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By Jane Harman
More than five years have passed since news of rape and sexual assault at the U.S. Air Force Academy rocked the Pentagon and jolted Congress into responding. First brought to light by anonymous e-mails, a subsequent report by the DoD’s inspector general found that 12 percent of female cadets graduating in 2003 had been victims of rape or attempted rape. Most incidents, it turned out, weren’t reported — and those that were reported rarely resulted in more than a slap on the wrist.
DoD’s response, after forced resignations and congressional investigation, came in the creation of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO). This was a step in the right direction, but the situation today is worse than ever before. Consider this: A woman enlisting to protect her country is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire in Iraq.
Ingrid Torres, a Red Cross worker based in Korea and raped by a military doctor who first drugged her, told us her story at a recent Oversight and Government Reform National Security subcommittee hearing. “I still wake in the night having just dreamt that [the perpetrator] found me and came after me again — my biggest fear,” Ingrid said.
Also testifying was Mary Lauterbach, the mother of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, who was allegedly raped at her command post. Maria went missing while preparing to testify against her attacker (at the urging of her mother) when her charred remains and those of her unborn baby were discovered in the alleged rapist’s back yard.
Curiously absent from the hearing was Dr. Kaye Whitley, the director of SAPRO. Defying a congressional subpoena, her male superior — Pentagon Deputy Undersecretary for Personnel & Readiness Michael Dominguez — came to give her testimony for her. But the subcommittee wanted to hear from Dr. Whitley, who oversees SAPRO day to day, and he was turned away.
Whitley later testified at a second hearing, but this distracting sideshow provided us with a glimpse into DoD’s bureaucratic approach to rooting out rape in the ranks.
Sadly, incidents of rape and assault are all too common. In 2006, 2,947 sexual assaults were reported — 73 percent more than in 2004. A slightly lower 2,688 reports were made in 2007, but a recent shift from calendar-year reporting to fiscal-year reporting makes comparisons from previous years more difficult.
Perhaps the biggest problem is the Pentagon’s failure to draw bright red lines and prosecute alleged perpetrators. According to DoD statistics, only 181 out of 2,212 subjects investigated for sexual assault in 2007, including 1,259 reports of rape, were referred to courts-martial.
Another 218 were handled via nonpunitive administrative action or discharge, and 201 subjects were disciplined through “nonjudicial punishment,” which is as much of a deterrent as a “time out.” In nearly half of the cases investigated, the chain of command took no action; more than a third of the time, that was because of “insufficient evidence.”
Rape in the civilian world, on the other hand, is prosecuted much more vigorously. In California, for example, 44 percent of reported rapes result in arrests, and 64 percent of those who are arrested are prosecuted, according to the California Department of Justice.
The Defense Department, and the Congress, need to do more — and now. Without serious systemic change — and eliminating the permissive culture of “boys will be boys” — rape and sexual assault in the military will persist, lives will continue to be permanently damaged and our national security apparatus will suffer.
Legislation alone can’t fix the problem, but Congress does have a role to play. We have authored H.Con. Res. 397 — which Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) recently introduced in the Senate — calling on the Secretary of Defense to develop strategies to investigate and prosecute sexual assault and rape in the military. It includes provisions for commander accountability; improvement and review of current training methods by the Secretary of Defense; continuity of protection of victims; and an opportunity for a base transfer after one is sexually assaulted or raped.
There is some other encouraging news. Just two weeks ago Army Secretary Pete Geren, a former Democratic congressman from Texas, rolled out the Army’s “I A.M. Strong” campaign designed to eliminate sexual assault in the 1 million-person Army within five years. He sees this as a moral fight, and is committed to making Army the model branch in wiping out this epidemic. The Army’s action is welcome, and should spur widespread military action.
Most of our servicewomen and -men are patriotic, courageous and hard-working people who embody the best of what it means to be an American. The failure to stem sexual assault and rape in the military runs counter to those ideals and shames us all.
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