Biden’s order will help make military safer for enlistees
It has been three years since U.S. Army Spc. Vanessa Guillen, an enlistee at Fort Hood, was bludgeoned to death with a hammer and dismembered by a fellow soldier who buried her body in Bell County with the help of a female accomplice. Guillen, a cheerful and athletic 20-year-old Houston native, had twice reported being sexual harassed to Fort Hood officials, who did not forward her complaints up the chain of command.
Last week, President Joe Biden issued an executive order to help prevent such catastrophic failures from happening again. The order changes the Uniform Code of Military Justice, shifting prosecutorial discretion in sexual assault, rape and murder cases from military commanders to an independent body of special prosecutors with legal expertise. Such transformative remedial action is long overdue. It stems from an act of Congress named for Guillen and approved two years ago in response to years of complaints that commanders at Fort Hood and other military bases ignored or downplayed claims of sexual harassment or abuse. According to a 2021 Rand Corporation report, female soldiers at Fort Hood faced a sexual assault risk nearly a third higher than the average risk faced by all women in the Army.
Investigation: Problems with sexual harassment, assault at Fort Hood
In April 2021, 14 Army officials were fired or suspended after an investigation revealed a command climate at Fort Hood that then-Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy described as “permissive of sexual harassment and sexual assault.” The report said female soldiers in Fort Hood’s combat brigades, in particular, were “vulnerable and preyed upon, but fearful to report and be ostracized and re-victimized.”
The decision to put prosecutorial decisions in sexual assault, rape and murder cases in the hands of trained prosecutors is a sensible and necessary response. Allowing military commanders to decide whether to prosecute their subordinates for alleged crimes is antithetical to the concept of blind justice, which prevents bias either for or against a suspect when deciding whether to charge them with a crime. Prosecutorial decisions in cases of sexual assault, rape or murder require training and specialized knowledge that most military commanders lack.
A study last September found that 8% of all female service members suffered unwanted sexual contact in 2021, the highest rate ever reported. Biden’s order reflects the sad fact that victims of such crimes often don’t trust the chain of military command to make the right disciplinary decisions, leading to a lack of reporting and accountability.
Military brass must champion new policy for it to be effective
Retired Air Force Col. Don Christensen, the chief prosecutor for the U.S. Air Force from 2010 to 2014, told the Editorial Board that Biden’s order will help make the military safer for enlistees. But its effectiveness hinges on buy-in from the secretaries, admirals and generals of all four branches of the military.
“Number one is a commitment that they’re going to support the new system and are not going to try to circumvent it,” Christensen said. “Number two is that they’re going to adequately staff it and give it the right push before the people serving under them. Now that they’re no longer in charge of the prosecution, it really frees them up to do other things, so (they should) work on improving the culture.”
Leaders at Fort Hood and all U.S. military bases should embrace efforts to eradicate a military culture that for too long has tolerated sexual harassment and abuse.
While Fort Hood officials have committed to changing the culture and demanding accountability, the problem persists. Combat engineer Pvt. Ana Basaldua Ruiz, 20, died at the base in March after complaining to her parents of being sexually harassed. Univision reported that military officials suspect that Ruiz committed suicide, an explanation her family disputes. The military says foul play is not suspected, but members of Congress have demanded an investigation.
What happened to Vanessa Guillen is an unspeakable horror, especially considering that she reported being sexually harassed to her military superiors. Making the military safer for enlistees like her won’t happen overnight; it will take time to undo the damage caused by a decades-old culture that discouraged victims of sexual assault from speaking out. It will also require commitment from those at the highest levels of command and their subordinates. The good news is that the president’s executive order makes it more likely that perpetrators of sexual assault, rape and murder will be held accountable and justice will be served. Enlistees should no longer have to suffer in silence because the military won’t listen.