Military Personnel
Preliminary Observations on DOD's and the Coast Guard's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Programs
Gao ID: GAO-08-1013T July 31, 2008
In 2004, Congress directed the Department of Defense (DOD) to establish a comprehensive policy to prevent and respond to sexual assaults involving servicemembers. Though not required to do so, the Coast Guard has established a similar program. This statement addresses the extent to which DOD and the Coast Guard (1) have developed and implemented policies and programs to prevent, respond to, and resolve sexual assault incidents involving servicemembers; (2) have visibility over reports of sexual assault; and (3) exercise oversight over reports of sexual assault. This statement draws on GAO's preliminary observations from an ongoing engagement examining DOD's and the Coast Guard's programs to prevent and respond to sexual assault. In conducting its ongoing work GAO reviewed legislative requirements and DOD and Coast Guard guidance, analyzed sexual assault incident data, and obtained through surveys and interviews the perspective on sexual assault matters of more than 3,900 servicemembers stationed in the United States and overseas. The results of GAO's survey and interviews provide insight into the implementation of the programs but are nongeneralizable. GAO expects to issue its final report in August 2008 and to make a number of recommendations to improve implementation of sexual assault prevention and response programs and improve oversight of the programs in both DOD and the Coast Guard.
DOD and the Coast Guard have established policies and programs to prevent, respond to, and resolve reported sexual assault incidents involving servicemembers; however, implementation of the programs is hindered by several factors. GAO found that (1) DOD's guidance may not adequately address some important issues, such as how to implement its program in deployed and joint environments; (2) most, but not all, commanders support the programs; (3) program coordinators' effectiveness can be hampered when program management is a collateral duty; (4) required sexual assault prevention and response training is not consistently effective; and (5) factors such as a DOD-reported shortage of mental health care providers affect whether servicemembers who are victims of sexual assault can or do access mental health services. Left unchecked, these challenges can discourage or prevent some servicemembers from using the programs when needed. GAO found, based on responses to its nongeneralizeable survey administered to 3,750 servicemembers and a 2006 DOD survey, the most recent available, that occurrences of sexual assault may be exceeding the rates being reported, suggesting that DOD and the Coast Guard have only limited visibility over the incidence of these occurrences. At the 14 installations where GAO administered its survey, 103 servicemembers indicated that they had been sexually assaulted within the preceding 12 months. Of these, 52 servicemembers indicated that they did not report the sexual assault. GAO also found that factors that discourage servicemembers from reporting a sexual assault include the belief that nothing would be done; fear of ostracism, harassment, or ridicule; and concern that peers would gossip. Although DOD and the Coast Guard have established some mechanisms for overseeing reports of sexual assault, neither has developed an oversight framework--including clear objectives, milestones, performance measures, and criteria for measuring progress--to guide their efforts. In compliance with statutory requirements, DOD reports data on sexual assault incidents involving servicemembers to Congress annually. However, DOD's report does not include some data that would aid congressional oversight, such as why some sexual assaults could not be substantiated following an investigation. Further, the military services have not provided sufficient data to facilitate oversight and enable DOD to conduct trend analyses. While the Coast Guard voluntarily provides data to DOD for inclusion in its report, this information is not provided to Congress because there is no requirement to do so. To provide further oversight of DOD's programs, Congress, in 2004, directed DOD to form a task force to undertake an examination of matters relating to sexual assault in which members of the Armed Forces are either victims or offenders. However, as of July 2008, the task force has not yet begun its review. Without an oversight framework, as well as more complete data, decision makers in DOD, the Coast Guard, and Congress lack information they need to evaluate the effectiveness of the programs.
GAO-08-1013T, Military Personnel: Preliminary Observations on DOD's and the Coast Guard's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Programs
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Testimony:
Before the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs,
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, House of Representatives:
United States Government Accountability Office:
GAO:
For Release on Delivery:
Expected at 10:00 a.m. EDT:
Thursday, July 31, 2008:
Military Personnel:
Preliminary Observations on DOD's and the Coast Guard's Sexual Assault
Prevention and Response Programs:
Statement of Brenda S. Farrell, Director:
Defense Capabilities and Management:
GAO-08-1013T:
GAO Highlights:
Highlights of GAO-08-1013T, a testimony before the Subcommittee on
National Security and Foreign Affairs, Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform, House of Representatives.
