Paula Coughlin

Who is Paula Coughlin?

Paula Coughlin, now also known as Paula Puopolo, was a Lieutenant in the United States Navy. She was a whistleblower who played a role in opening investigations into what was known as the "Tailhook scandal".

Coughlin attended Old Dominion University, where she joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps. She joined the navy in 1984 and became a helicopter pilot.

She attended the Tailhook conference in September 1991, organized by former navy aviators at the Las Vegas Hilton. Many of the attendees got raucously drunk. Coughlin was one of the first female attendees who reported being indecently assaulted by male attendees. Coughlin testified she feared being gang-raped when she was forced to "run the gauntlet". She had reported the incident to senior officers, but after a lack of progress due to "closing ranks and obfuscation" she went public in June 1992. The President, George H.W. Bush, met with Coughlin and expressed sympathy with her and promised a full investigation. Coughlin met with Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney—who told her he had just fired the Secretary of the Navy, implying it was her fault.