Child sex violence at bases probed

The Senate committee that oversees the U.S. military ordered an independent investigation of how the Defense Department handles sexual violence among children on bases as part of legislation that would overhaul how the Pentagon must respond when assaults are reported.

Military officials had quietly resisted an outside review of problems documented in an Associated Press investigation, which showed broad failures of justice when military children sexually assault each other on bases worldwide.

As part of annual legislation that sets Pentagon policy priorities, the Senate Armed Services Committee included bipartisan proposals to fix juvenile justice on military installations and protect student victims at Pentagon-run schools.

The committee also directed the Defense Department’s independent watchdog agency to investigate.

The inspector general’s work will be the second outside investigation announced since the AP identified nearly 700 cases of child-on-child sexual assault on military bases worldwide in the past 10 years.

Congress’ own watchdog agency, the Government Accountability Office, will review how the Pentagon’s school system deals with sexual-assault reports among its roughly 70,000 students, as well as how military investigators and lawyers seek justice for cases that can only be prosecuted in civilian courts.