“Oversight Hearing on Sexual Assault in the Military - Part 2”

Good morning, and thank you all for being here. Today, we continue our oversight into sexual assault in the U.S. military.

In July, this subcommittee held the first Congressional hearing focusing on the military’s sexual assault prevention and response programs since 2006.

We heard from two brave women who shared their personal and deeply moving stories with us – Ms. Ingrid Torres and Mrs. Mary Lauterbach.

Ms. Torres, an employee of the American Red Cross who was stationed at military bases, was raped by an installation doctor at Kunsan Air Base in South Korea.

She told us how she received different levels of care by various victim advocates and health specialists, including some who had little to no knowledge of the military’s own prevention and response procedures.

Mrs. Lauterbach, the mother of Marine Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach, told us how she is still trying to get answers about her daughter’s rape and subsequent death by a fellow soldier. She also provided specific recommendations to improve the system for other potential victims and their families.

We heard testimony from top Congressional leaders – including Congresswomen Louise Slaughter and Jane Harman – about their proposals to bring additional improvements.

We received preliminary testimony from the Government Accountability Office on its in-depth, on-the-ground investigation into the Defense Department’s sexual assault prevention, response, and oversight efforts.

Today, the GAO will testify again, this time on the final results of its investigation, which includes specific recommendations for to the Defense Department.

Finally, at that July hearing, we also heard from General Michael Rochelle on the Army’s efforts to prevent and respond to sexual assaults.

We did not, however, hear from all the necessary Executive Branch voices, and that’s why we’re here today.

Beginning several months ago, we had asked to receive testimony from the Defense Department’s top expert on sexual assault, Dr. Kaye Whitley, the director of the department’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office. Dr. Whitley’s office is, by the Pentagon’s own acknowledgement, the, and I quote, “single point of accountability for Department of Defense sexual assault policy.”

Inexplicably, the Defense Department refused to allow Dr. Whitley to testify before Congress. The Oversight Committee – with bipartisan support – was forced to subpoena her.

Despite this valid congressional subpoena, Dr. Whitley did not appear to testify. According to the Principal Deputy Undersecretary, Mr. Dominguez, Dr. Whitley’s superiors ordered her not to comply with the subpoena and not to attend our July hearing.

Such an order does not, however, absolve Dr. Whitley from any personal responsibility to comply with a subpoena directed to her.

Not only did Dr. Whitley and the Department choose to defy a valid legal subpoena and to place Dr. Whitley in danger of contempt and personal legal jeopardy for her non-appearance, but the Department gave no valid legal justification for restricting her from appearing, and Dr. Whitley proffered none as well.

Over August, this Committee – again on a bipartisan basis – was forced to press the matter directly to the Defense Department.

We are satisfied that Dr. Whitley is appearing unfettered before us today to shed light on the work of her office and the challenges remaining.

But what kind of message does her and the Department’s unwillingness, until now, to allow testimony send to our men and women in uniform? Do they take Dr. Whitley’s office seriously? Is she being muzzled or is the Department hiding something?

Let me be very clear. Preventing and responding to sexual assault perpetrated against our soldiers is simply much too important to be playing a game of cat and mouse.

We hope that Dr. Whitley’s presence here today is an indication that, going forward, the Defense Department will give sexual assault prevention and response the attention, resources, and urgency it deserves.

We also hope that Dr. Whitley’s presence with us today presages the kind of bipartisan, constructive focus we envisioned when deciding to conduct oversight on this important issue.

But, just because the Pentagon establishes a sexual assault office, does not ensure that our task in preventing and responding to sexual assaults is complete.

Just because the Defense Department’s task force on sexual assault – after three long years – finally had its first public meeting in August, does not mean we can all collectively take a sigh of relief.

Far from it; an incredible amount of work remains.

As the GAO will document more fully later this morning, programs need to be standardized and staffed with dedicated personnel and dedicated funding.

A message of zero tolerance needs to be vigorously enforced from privates all the way up the chain of command. The message must come clearly, repeatedly, and vigorously that not a single case of sexual assault by or against a member of the U.S. military is tolerable, and that it will be punished to the full extent of the law.

I understand that the military has taken the GAO findings and recommendations seriously, and the Department and Services have already begun to institute several changes to standardize and improve the training, education, and care of all soldiers in our nation’s military.

While I applaud these reforms, and hope to learn more about their implementation today, I believe that much more needs to be done to address long-standing cultural problems on the prevention side, and greater effectiveness and willingness to bring sex offenders to justice on the response side.

Sexual assault scandals have taken place in every administration and in each and every military service, from Vietnam to the 1991 Tailhook scandal in the Navy; from the 1996 Aberdeen incidents in the Army to the Air Force Academy in 2003. They continue today, and what all of the experts agree on is that many more assaults are unreported.

Today, the Subcommittee will finally hear directly from the Pentagon’s point person – Dr. Whitley – with a specific focus on exploring what more we can do to prevent sexual assaults from happening in the first place; to provide support, dignity, and services to victims; and to punish those committing these heinous crimes.

I hope we will have an open and constructive dialogue here today, with the goal of empowering sexual assault victims to come forward to seek justice and to receive help and to ensure a climate in our military where sexual assault is in no way – either officially or unofficially – condoned, ignored, or tolerated.

I now yield to the Ranking Member of the subcommittee, Mr. Shays, for your opening statement. I want to thank him again for his leadership on these issues, and for his cooperation, that of Mr. Davis, and their staff in working together with us on a bipartisan basis in preparation for these hearings.