Why GAO Did This Study:
In 2004, Congress directed the Department of Defense (DOD) to establish
a comprehensive policy to prevent and respond to sexual assaults
involving servicemembers. Though not required to do so, the Coast Guard
has established a similar program. This statement addresses the extent
to which DOD and the Coast Guard (1) have developed and implemented
policies and programs to prevent, respond to, and resolve sexual
assault incidents involving servicemembers; (2) have visibility over
reports of sexual assault; and (3) exercise oversight over reports of
sexual assault. This statement draws on GAO‘s preliminary observations
from an ongoing engagement examining DOD‘s and the Coast Guard‘s
programs to prevent and respond to sexual assault. In conducting its
ongoing work GAO reviewed legislative requirements and DOD and Coast
Guard guidance, analyzed sexual assault incident data, and obtained
through surveys and interviews the perspective on sexual assault
matters of more than 3,900 servicemembers stationed in the United
States and overseas. The results of GAO‘s survey and interviews provide
insight into the implementation of the programs but are
nongeneralizable.
GAO expects to issue its final report in August 2008 and to make a
number of recommendations to improve implementation of sexual assault
prevention and response programs and improve oversight of the programs
in both DOD and the Coast Guard.
What GAO Found:
DOD and the Coast Guard have established policies and programs to
prevent, respond to, and resolve reported sexual assault incidents
involving servicemembers; however, implementation of the programs is
hindered by several factors. GAO found that (1) DOD‘s guidance may not
adequately address some important issues, such as how to implement its
program in deployed and joint environments; (2) most, but not all,
commanders support the programs; (3) program coordinators‘
effectiveness can be hampered when program management is a collateral
duty; (4) required sexual assault prevention and response training is
not consistently effective; and (5) factors such as a DOD-reported
shortage of mental health care providers affect whether servicemembers
who are victims of sexual assault can or do access mental health
services. Left unchecked, these challenges can discourage or prevent
some servicemembers from using the programs when needed.
GAO found, based on responses to its nongeneralizeable survey
administered to 3,750 servicemembers and a 2006 DOD survey, the most
recent available, that occurrences of sexual assault may be exceeding
the rates being reported, suggesting that DOD and the Coast Guard have
only limited visibility over the incidence of these occurrences. At the
14 installations where GAO administered its survey, 103 servicemembers
indicated that they had been sexually assaulted within the preceding 12
months. Of these, 52 servicemembers indicated that they did not report
the sexual assault. GAO also found that factors that discourage
servicemembers from reporting a sexual assault include the belief that
nothing would be done; fear of ostracism, harassment, or ridicule; and
concern that peers would gossip.
Although DOD and the Coast Guard have established some mechanisms for
overseeing reports of sexual assault, neither has developed an
oversight framework”including clear objectives, milestones, performance
measures, and criteria for measuring progress”to guide their efforts.
In compliance with statutory requirements, DOD reports data on sexual
assault incidents involving servicemembers to Congress annually.
However, DOD‘s report does not include some data that would aid
congressional oversight, such as why some sexual assaults could not be
substantiated following an investigation. Further, the military
services have not provided sufficient data to facilitate oversight and
enable DOD to conduct trend analyses. While the Coast Guard voluntarily
provides data to DOD for inclusion in its report, this information is
not provided to Congress because there is no requirement to do so. To
provide further oversight of DOD‘s programs, Congress, in 2004,
directed DOD to form a task force to undertake an examination of
matters relating to sexual assault in which members of the Armed Forces
are either victims or offenders. However, as of July 2008, the task
force has not yet begun its review. Without an oversight framework, as
well as more complete data, decision makers in DOD, the Coast Guard,
and Congress lack information they need to evaluate the effectiveness
of the programs.
To view the full product, including the scope and methodology, click on
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-08-1013T]. For more
information, contact Brenda S. Farrell at (202) 512-3604 or
farrellb@gao.gov.
[End of section]
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee:
Thank you for the opportunity to be here today to discuss issues
related to the Department of Defense's (DOD) and Coast Guard's programs
to prevent, respond to, and resolve reported incidents of sexual
assault. As you know, sexual assault is a crime that contradicts the
core values that DOD, the military services,[Footnote 1] and the Coast
Guard expect servicemembers to follow, such as treating their fellow
members with dignity and respect. Recognizing this, Congress in 2004
directed the Secretary of Defense to develop a comprehensive policy for
DOD on the prevention of and response to sexual assaults involving
servicemembers, including an option that would enable servicemembers to
confidentially disclose an incident of sexual assault. Since 2005,
active duty servicemembers have had two options for reporting an
alleged sexual assault: (1) restricted, which allows victims of sexual
assault to disclose a sexual assault incident to specific individuals
and receive medical care and other victim advocacy services without
initiating a criminal investigation; and (2) unrestricted, which
entails notification of the chain of command and may trigger a criminal
investigation. Although these requirements do not apply to the Coast
Guard, which is overseen by the Department of Homeland Security, the
Coast Guard has adopted similar reporting options.
