WASHINGTON —
Senator Roy Blunt sat silently for nearly an hour as his colleagues on the
Armed Services Committee questioned one military leader after another on
Tuesday about what they were doing to address the problem of sexual assault in
the military, and then assessed their responses: “Stunningly bad.”
In particular, Mr. Blunt chided Adm.
Jonathan W. Greenert, the chief of naval operations, for displaying scant
knowledge of how military allies of the United States had dealt with sexual
assault in their ranks, and for thanking Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of
New Hampshire, for “the tip” that other countries had grappled with the issue.
“Has anybody who works for you been
asking this?” Mr. Blunt, Republican of Missouri, asked with clear exasperation.
In a rare appearance together, a
majority of the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — as well as the
commandant of the Coast Guard and other military officials — testified before
the committee about how the military should approach the problem as Congress
prepares to vote on several measures that would significantly change military
policy.
“Discipline is the heart of the
military culture, and trust is its soul,” said Senator Carl Levin, Democrat of
Michigan and the chairman of the committee. “The plague of sexual assault
erodes both the heart and the soul.”
Senators from both parties pressed
the leaders, at times using strong language, about why, decades after the full
integration of women into the military, the problem seems to have worsened.
Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican, recalled meeting with a woman whose
daughter was considering entering the military if Mr. McCain, a former naval
aviator, could offer his “unqualified support” of the choice. “I could not,” he
said.
Over hours of testimony, each
officer expressed remorse. “I took my eye off the ball in the commands I had,”
said Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
But they collectively resisted some
of the more robust changes that have been proposed. “I recommend a measured
approach,” said Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army chief of staff.
The hearing followed several weeks
of reports of sexual assault in the armed forces and that estimated that 26,000 people in the
armed forces were sexually assaulted last year, up from 19,000 in 2010. Senator
Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, who on Tuesday called sexual assault
in the military “beyond the pale,” said the Senate would move to address the
problem in the coming defense bill. “Something has to be done about it,” he
said.
Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand,
Democrat of New York, has
introduced the most sweeping proposal, which would give military
prosecutors, rather than commanders, the power to decide which sexual assault
cases to try. She has said the measure is principally intended to increase the
number of people who report crimes without fear of retaliation and
professionalize the process, but it has been largely rejected by military
brass.
“Making commanders less responsible
and less accountable will not work,” General Odierno said.
Among other measures that the
committee is considering are those that would limit a military commander’s
ability to change or dismiss a court-martial conviction for sexual assault,
require dismissal or a dishonorable discharge for anyone in the military
convicted of rape or sexual assault, and expand to all service branches an Air
Force program that provides a special counsel to victims of sexual assault.
This week, the House Armed Services
Committee is expected to pass provisions aimed at combating sexual assault
within its Defense Authorization Act; the full House is scheduled to consider
that bill next week. The provisions include one similar to the Senate measure
that would limit a commander’s ability to overturn sentences and another that
would require minimum sentences for sexual assault convictions.
Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat
of Missouri, is particularly interested in the ability of commanders to
overturn sexual assault convictions, and repeatedly questioned why a service
record could mitigate such a conviction. Ms. McCaskill called a letter from Lt. Gen. Craig
A. Franklin explaining
his reversal of a fighter pilot’s conviction “astoundingly ignorant.”
Ms. Gillibrand also chided the
leaders for sometimes understating the gravity of some of the crimes before
them, noting that one commander had told a victim that he believed her
assailant had not “acted like a gentleman” but had not committed a crime. “Not
every commander can distinguish between a slap on the ass and a rape,” Ms.
Gillibrand said.
Several advocates for victims of
sexual assault also testified, in some cases offering chilling testimony about
women and men who had been sexually abused and then lost their careers by
seeking justice. “The military does not create rapists,” said Anu Bhagwati, who
served as a Marine captain and is executive director of the Service Women’s Action
Network. But, she said, it does “condone sexual violence.”
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