Military officials ponder new approach to 'cancer' of sexual assaults

Sexual assault in the armed forces has reached a crisis stage, top U.S. military leaders said Tuesday, but they resisted a far-reaching Senate proposal to restrict the authority of unit commanders to dispense justice.

In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee that included Sen. Tim Kaine and a Norfolk-based Navy captain, the two sides sparred over how to address a rise in sexual assault statistics, a problem compounded by a string of high-profile cases that have embarrassed the services.

Legislation sponsored by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., would take responsibility for prosecuting sex crimes out of the victim's chain of command and give it to special prosecutors. It is meant to provide a more independent review, an ambitious proposal that Kaine said he is still considering.

The Defense Department reported in May that cases of unwanted sexual contact in the military, from groping to rape, rose 37 percent in 2012, from 19,000 cases to about 26,000 cases. It was based on an anonymous survey. The sexual assaults actually reported rose 6 percent in 2012.

The report said thousands of victims were unwilling to come forward because they lacked faith in the system or feared retaliation.

Over the past several weeks, an Air Force officer who led the service's sexual assault prevention unit was arrested on charges of groping a woman. The manager of the Army's sexual assault response program at Fort Campbell, Ky., was relieved of his duties after an arrest in a domestic dispute.

Last week, news broke that the U.S. Naval Academy is investigating allegations that three members of the football team sexually assaulted a female midshipman more than a year ago.

Top military brass, while acknowledging the seriousness of the problem, warned against removing commanders from the investigative process. They said it would undermine discipline and actually make matters worse.

For commanders to foster a climate where reporting sexual assault is encouraged, they must have the authority to back up their directives, they said.

"Should further reform be needed, I urge that military commanders remain central to the legal process," said Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a former Hampton Roads-based commander.

Dempsey testified with four-star generals representing the uniformed services, including Army Gen. Ray Odierno, who said sexual assault and harassment "are like a cancer within the force." But Odierno just as forcefully defended the commander's role in the military justice system.

"The commander's ability to punish quickly, visibly and locally is essential to maintaining discipline in all its forms within a unit," he said.

Later, a panel of unit commanders reinforced that view. It included Navy Capt. Stephen J. Coughlin, commodore of Destroyer Squadron Two in Norfolk.

Turning over sexual assault cases to an outside authority would add confusion to the chain of command, Coughlin said. Responding to question about the investigation of cases, he replied, "I do that. I conduct investigations that are thorough."

Air Force Col. Jeannie M. Leavitt, commander of the 4th Fighter Wing, said she must back up what she says.

"When I say I will not tolerate any sexual assault and I have to turn to a separate entity . . . as a commander, I need to be able to send that message," she said.

Some senators were highly skeptical of that view, pointing to the report that cited large numbers of victims who refuse to file charges.

Although Kaine has stopped short of endorsing the Gillibrand proposal, saying "I'm not yet there on that one." But he agreed the military must address retaliation against alleged victims.

"If we can't get the fear of retaliation down, we're not going to solve this problem," he said.

Kaine has signed on to legislation that limits the ability of commanders to overrule sentences and findings of courts-martial. He also favors relaxing the evidentiary standards for military sexual trauma survivors seeking compensation from the VA.

Finally, he supports legislation from Sen. Mark R. Warner that would strengthen military whistle-blower protections.

Kaine noted that sexual assault victims have the option to file a restricted report, which allows them to get medical treatment, counseling and advocacy services, but not require notification of command or law enforcement. Filing a restricted report doesn't preclude the victim from going forward with a full-blown case.

Later, in a give-and-take between Kaine and the unit commanders, the senator pressed them to describe why retaliation is happening. Marine Col. Tracy W. King said he thinks the pressure stems more from peers than from commanders.

"I would honestly tell you there is peer pressure against reporting, but I feel the tide is changing," he said. In a Marine unit, "the sense of belonging is very, very powerful. That character, or for lack of a better term, personality, can have some negative connotation."

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