Bill would target retaliation against military sexual assault victims

A bipartisan pair of senators is hoping to curb retaliation against victims of sexual assault in the military under a bill introduced Thursday.

“What, of course, we would all like to do is eliminate sexual assault, period, in our armed forces,” said Ernst, who introduced the bill with Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.).

{mosads}A Rand Corp. survey cited by the Pentagon in its most recent report on sexual assault in the military found that 62 percent of female victims said they had been subjected to some form of social or professional retaliation.

To address that, Ernst and McCaskill’s bill would target retaliation in four ways.

First, it would make professional retaliation its own offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed Thursday morning by the House Armed Services Committee would do the same thing.

Second, it would require the Pentagon to collect and publish data on retaliation complaints and notify victims of how their retaliation complaint was decided.

Third, it would require specific training for those who investigate claims of retaliation in connection with sexual assault.

Finally, it would establish metrics for measuring the outcomes of efforts to prevent and respond to retaliation.

In announcing the legislation, McCaskill took an apparent dig at a previous effort to combat military sexual assault that would have taken the cases outside the chain of command and given them to independent military prosecutors.

“There was a lot of distraction, I think, as we debated this issue about who ultimately was making the decision to proceed with a prosecution or a court martial,” she said. “Really, the issue always was, what kind of support is the victim getting on the front end? How much information is she getting? Is she getting good information?”

The proposal, the Military Justice Improvement Act, has been back in the public eye recently after advocacy group Protect Our Defenders and The Associated Press released reports saying Pentagon testimony used against the bill was inaccurate.

McCaskill later added she doesn’t think the reports prove that military commanders are sweeping the cases under the rug, which advocates for the bill argued.

“We’re waiting for the data from the military, and if they have misrepresented that data, no one will be tougher on them than I will or Joni or any of the rest of us who advocated for commanders continuing to have a role,” she said. “But what’s missing in the AP article and what’s missing in this discussion is that commanders were never the problem in terms of cases going forward. The problem was victims were not getting support at the beginning of the process.”

In response to McCaskill, retired Col. Don Christensen, president of Protect Our Defenders, issued a written statement saying the report makes the facts clear.

“The facts are clear,” he said. “Congress has been misled by the Pentagon. Instead of waiting for the same agency that misled them to provide more unreliable information, Congress should focus on holding the Pentagon accountable and solving this problem once and for all through legislation that removes commanders from deciding the fate of sexual assault survivors.”

McCaskill and Ernst hope to include their retaliation measure in the NDAA but haven’t yet specifically talked to Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, or Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the ranking member, about including it.

“Since there’s not much moving as stand-alone, we would love to hop a ride on the NDAA,” McCaskill said.

McCain told reporters he would take a look at the bill. 

“I would have liked to have seen it go through the subcommittee, but I’ll be glad to examine any proposal,” he said. “It’s still a problem in the military, as you know.”

— Updated at 4:54 p.m.