Mr. Chairman, you have recognized the need to shed light on this
important issue. Specifically, you asked GAO to examine sexual assault
prevention and response programs at the military academies as well as
at military installations within DOD and the Coast Guard and during
deployments. In response, we issued a report in January 2008 that
reviewed programs to address sexual assault and sexual harassment at
the military and Coast Guard academies.[Footnote 2] This August, we
will issue our follow-on report examining DOD's and the Coast Guard's
programs to prevent and respond to sexual assault, including during
deployments. A draft of this report is currently with the agencies for
comment. Thus, our findings and recommendations have not been
finalized.
My testimony today is based on our preliminary observations from our
ongoing work requested by this committee. Specifically, my testimony
today will address the extent to which DOD and the Coast Guard:
* have developed and implemented policies and programs to prevent,
respond to, and resolve sexual assault incidents involving
servicemembers;
* have visibility over reports of sexual assault involving
servicemembers; and:
* exercise oversight over reports of sexual assault involving
servicemembers.
To obtain our preliminary observations, we reviewed legislative
requirements; reviewed DOD's, the military services', and the Coast
Guard's guidance and requirements for the prevention of, response to,
and resolution of sexual assault; analyzed sexual assault incident
data; and visited 15 military installations in the United States and
overseas to assess implementation of the programs. At the installations
we visited, we met with sexual assault prevention and response program
coordinators; victim advocates; judge advocates; medical and mental
health personnel; criminal investigative personnel; law enforcement
personnel; chaplains; various military commanders, including company
and field grade officers; and senior enlisted servicemembers. We also
obtained the perspective of more than 3,900 servicemembers by
administering a total of 3,750 confidential surveys to a nonprobability
sample of randomly selected servicemembers and conducting more than 150
one-on-one, structured interviews with randomly selected servicemembers
at 14 of the 15 locations we visited. Our survey is the first since
2006 to obtain the perspectives of selected servicemembers in each
military service and the Coast Guard on sexual assault issues and the
first to assess sexual assault issues in the Coast Guard since the
restricted reporting option became available in December 2007. Because
we did not select survey and interview participants using a
statistically representative sampling method, our survey results and
the comments provided during our interview sessions are
nongeneralizable and therefore cannot be projected across DOD, a
service, or any single installation we visited. However, the survey
results and comments provide insight into the command climate and
implementation of sexual assault prevention and response programs at
each location at the time of our visit.
We conducted this performance audit from July 2007 through July 2008 in
accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. Those
standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain
sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our
findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that
the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and
conclusions based on our audit objectives.
Summary:
DOD has taken positive steps to respond to congressional direction by
developing and implementing policies and programs to prevent and
respond to reported sexual assault incidents involving servicemembers,
and the Coast Guard has taken similar steps on its own initiative.
Commanders are also taking action against alleged sexual assault
offenders. However, (1) DOD's guidance may not adequately address some
important issues, such as how to implement its program in deployed or
joint environments; (2) most but not all commanders support the
programs; (3) program coordinators' effectiveness can be hampered when
program management is a collateral duty; (4) required sexual assault
prevention and response training is not consistently effective; and (5)
factors such as a DOD-reported shortage of mental health care providers
affect whether servicemembers who are victims of sexual assault can or
do access mental health services. For example, at the installations we
visited, we found that commanders--that is, company and field grade
officers--had taken actions to address incidents of sexual assault and
were generally supportive of sexual assault prevention and response
programs; however, at three of the installations we visited, program
officials told us of meeting with resistance from commanders when
attempting to advertise, in barracks and work areas, the programs or
the options for reporting a sexual assault. Also, although DOD and the
Coast Guard require that all servicemembers receive periodic training
on their respective sexual assault prevention and response programs,
our nongeneralizeable survey, interviews, and discussions with
servicemembers and program officials revealed that a majority, but not
all, servicemembers are receiving the required training and that some
who have received it still would not know or were not sure how to
report a sexual assault using the restricted reporting option.
We found, based on responses to our survey and a 2006 DOD survey, the
most recent available, that occurrences of sexual assault may be
exceeding the rates being reported, suggesting that DOD and the Coast
Guard have only limited visibility over the incidence of these
occurrences. We recognize that the precise number of sexual assaults
involving servicemembers is not possible to determine and that studies
suggest sexual assaults are generally underreported in the United
States. Nonetheless, our findings indicate that some servicemembers may
choose not to report sexual assault incidents for a variety of reasons,
including the belief that nothing would be done or that reporting an
incident would negatively impact their careers. In fiscal year 2007,
DOD received 2,688 reports of alleged sexual assault, brought with
either the restricted or unrestricted reporting option, involving
servicemembers as either the alleged offenders or victims. The Coast
Guard, which did not offer the restricted reporting option during
fiscal year 2007, received 72 reports of alleged sexual assault brought
with the unrestricted reporting option during that time period.
