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:

February 12, 2015

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