Senior leaders focus on rebuilding trust as Defense Department pursues sexual assault reforms > US Department of Defense > Department of Defense News

The Department of Defense remains focused on restoring service members’ confidence as military justice reforms aimed at strengthening the department’s response to sexual assault take hold across the armed forces.

The offices of special prosecutors, which independently prosecute sex crimes and other serious crimes, reached full operational capacity last year.

The creation of these offices, which transferred criminal responsibility for certain serious crimes to independent, specially trained military lawyers, represents the most significant change to the Uniform Code of Military Justice since its introduction in 1950.

But months after reaching that milestone, Caroline Krass, the Pentagon’s general counsel, said senior leaders had not lost sight of the need to continue to rebuild trust that had been shaken by the department’s handling of sexual assault cases in the past.

“Some have been demeaned and belittled because of their sex or gender,” Krass said in her prepared remarks. “Others were sexually harassed or sexually assaulted by the very teammates and leaders they trusted. Still others were ignored, not believed, or revictimized when they reported what had happened to them. And for that reason, many others may not have reported it at all.

“We are working to regain that trust,” she said.

Since taking office, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III has made combating sexual assault one of his top priorities and has taken a number of steps to reduce the incidence of unwanted sexual contact across the ranks.

In 2021, Austin created the Independent Military Sexual Assault Commission to study the problem and make recommendations to department heads on how to reduce unwanted sexual contact.

As part of the investigation, experts interviewed hundreds of unit commanders, soldiers and victims of sexual assault.

“They heard heartbreaking stories and ultimately discovered extensive evidence of the breach of trust I described,” Krass said of the review.

“The IRC has found that there is a significant gap across the department between what senior leadership thinks about what is happening under their command and what Soldiers are actually experiencing,” she said. “It was also found that victims do not trust their superiors to dispense justice in cases of sexual harassment and sexual assault.”

Victims of sexual assault often believed that their commanders were more focused on logistics and combat readiness than on caring for their troops.

The review also found that military officials were not convinced that commanders who do not have legal training could be trusted with decision-making related to sexual assault, such as whether there is probable cause to charge someone with a crime.

That same year, the Commission made a series of recommendations to the Department on accountability, prevention, climate and culture, and victim care and support. Austin endorsed the IRC’s core recommendations and directed the Department to complete implementation by fiscal year 2030.

Key recommendations include measures that place critical decisions in sexual assault cases in the hands of highly qualified prosecutors who are independent of the military chain of command.

Congress passed legislation to reform sexual assault and certain other serious crimes in 2021, and senior Defense Department leaders immediately began implementing the changes.

The Offices of Special Trial Attorneys in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force, which includes the Space Force, began operations in December 2023.

The offices, which report directly to the civilian secretaries of their respective military branches, handle a wide range of crimes, including murder, kidnapping and sexual misconduct. From January 2025, the offices will also handle sexual harassment cases.

Krass stressed that the changes do not relieve anyone, including commanders and senior leaders, of the responsibility to detect and prevent sexual assault.

“You must create and maintain a climate of dignity and respect, as recommended by the IRC; “Use thoughtful strategies to prevent sexual harassment and assault and ensure that victims who courageously come forward are treated with care and compassion,” Krass said. “Prevention is key, as is treating victims with respect.”

Krass called the changes to the military justice system “transformative reforms.”

“They modernize the military justice system and are a critical first step toward making real, substantive progress in restoring trust among soldiers, their commanders and the rest of the department,” she said.

And there are signs that the department’s efforts to implement IRC reforms, including the creation of the Office of Special Counsel, are having an impact on the prevalence of sexual assault within the ranks.

The annual report on sexual assault in the military for fiscal year 2023 released by the department last week found that the prevalence of sexual assault on active duty has declined compared to levels last measured in 2021, marking the first decline in nearly a decade.

Between 2021 and 2023, rates of unwanted sexual contact among women in the active phase decreased from 8.4% to 6.8%. The rate of unwanted sexual contact among men in the active phase also appeared to decrease from 1.5% to 1.3%, but the change was not statistically significant.

Overall, according to Defense Department estimates, nearly 7,000 fewer soldiers will be victims of sexual assault in 2023 than in 2021.

“That’s 7,000 people who won’t face the plague of this crime,” said Beth Foster, executive director of the Office of Force Resiliency under the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the U.S. Department of Defense.

Foster credited Austin’s department-wide focus on sexual assault prevention, which she said is moving the trend in the right direction.

This year’s report is the department’s first assessment of sexual assault rates since serious implementation of these recommendations began.

“The department’s leadership has made this a top priority issue and is deeply committed to this work,” she said. “And this work is starting to change the curve.”

Defense Department officials said that while they were encouraged by the report, there remains much work to be done to eradicate sexual assault across the department.

“Last week, I convened the Deputy Secretary, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Service Secretaries, and Service Chiefs to discuss the findings of this report,” Austin said in a statement accompanying the report’s release. “I made clear that we are making significant progress, but we must redouble our efforts to end sexual assault and sexual harassment. This remains a core readiness issue across the joint force.”

“The only acceptable number of incidents of sexual assault or sexual harassment in the U.S. military is zero,” he said. “We owe it to all of our soldiers to get this right.”

In her address last week, Krass further underscored the critical need to continue rebuilding the trust of military members across all ranks.

“Soldiers trust their colleagues to have their backs, protect them from harm and believe them when they say something is wrong,” Krass said. “They trust their commanders to exercise their authority fairly. They trust their comrades with their lives.”

“This bond is at the core of what it means to serve in the U.S. military,” she said.