However, servicemembers told us that they were aware of alleged sexual
assault incidents involving other servicemembers that were not reported
to program officials, and a 2006 Defense Manpower Data Center survey
found that of the estimated 6.8 percent of women and 1.8 percent of men
who experienced unwanted sexual contact[Footnote 3] during the prior 12
months, the majority chose not to report it.[Footnote 4]
While DOD and the Coast Guard have established some mechanisms for
overseeing reports of sexual assault involving servicemembers, both
lack an oversight framework, and DOD lacks key information needed to
evaluate the effectiveness of sexual assault prevention and response
programs. DOD's instruction charges the Sexual Assault Prevention and
Response Office with evaluating the effectiveness of the sexual
response prevention and response program. Our prior work has
demonstrated the importance of outcome-oriented performance measures to
successful program oversight and that an effective plan for
implementing initiatives and measuring progress can help decision
makers determine whether initiatives are achieving desired results.
[Footnote 5] However, neither DOD nor the Coast Guard has developed an
oversight framework that includes clear objectives, milestones,
performance measures, or criteria for measuring progress. Congress also
lacks visibility over the incidence of sexual assaults involving Coast
Guard members because the Coast Guard is not required to provide these
data to Congress. Further, because the military services are not
providing DOD with the installation-and case-specific data beyond what
is statutorily required for inclusion in the department's annual
report, DOD lacks the means to fully execute its oversight role. Also,
some data included in DOD's annual reports to Congress could be
misleading and do not provide some information needed to facilitate
congressional oversight or understanding of victims' use of the
reporting options. In addition, Congress directed DOD in 2004 to form a
task force to undertake an examination of matters relating to sexual
assault in which members of the Armed Forces are either victims or
offenders, but, as of July 2008, the task force has not yet begun its
review. As a result, DOD and the Coast Guard are not able to fully
evaluate the effectiveness of their programs in achieving their goals,
and lacking visibility over the incidence of sexual assaults in the
military, congressional decision makers are impeded in judging the
overall successes, challenges, and lessons learned from the programs.
We discussed the preliminary observations that are contained in this
statement with officials in both DOD and the Coast Guard. Overall, DOD
officials agreed with the need to take further action to improve
implementation and oversight of the department's program. They
emphasized that the department has focused on program implementation
versus program oversight to date. They highlighted several areas in
need of further attention, including examining whether there is a need
for additional guidance that addresses implementation of its program in
deployed and joint environments, providing the military services with
specific resources for the program, training, access to mental health
services, and enhancing oversight of the program. For example, they
stated they are in the process of examining whether it is necessary to
revise DOD's guidance with regard to implementing the program in
deployed and joint environments. They also stated they are beginning to
develop preliminary standards that they expect will serve as the
foundation for the department's baseline performance measures and
evaluation criteria. Representatives from the military services
expressed concerns over our preliminary finding that some commanders do
not support the sexual assault prevention and response program. They
stated that they would look into this issue further in an effort to
address any potential problems. In addition, service officials told us
that they did not want to provide DOD with installation-level data,
unless required to do so, because of concerns that data may be
misinterpreted or that even nonidentifying data about a victim may
erode victim confidentiality. DOD officials emphasized the importance
of having access to the military service's installation-level data for
purposes of analysis and oversight. Coast Guard officials also
emphasized that the Coast Guard has focused on program implementation
versus program oversight to date. They stated that they would be
willing to provide Congress with data on reported sexual assaults. In
addition, they stated that moving forward they will work to leverage
any changes DOD makes to improve implementation and oversight of its
program.
Background:
In October 2004, Congress included a provision in the Ronald W. Reagan
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005[Footnote 6]
that required the Secretary of Defense to develop a comprehensive
policy for DOD on the prevention of and response to sexual assaults
involving members of the Armed Forces. The legislation required that
the department's policy be based on the recommendations of the
Department of Defense Task Force on Care for Victims of Sexual Assaults
[Footnote 7] and on such other matters as the Secretary considered
appropriate. Among other things, the legislation required DOD to
establish a standardized departmentwide definition of sexual assault,
establish procedures for confidentially reporting sexual assault
incidents, and submit an annual report to Congress on reported sexual
assault incidents involving members of the Armed Forces.
In October 2005, DOD issued DOD Directive 6495.01,[Footnote 8] which
contains its comprehensive policy for the prevention of and response to
sexual assault, and in June 2006 it issued DOD Instruction 6495.02,
[Footnote 9] which provides guidance for implementing its policy. DOD's
directive defines sexual assault as "intentional sexual contact,
characterized by the use of force, physical threat or abuse of
authority or when the victim does not or cannot consent. It includes
rape, nonconsensual sodomy (oral or anal sex), indecent assault
(unwanted, inappropriate sexual contact or fondling), or attempts to
commit these acts. Sexual assault can occur without regard to gender or
spousal relationship or age of victim. 'Consent' shall not be deemed or
construed to mean the failure by the victim to offer physical
resistance. Consent is not given when a person uses force, threat of
force, coercion, or when a victim is asleep, incapacitated, or
unconscious."
The Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness has the
responsibility for developing the overall policy and guidance for the
department's sexual assault prevention and response program. Under the
Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness,
DOD's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (within the Office
of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Plans) serves as the
department's single point of responsibility for sexual assault policy
matters.[Footnote 10] These include providing the military services
with guidance, training standards, and technical support; overseeing
the department's collection and maintenance of data on reported sexual
assaults involving servicemembers; establishing mechanisms to measure
the effectiveness of the department's sexual assault prevention and
response program; and preparing the department's annual report to
Congress.
In DOD, active duty servicemembers have two options for reporting a
sexual assault: (1) restricted, and (2) unrestricted. The restricted
reporting option permits a victim to confidentially disclose an alleged
sexual assault to select individuals and receive care without
initiating a criminal investigation. A restricted report may only be
made to a Sexual Assault Response Coordinator, victim advocate, or
medical personnel. Because conversations between servicemembers and
chaplains are generally privileged, a victim may also confidentially
disclose an alleged sexual assault to a chaplain. In contrast, the
unrestricted reporting option informs the chain of command of the
alleged sexual assault and may initiate an investigation by the
military criminal investigative organization of jurisdiction. Since
December 2007, the Coast Guard has employed a similar definition of
sexual assault as well as similar options for reporting a sexual
assault in its guidance, Commandant Instruction 1754.10C.[Footnote 11]
At the installation level, the coordinators of the sexual assault
prevention and response programs are known as Sexual Assault Response
Coordinators in DOD and as Employee Assistance Program Coordinators in
the Coast Guard. Other responders include victim advocates, judge
advocates, medical and mental health providers, criminal investigative
personnel, law enforcement personnel, and chaplains.
DOD's and the Coast Guard's Programs to Prevent and Respond to Sexual
Assault:
DOD has taken positive steps to respond to congressional direction by
establishing policies and a program to prevent, respond to, and resolve
reported sexual assault incidents involving servicemembers, and the
Coast Guard, on its own initiative, has taken similar steps. Further,
we found that commanders are taking action against alleged sexual
assault offenders. However, we also found that several factors hinder
implementation of the programs, including (1) guidance that may not
adequately address how to implement DOD's program in certain
environments, (2) inconsistent support for the programs, (3) limited
effectiveness of some program coordinators, (4) training that is not
consistently effective, and (5) limited access to mental health
services.
DOD Has Taken Some Steps to Respond to Congressional Direction, and the
Coast Guard on Its Own Initiative Has Made Similar Progress:
In response to statutory requirements, DOD has established a program to
prevent, respond to, and resolve sexual assaults involving
servicemembers. DOD's policy and implementing guidance for its program
are contained in DOD Directive 6495.01 and DOD Instruction 6495.02.
Specific steps that DOD has taken include:
* establishing a standardized departmentwide definition of sexual
assault;
* establishing a confidential option to report sexual assault
incidents, known as restricted reporting;
* establishing a Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office to serve
as the single point of accountability for sexual assault prevention and
response;
* requiring the military services to develop and implement their own
policies and programs, based on DOD's policy, to prevent, respond to,
and resolve sexual assault incidents;
* establishing training requirements for all servicemembers on
preventing and responding to sexual assault; and:
* reporting data on sexual assault incidents to Congress annually.
Although not explicitly required by statute, the Coast Guard has had a
sexual assault prevention and response program in place since 1997. In
December 2007, the Coast Guard, on its own initiative, updated its
instruction to mirror DOD's policy and to include a restricted option
for reporting sexual assaults.
In DOD, each of the military services has also established a Sexual
Assault Prevention and Response office with responsibility for
overseeing and managing sexual assault matters within that military
service.[Footnote 12] The Coast Guard's Office of Work-Life, which
falls under the Commandant of the Coast Guard, is responsible for
overseeing and managing sexual assault matters within the Coast Guard.
Commanders Are Taking Action against Alleged Sexual Assault Offenders:
A key aspect of the DOD's and the Coast Guard's efforts to address
sexual assault is the disposition of alleged sexual assault offenders.
In both DOD and the Coast Guard, commanders are responsible for
discipline of misconduct, including sexual assault, and they have a
variety of judicial and administrative options at their disposal.
During the course of our ongoing work, we found that commanders at the
installations we visited were supportive of the need to take action
against alleged sexual assault offenders and were generally familiar
with the options available to them for disposing of alleged sexual
assault cases. Commanders' options are specified in the Uniform Code of
Military Justice (UCMJ) and the Manual for Courts-Martial and include:
* trial by court-martial, the most severe disposition option, which can
lead to many different punishments including death, prison time, and
punitive separation from military service;
* nonjudicial punishment, pursuant to Article 15 of the UCMJ, which
allows for a number of punishments including reducing a member's grade,
seizing a portion of pay, and imposing restrictions on freedom; and:
* administrative actions, which are corrective measures that may result
in a variety of actions including issuing a reprimand, extra military
instruction, or the administrative withholding of privileges.
