Reps. Turner, Slaughter, and Tsongas, to Send Bipartisan Letter Asking New Defense Secretary Ashton Carter to Focus on Curbing Sexual Assault in the Military
Report Released Yesterday Shows Women and Men Who Come Forward at Service Academies Are Subject to Retaliation
Official Confirmation by Senate is Expected Today
WASHINGTON – Today, Representatives Mike Turner (R-OH), Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY), Niki Tsongas (D-MA), and 50 of their colleagues are sending a bipartisan letter to new Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter asking him to focus on curbing military sexual assault in the military.
“As you are well aware, preventing and appropriately responding to the tragedy of military sexual assault is an issue of extreme importance for the wellbeing of our brave servicewomen and men,” the representatives wrote. “We have a moral duty to do everything we can to protect those who sacrifice so much to protect us every single day.”
The representatives called on Secretary Carter to follow in his predecessors’ footsteps and continue to make reforming the military’s sexual assault prevention and response program a top priority. Despite increased awareness and concrete steps taken by the Pentagon to lower the incidence of sexual assault and make it easier to deliver justice to survivors, the rate of sexual assault in the military remains pervasively high, as does the rate of survivors who experience retaliation from their peers after reporting. According to a report released yesterday by the Pentagon, 43% of women and 36% of men who reported unwanted sexual contact while attending the academies – the most elite military training institutes in the country – have experienced retaliation. And 22% of women who experienced unwanted sexual contact said they did not report it because they were afraid of retaliation from the offender or the offender’s friends.
Read the full letter below:
The Honorable Ashton Carter
Secretary of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301-1000
Dear Secretary Carter:
Congratulations on your recent confirmation as the Secretary of Defense. President Obama has shown significant faith in you and your ability to lead our nation’s excellent military forces in a time of great importance in our history.
As you are well aware, preventing and appropriately responding to the tragedy of military sexual assault is an issue of extreme importance for the wellbeing of our brave servicewomen and men. We have a moral duty to do everything we can to protect those who sacrifice so much to protect us every single day.
There has been significant progress on this issue in recent years, from establishing the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO) and assigning a high level officer to direct it, to the inclusion of multiple provisions related to military sexual assault in National Defense Authorization Acts, such as expedited base transfers, extended maintenance of records, training in specialized victim-sensitive techniques for criminal investigations, and the creation of a Special Victims’ Counsel to best serve those affected.
Secretary Leon Panetta joined Congress in addressing this critical issue by issuing specific directives that evidenced the commitment of the Department of Defense to combatting sexual assault in the military. The Director of SAPRO, Major General Snow, indicated during a recent briefing to Members of Congress that Secretary Chuck Hagel further elevated the issue to have a place on the agenda every week in his meetings with the highest-ranking members of his team. That focus has led to various improvements, although there remains much more work to be done.
We respectfully request that as Secretary of Defense, you continue the commitment shown by your predecessors to addressing sexual assault in the military, bringing the full weight of your office to bear on improving the military’s response to sexual assault and preventing it from happening in the first place. We are particularly concerned by recent evidence that the rate of experiencing personal or professional retaliation for reporting an incident of sexual assault is unacceptably high. Our service members must feel safe in reporting sexual assault if there is to be true progress toward ending it.
We look forward to partnering with you to protect our servicewomen and men.
Sincerely,
Louise M. Slaughter Niki Tsongas
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Michael Turner Joe Wilson
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Tulsi Gabbard Susan Davis
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Madeleine Z. Bordallo Tammy Duckworth
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Jackie Speier Elijah E. Cummings
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Jackie Walorski Brian Higgins
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Sam Farr Beto O’Rourke
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Elizabeth Esty Michelle Lujan Grisham
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Steve Cohen James P. McGovern
Member of Congress Member of Congress
David Cicilline Jan Schakowsky
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Mark Pocan Dina Titus
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Betty McCollum Emanuel Cleaver II
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Walter Jones John Conyers
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Ann McLane Kuster Charles B. Rangel
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Jerry McNerney Mark Takano
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Kyrsten Sinema Katherine Clark
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Suzan DelBene Bobby L. Rush
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Chellie Pingree Carolyn Maloney
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Tim Ryan Dan Benishek
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Joaquin Castro Jim Langevin
Member of Congress Member of Congress
John Yarmuth Rosa DeLauro
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Michael Coffman Alan Lowenthal
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Pete Aguilar Rich Nugent
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Mike Fitzpatrick Chris Gibson
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Lois Frankel Cheri Bustos
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Debbie Wasserman Schultz Alcee L. Hastings
Member of Congress Member of Congress
Daniel Lipinksi
Member of Congress