Congress shouldn’t stop short on reforms
Guillén bill spurred changes that are long overdue in the military — and more should come.
It’s tragic that it has taken the brutal death of a young woman to push Congress toward urgently needed changes in the way the military handles allegations of sexual assault, murder and other serious crimes.
Whatever small measure of comfort it gives to the family and friends of Army Spc. Vanessa Guillén, murdered at Fort Hood last year, they no doubt welcome historic reforms they have urged this past year that should make it easier to combat the scourge of sexual assault in the military. With an estimated 20,000 assaults occurring in the armed forces each year, the changes are long overdue.
Guillén, a 21-year-old Houston native, was missing for weeks before her body was discovered just outside the massive Central Texas Army post. Frustrated family members insisted she had been attacked after she reported a supervisor sexually harassed her, even though the Army denied it initially and seemed less than concerned about her disappearance.
The reforms contained in legislation sponsored by U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., including removing decisions on whether to prosecute service members from the military’s chain of command, are included in a $768 billion defense authorization bill that passed the House last week.
The bill is expected to win approval this week in the Senate, where Majority Leader Chuck Schumer predicted bipartisan support. We commend Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz for being among those supporters: “It is clear that changes have to be made so those who serve in our military are able to to report crimes without fear of retribution,” Cruz’s spokesman Dave Vasquez told us last week.
President Joe Biden is expected to sign the bill when it reaches his desk.
“This is transformative,” said U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, who represents the district where the Guillén family lives. “But for the death of Vanessa Guillén and the movement that mushroomed after that, I’m convinced this would not have happened.”
Guillén, a graduate of Houston’s Cesar Chavez High School, disappeared in April 2020, after telling family members she had been sexually harassed. A U.S. Army investigation later showed she had reported being harassed by a fellow soldier two times but her superiors never reported it up the chain of command.
Her body was found two months later in a shallow grave. She had been bludgeoned to death by a different soldier who buried her remains and later killed himself when police closed in, authorities reported.
The three-month investigation prompted by Guillen’s death resulted in a 136-page report that detailed damning charges about the failure of Fort Hood officers to protect soldiers under their command. According to the report issued by the five-member independent review panel, failed leadership fostered a “permissive environment for sexual assault and sexual harassment” . . . . A sexual assault prevention program was so ineffective it resulted “in a pervasive lack of confidence, fear of retaliation and significant underreporting of cases, particularly within the enlisted ranks” . . . . Female soldiers were left feeling “vulnerable and preyed upon, but fearful to report and be ostracized and re-victimized.” . . . . Fort Hood leadership “knew or should have known of the high risk of harm to female soldiers.”
The scathing report resulted in the firing, suspensions and demotions of 14 Fort Hood leaders, including Maj. Gen. Scott Efflandt, the Fort Hood commander at the time of Guillén’s disappearance and death. The Army also removed the leaders of Guillén’s unit, Col. Ralph Overland and Command Sgt. Maj. Bradley Knapp of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment.
The Fort Hood investigation mirrored a Pentagon report that found 7,825 sexual assault reports involving service members — both male and female — as victims or subjects of sexual harassment in fiscal year 2019, an increase of 3 percent over the previous year.
The reform measure the Senate is now considering makes it the responsibility of an independent prosecutor, not military commanders, to decide whether to bring charges in cases involving 11 different crimes, including manslaughter, kidnapping, stalking and domestic violence. The bill criminalizes sexual harassment and allows survivors of sexual assault to call a help line to report an assault, rather than having to do so in person. It gives victims the right to know about administrative actions taken against offenders and would require the Pentagon to track retaliation against service members who report harassment or assault. It also calls for an assessment of racial disparities in military justice and discipline.
Still, supporters of more substantial reform, including U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, who has led the effort to reform the military justice system since 2013, are right to point out the bill’s shortcomings and demand more. How can victims truly get a fair shake in court when commanders would still have the power to pick juries and select witnesses?
“When the commander is so deeply involved in a case, there’s no independence for the prosecutor and there’s no perception of independence for the accused or the accuser,” she said at press conference last week.
She’s right. The flawed bill poised for passage would indeed represent the most significant changes ever to the military justice system. But Congress should finish the job by backing a separate bill by Gillibrand that would enhance the independence of the prosecutor. Co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, a combat veteran and sexual assault survivor, it has the support of several Republicans, including Sen. Cruz.
If America is truly, finally, serious about protecting those who have sworn an oath to protect our nation, we shouldn’t stop until gaping loopholes are closed and justice is assured.
It took at least a decade to get this far. Congress shouldn’t squander the momentum that got us here.
In memory of a young soldier from Houston, her life senselessly cut short, Congress needs to act — and act fully — without delay.