In some cases, commanders may also elect to take no action, such as if
evidence of an offense is not sufficient. However, there are also
instances in which commanders cannot take action, such as if the
alleged offender is not subject to military law or could not be
identified, if the alleged sexual assault is unsubstantiated or
unfounded, or if there is insufficient evidence that an offense
occurred.
In determining how to dispose of alleged sexual assault offenders,
commanders take into account a number of factors that are specified in
the Manual for Courts-Martial. Some of the factors that commanders take
into account include the character and military service of the accused,
the nature of and circumstances surrounding the offense and the extent
of harm caused, and the appropriateness of the authorized punishment to
the particular accused or offense. Further, commanders' decisions are
typically made after consulting with the supporting legal office (e.g.,
judge advocate).
Several Factors Hinder Implementation of DOD's and the Coast Guard's
Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Programs:
Despite taking positive steps to implement programs to prevent and
respond to reported sexual assault incidents involving servicemembers,
we identified several factors during the course of our ongoing work
that, if not addressed, could continue to hinder implementation of the
programs.
DOD's guidance may not adequately address some important issues. DOD's
directive and instruction may not adequately address how to implement
the program when operating in deployed or joint environments. Program
officials we met with overseas told us that DOD's policies do not
sufficiently take into account the realities of operating in a deployed
environment, in which unique living and social circumstances can
heighten the risks for sexual assault and program resources can be
widely dispersed, which can make responding to a sexual assault
challenging. Similarly, program officials told us there is a need for
better coordination of resources when a sexual assault occurs in a
joint environment. At one overseas installation we visited, Coast Guard
members told us that they were confused about which program they fell
under--DOD's or the Coast Guard's--and thus who they should report an
alleged sexual assault to. Installations can also have multiple
responders responsible for responding to an assault, potentially
leading to further confusion.
While most commanders support the programs, some do not. DOD's
instruction requires commanders and other leaders to advocate a strong
program and effectively implement DOD's sexual assault prevention and
response policies. The Coast Guard's instruction similarly requires
that commanders and other leaders ensure compliance with the Coast
Guard's policies and procedures. Though we found that commanders--that
is, company and field grade officers, at the installations we visited
have taken actions to address incidents of sexual assault, some
commanders do not support the programs. For example, at three of the
installations program officials told us of meeting with resistance from
commanders when attempting to place, in barracks and work areas,
posters or other materials advertising the programs or the options for
reporting a sexual assault. In some cases, commanders we spoke with
told us that they supported the programs but did not like the
restricted reporting option because they felt it hindered their ability
to protect members of the unit or discipline alleged offenders.
Commanders who do not support the programs effectively limit
servicemembers' knowledge about the program and ability to exercise
their reporting options.
Program coordinators' effectiveness can be hampered when program
management is a collateral duty. To implement sexual assault prevention
and response programs at military installations, DOD and the services
rely largely on Sexual Assault Response Coordinators, while the Coast
Guard relies on Employee Assistance Program Coordinators. However, we
found that there are a variety of models for staffing these positions.
DOD's instruction leaves to the military services' discretion whether
these positions are filled by military members, DOD civilian employees,
or DOD contractors, and thus whether Sexual Assault Response
Coordinators perform their roles as full-time or collateral duties. In
the Coast Guard, Employee Assistance Program Coordinators are full-time
federal civilian employees, but they are also responsible for
simultaneously managing multiple programs, including sexual assault
prevention and response, for a designated geographic region. We found
that the time and resources dedicated to implementing sexual assault
prevention and response programs varies, particularly when the program
coordinators have collateral duties.
Training is not consistently effective. Although DOD and the Coast
Guard require that all servicemembers receive periodic training on
their respective sexual assault prevention and response programs, our
nongeneralizeable survey, interviews, and discussions with
servicemembers and program officials revealed that a majority, but not
all, servicemembers are receiving the required training, and that some
servicemembers who have received it may not understand how to report a
sexual assault using the restricted reporting option. For example, a
survey we administered at 14 military installations revealed that while
the majority of servicemembers we surveyed had received the required
training, the percentage of servicemembers who responded that they
would not know how to report a sexual assault using the restricted
reporting option ranged from 13 to 43 percent for the seven
installations where we administered our survey in the United States and
from 13 to 28 percent for the seven installations where we administered
our survey overseas. To date, neither DOD nor the Coast Guard has
systematically evaluated the effectiveness of the training provided.
