Military sexual assaults rise 38%
Troops reported more than 20,000 instances
WASHINGTON – Sexual assaults in the military rose nearly 38% from 2016 to 2018, according to survey results obtained by USA TODAY.
That spike in crime within the ranks comes after years of focused effort and resources to eradicate it.
The report, due to be released Thursday by the Pentagon, surveyed Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine personnel in 2018. Based on the survey, there were about 20,500 instances of unwanted sexual contact – an increase over the 14,900 estimated in the last biennial survey in 2016. Unwanted sexual contact ranges from groping to rape.
Enlisted female troops ages 17 to 24 were at the highest risk of being assaulted, said Nathan Galbreath, deputy director of the Pentagon’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office. The Pentagon will target troops in that age range for prevention efforts, he said.
“What’s frustrating is that the brass keeps refusing to consider any bold changes like reforming the military justice system.”
Don Christensen Protect Our Defenders
“We’re very concerned about that,” Galbreath said.
More than 85% of victims knew their assailant. Alcohol was involved in 62% of the total assaults.
The findings require Congress to intervene, said Rep. Jackie Speier, DCalif., chairwoman of the Armed Services Committee’s personnel panel.
“The department must accept that current programs are simply not working,” Speier said. “Congress must lead the way in forcing the department to take more aggressive approaches to fighting this scourge.”
The Pentagon is set to release the recommendations of a task force formed at the urging of Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., to deal with sexual assaults in the military. McSally, a retired Air Force officer and fighter pilot, revealed during an Armed Services Committee meeting in March that she
had been raped by a superior officer.
One recommendation, according to Pentagon spokeswoman Jessica Maxwell, is to make sexual harassment a crime in the military justice system. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan reviewed the task force recommendations and is likely to announce the Pentagon’s plan soon.
The 2018 survey found that the Marine Corps had the highest estimated rate of sexual assault for its service members in 2018, at nearly 11%, followed by the Navy, Army and Air Force.
According to estimates in 2018, 6% of women in the military endured some form of sexual assault, and almost 1% of men were victimized. The Pentagon extrapolated the rate based on the results of the survey, which had a sample size of more than 100,000, with a 95% confidence level.
For women, assaults involving groping and crimes involving penetration both increased, Galbreath said. The type of assaults for men were relatively stable.
The rate of reporting sexual assault to authorities declined, a trend that might point to less confidence among troops.
“We know these are consistent problems, and the department is doing everything it can to address these issues across the military,” said Air Force Lt. Col. Carla Gleason, a Pentagon spokeswoman.
Sexual assaults in the military have trended downward since 2006, when 34,000 troops reported some type of sexual assault. Concerns rose anew in 2013, when the Pentagon released a report that estimated the number of sexual assaults increased 35% from 2010 to 2012, to 26,000 victims. The last survey of troops, in 2016, found that number had dropped to about 14,900.
Galbreath called the increase in 2018 a “tripwire” that should prompt the Pentagon to act.
In 2013, Congress hauled the Joint Chiefs of Staff to Capitol Hill and demanded answers. Top uniformed and civilian officials vowed a “zero tolerance” policy on sexual assault.
Last month, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford repeated that goal in a memo to all troops and civilians employed by the military. “Zero tolerance is the only acceptable metric,” he said.
The rate of reporting sexual assault, an indicator of victims’ confidence in the system to care for them and punish the crime, dropped in 2018 to 30% from 32% in 2016. In 2006, only 7% reported.
The surge in estimated assaults in 2013 prompted Congress to intervene, legislating changes in how the military prosecutes sex crimes and cares for victims.
The increase in assaults should alarm Pentagon leadership, said Don Christensen, president of Protect Our Defenders, an advocacy group for victims of sexual assault in the military.
Christensen’s group and some members of Congress have called for prosecution of sex crimes to be turned over to career prosecutors rather than relying on military commanders to decide which cases to pursue.
The Pentagon has opposed that change.
“What’s frustrating is that the brass keeps refusing to consider any bold changes like reforming the military justice system,” said Christensen, the former top prosecutor for the Air Force. “How many more men and women have to be assaulted before they make the changes and hold people accountable? How many times do you have to fail?”