Army to use civilian, add staff for criminal probes
WASHINGTON – The Army is putting a civilian in charge of its criminal investigations, adding staff and freeing up more agents to work on cases, in a plan to address widespread failures that surfaced last year after a string of murders and other crimes at Fort Hood, Texas.
Army officials announced the plan Thursday but provided few details on how much the reorganization will cost or how long it will take, other than to say some changes will unfold over months. The changes are aimed at addressing complaints that Army investigators are overwhelmed and inexperienced.
The plan reflects recommendations made by an independent review panel in the wake of the violence at Fort Hood, including the death of Vanessa Guillén, whose remains were found about two months after she was killed.
A key change will separate the Army Criminal Investigation Command from the Office of the Provost Marshall General, and instead of being run by a general officer it will be overseen by a yetto-be-named civilian director. The intention is to improve the capabilities of the command and address the findings of the Fort Hood commission.
“We are very confident these organizational changes address the committee’s CID-related recommendations and lead us into the future,” acting Army Secretary John Whitley said in a statement.
CID commander Maj. Gen. Donna Martin said three of the larger Army bases (Fort Hood, Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Carson in Colorado) will be the first to see some of the staffing improvements and changes. Some of those are aimed at freeing agents from other duties so they can concentrate on criminal cases.
Martin said that includes adding more support personnel, putting a new officer in charge of logistics and administrative duties, and having military police do protective and escort details that CID agents currently do. She declined to provide any estimated costs, but said funding will be provided over the next five years.
The decision comes amid heightened attention at the Pentagon on ways to address sexual assaults and other discipline problems in the military. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s first directive after he took office in January ordered senior leaders to look into their sexual assault prevention programs, and he later created a panel to study the matter.
The Fort Hood independent review panel, however, was created last year by former Army Sec. Ryan McCarthy.
More than two dozen Fort Hood soldiers died in 2020, including in multiple homicides and suicides. Guillén’s death and other cases prompted the independent review, which found that military leaders were not adequately dealing with high rates of sexual assault, harassment, drug use and other problems at the base.
The review panel, which released its findings in December, also concluded that the Army CID was understaffed, badly organized and had too few experienced investigators.
Members of the panel told Congress members in March that the CID investigators lacked the acumen to identify key leads and “connect the dots.”