Servicemembers who have not received the required training or are
otherwise not familiar with their respective programs incur the risks
of not knowing how to mitigate the possibility of being sexually
assaulted or how to seek assistance if needed, or risk reporting the
assault in a way that limits their option to maintain confidentiality
while seeking treatment.
Access to mental health services may be limited. DOD and the Coast
Guard both require that sexual assault victims be made aware of
available mental health services, and in 2007, DOD's Mental Health Task
Force recommended that DOD take action to address factors that may
prevent some servicemembers from seeking mental health care. However,
we found that several factors, including a DOD-reported shortage of
mental health care providers, the inherent logistical challenges of
operating overseas or in geographically remote locations in the United
States or overseas, and servicemembers' perceptions of stigma
associated with mental health care can affect whether servicemembers
who are victims of sexual assault can or do access mental health
services. We also did not find any indication that either DOD or the
Coast Guard are taking steps to systematically assess factors that may
impede servicemembers who are victims of sexual assault from accessing
mental health services.
Visibility over Reports of Sexual Assault:
We found, based on responses to our nongeneralizeable survey and a 2006
DOD survey, the most recent available, that occurrences of sexual
assault may be exceeding the rates being reported, suggesting that DOD
and the Coast Guard have only limited visibility over the incidence of
these occurrences. We recognize that the precise number of sexual
assaults involving servicemembers is not possible to determine and that
studies suggest sexual assault are generally underreported in the
United States. Nevertheless, our findings indicate that some
servicemembers may choose not to report sexual assault incidents for a
variety of reasons, including the belief that nothing would be done or
that reporting an incident would negatively impact their careers.
In fiscal year 2007, DOD received 2,688 reports of alleged sexual
assault made with either the restricted or unrestricted reporting
option involving servicemembers as either the alleged offenders or
victims. The Coast Guard, which did not offer the restricted reporting
option during fiscal year 2007, received 72 reports of alleged sexual
assault made using the unrestricted reporting option during this same
time period. At the 14 installations where we administered our survey,
103 servicemembers indicated that they had been sexually assaulted
within the preceding 12 months. Of these, 52 servicemembers indicated
that they did not report the sexual assault incident. The number who
indicated they did not report the sexual assault ranged from one to six
servicemembers per installation.
Respondents to our survey also told us that they were aware of alleged
sexual assault incidents involving other servicemembers that were not
reported to program officials. DOD's fiscal year 2007 annual report and
a Coast Guard program official further support the view that
servicemembers are not reporting all sexual assault incidents, as does
the Defense Manpower Data Center's 2006 Gender Relations Survey of
Active Duty Members,[Footnote 13] administered between June and
September 2006. Issued in March 2008, the Defense Manpower Data Center
survey found that of the estimated 6.8 percent of women and 1.8 percent
of men in DOD who experienced unwanted sexual contact during the prior
12 months, the majority (an estimated 79 percent of women and 78
percent of men) chose not to report it.[Footnote 14] The Defense
Manpower and Data Center report did not include data for the Coast
Guard, but, at our request, the center provided information showing
that an estimated 3 percent of female and 1 percent of male Coast Guard
respondents reported experiencing unwanted sexual contact during the
prior 12 months.[Footnote 15]
While the survey results suggest a disparity between the actual number
of sexual assault incidents and the number of those reported, this is
largely an expected result of anonymous surveys. Whereas formal
reports, whether restricted or unrestricted, involve some level of
personal identification and therefore a certain amount of risk on the
part of the victim, the risks and incentives for service members making
anonymous reports are very different. Hence, anonymous survey results
tend to produce higher numbers of reported incidents. Another factor
obscuring the visibility that DOD and Coast Guard officials can have
over the incidence of sexual assault is the fact that many of the
individuals to whom the assaults may be reported--including clergy and
civilian victim care organizations, civilian friends, or family--are
not required to disclose these incidents. As a result, while DOD and
the Coast Guard strive to capture an accurate picture of the incidence
of sexual assault, their ability is necessarily limited.
Our survey data revealed a number of reasons why respondents who
experienced a sexual assault during the preceding 12 months did not
report the incident. Commonly cited reasons by survey respondents at
the installations we visited included: (1) the belief that nothing
would be done; (2) fear of ostracism, harassment, or ridicule by peers;
and (3) the belief that their peers would gossip about the incident.
Survey respondents also commented that they would not report a sexual
assault because of concern about being disciplined for collateral
misconduct, such as drinking when not permitted to do so; not knowing
to whom to make a report; concern that a restricted report would not
remain confidential; the belief that an incident was not serious enough
to report; or concern that reporting an incident would negatively
impact their career or unit morale. The Defense Manpower Data Center's
2006 Gender Relations Survey of Active Duty Members identified similar
reasons why servicemembers did not report unwanted sexual contact,
including concern that reporting an incident could result in denial of
promotions, assignment to jobs that are not career enhancing, and
professional and social retaliation.
