, exchanged between NCIS and Military Sealift Command regarding such investigations, and all communications, including electronic communications, exchanged between NCIS and any law enforcement agency regarding allegations of sexual misconduct committed by Crew Members, including, but not limited to, communications with any department or office of the U.S. Coast Guard. “Complete Investigation Reports and all Associated Records” also includes all communications, including electronic communications, exchanged between NCIS and one of the United States’ 7 maritime academies, including the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. “Complete Investigation Reports and all Associated Records” also includes all communications, including electronic communications, exchanged between NCIS and the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”), including referrals to the DOJ for criminal prosecution. This request includes, but is not limited to, reports and referrals of potential criminal sexual misconduct, records related to punishments, correspondence, agreements, minutes, memoranda, e-mails, databases, and notes all documents that have ever been within the U.S. Navy’s custody or control, whether they exist in “working,” investigative, retired, electronic mail, or other files currently or at any other time.
Request for Expedited Processing:
Expedited processing is justified because:
This request covers information about which there is an urgency to inform the public about an actual or alleged federal government activity; and
Lack of expedited treatment could lead to an imminent threat to the life or physical safety of an individual; and
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.
There is an “urgency to inform the public” about the prevalence of sexual harassment and sexual assault aboard vessels operated by the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command. Numerous first-hand reports MLAA has received from mariners who were sexually harassed and assaulted aboard MSC vessels, only a fraction of which have actually been published by MLAA, combined with a recent news story regarding the Chief Mate of the USNS Mercy, indicate that the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command has a very serious problem with shipboard sexual misconduct, including shipboard sexual assault and rape, and that the NCIS has a crucial role to play in solving this problem.
Because of MSC’s sexual misconduct problem, mariners aboard MSC vessels are unknowingly at a heightened risk of being subjected to sexual harassment and assault while serving aboard MSC vessels. This risk is greatly compounded by the lack of information MSC and NCIS have shared with the public regarding the prevalence of sexual misconduct aboard MSC vessels. This lack of transparency has lulled CIVMARs, and especially cadets, into a false sense of security and made them highly vulnerable to shipboard sexual predators.
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 by exposing MSC’s sexual assault problems to the public, to CIVMARs, and to prospective CIVMARs. This is an incredibly urgent need. Any delay in processing this request could literally result in mariners being sexually assaulted at sea.
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 this important maritime safety issue. 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, public education, and legal advocacy.
Conclusion:
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