‘Lax’ reply to military sex assaults criticized

Bipartisan group of senators says Pentagon too slow to combat issue

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of senators criticized the Defense Department Tuesday for moving too slowly to combat sexual assault in the ranks.

The group of eight senators, including three on the Armed Services Committee, made their views known in a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III that was obtained by CQ Roll Call.

The senators expressed their “disappointment and concern” with the Pentagon’s “vague approach and lax timeline,” in particular Austin’s decision to take up to nine years to implement key elements of the department’s response to the problem.

“The men and women who serve in our military cannot continue to operate another day, let alone another decade, under a chain of command that is unwilling or incapable of taking decisive action to address this epidemic,” the senators wrote. “A problem of this magnitude demands an immediate, proportionate response.”

The letter was signed by four Democrats — Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Dianne Feinstein of California and Ron Wyden of Oregon — plus four Republicans: Charles E. Grassley and Joni Ernst of Iowa, Mike Braun of Indiana and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia.

Gillibrand, Blumenthal and Ernst serve on the Armed Services Committee.

In late June, a Pentagonchartered panel called the Independent Review Commission released a report with 82 recommendations on how the U.S. military could improve the prevention of, and response to, sexual assault among service members. The proposals included taking the power to decide whether to prosecute such crimes away from senior officers in the chain of command and giving it to what would become new offices of trained prosecutors in each of the services.

On Sept. 22, Austin announced the department’s implementation plan. The response would roll out in phases, he said. Some actions are underway, but the soonest deadlines for completing the first of four “tiers” of actions would be 2027, with the latest in 2030.