New law gives military kids sex assault protection

Schools also required to fix systems for tracking, addressing allegations

The Defense Department must improve the way it responds to child-on-child sexual assault at military bases in the U.S. and abroad as part of a sweeping new law President Donald Trump signed Monday.

While the Pentagon began addressing sexual assault in the ranks a decade ago, an Associated Press investigation revealed that similar reports involving military kids got lost. Child offenders were rarely held accountable and victims often received no counseling or other help.

Under the new law, more than 70,000 students in Pentagon-run schools now receive the same legal protections as their U.S. public school counterparts. The schools also must overhaul their system for tracking and addressing assault allegations.

And, for the first time, a case must be reviewed by a central authority, regardless of where on base an assault is reported. That review by the Family Advocacy Program, the military’s social services provider, must recommend “treatment, counseling, or other appropriate interventions.”

AP found that some childon-child sexual assault reports were buried, while those investigated faced numerous barriers within the Pentagon and Justice Department.

Counselors would turn away victims, for example, because military regulations said help was available only if the alleged offender was an adult or caretaker. Offender rehabilitation or punishment was rare. Instead, solutions included kicking alleged offenders into the civilian world or transferring their families to another installation.

AP identified nearly 700 cases of child-on-child sexual assault on military bases worldwide from the start of 2007 through summer 2017. That was a certain undercount — the Pentagon did not track cases, and identifying them required interviews and records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

Military officials had quietly resisted congressional action, arguing they could fix the problem themselves.

Lawmakers disagreed and wrote reforms into the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2019. The $716 billion law also includes a military pay raise and investments in advanced weaponry.

Congress has also initiated investigations by the Pentagon’s inspector general and the Government Accountability Office .

In one victory for the Pentagon, a requirement the Senate passed that bases share control over cases with local civilian authorities was watered down to only asking the service branches to explore such a change and report back.

The law will most immediately impact the Pentagon’s network of schools in seven U.S. states and 11 other countries.