However, servicemembers also reported favorable results after reporting
unwanted sexual contact to military authorities, including being
offered counseling and advocacy services, medical and forensic
services, legal services, and having action taken against alleged
offenders. Respondents to our survey indicated they were supportive of
the restricted reporting option as well. For example, a junior enlisted
female observed that the military is going to great lengths to improve
the ways that sexual assault can be reported and commented that "in my
opinion, people will be more likely to report an incident anonymously."
Similarly, a female senior officer commented that "giving the victim a
choice of making a restricted or unrestricted report is a positive
change and allows that person the level of privacy they require."
DOD and the Coast Guard's Oversight over Reports of Sexual Assault:
DOD and the Coast Guard have established some mechanisms for overseeing
reports of sexual assault involving servicemembers. However, they lack
the oversight framework necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of
their sexual assault prevention and response programs, and DOD lacks
key information from the military services needed to evaluate the
effectiveness of department's program. DOD's annual reports to Congress
may not effectively characterize incidents of sexual assault in the
military services because the department has not clearly articulated a
consistent methodology for reporting incidents and the means of
presentation for some of the data does not facilitate comparison. In
addition, the congressionally directed Defense Task Force on Sexual
Assault in the Military Services has yet to begin its review, although
DOD considers its work to be an important oversight element.
Oversight Mechanisms in DOD and the Coast Guard:
DOD's directive establishes the department's oversight mechanisms for
its sexual assault prevention and response program and assigns
oversight responsibility to DOD's Sexual Assault Prevention and
Response Office (within the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of
Defense for Plans).[Footnote 16] DOD's Sexual Assault Prevention and
Response Office is responsible for:
* developing programs, policies, and training standards for the
prevention, reporting, response, and program accountability of sexual
assaults involving servicemembers;
* developing strategic program guidance and joint planning objectives;
* storing and maintaining sexual assault data;
* establishing institutional evaluation, quality improvement, and
oversight mechanisms to periodically evaluate the effectiveness of the
department's program;
* assisting with identifying and managing trends; and:
* preparing the department's annual report to Congress.
To help provide oversight of the department's program, in 2006 DOD
established a Sexual Assault Advisory Council, which consists of
representatives from DOD's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response
Office, the military services, and the Coast Guard. The Sexual Assault
Advisory Council's responsibilities include advising the Secretary of
Defense on the department's sexual assault prevention and response
policies, coordinating and reviewing the department's policies and
programs, and monitoring progress. The military services have also
established some oversight mechanisms, though these efforts are
generally focused on collecting data. Though Coast Guard
representatives attend meetings of DOD's Sexual Assault Advisory
Council, the Coast Guard has few other formal oversight mechanisms in
place to oversee its sexual assault prevention and response program.
According to program officials with whom we spoke in both DOD and the
Coast Guard, to date their focus has been on program implementation, as
opposed to program evaluation.
DOD and the Coast Guard Do Not Have an Oversight Framework in Place to
Evaluate the Effectiveness of their Sexual Assault Prevention and
Response Programs:
Though DOD and the Coast Guard have established some oversight
mechanisms, neither has established an oversight framework for their
respective sexual assault prevention and response programs, which is
necessary to ensure the effective implementation of their programs. Our
prior work has demonstrated the importance of outcome-oriented
performance measures to successful program oversight and shown that
having an effective plan for implementing initiatives and measuring
progress can help decision makers determine whether their initiatives
are achieving desired results.[Footnote 17] In reviewing DOD's and the
Coast Guard's programs, we found that neither has established an
oversight framework because they have not established a comprehensive
plan that includes such things as clear objectives, milestones,
performance measures, and criteria for measuring progress, nor
established evaluative performance measures with clearly defined data
elements with which to analyze sexual assault incident data. Because
DOD's and the Coast Guard's sexual assault prevention and response
programs lack an oversight framework, their respective programs, as
currently implemented, do not provide decision makers with the
information they need to evaluate the effectiveness of the programs or
to determine the extent to which the programs are helping to prevent
sexual assault from occurring and to ensure that servicemembers who are
victims of sexual assault receive the care they need.
During the course of our ongoing work, we found a number of areas
demonstrating the need for an oversight framework. For example,
although DOD's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office is
responsible for establishing institutional program evaluation, quality
improvement, and oversight mechanisms to periodically evaluate the
effectiveness of the department's programs, it has yet to establish
qualitative or quantitative metrics to facilitate program evaluation
and assess effectiveness. As a specific example, DOD has not yet
established metrics to determine the frequency with which victims were
precluded from making a confidential report using the restricted
reporting option or reasons that precluded them from doing so.
Additionally, we found that neither DOD nor the Coast Guard has
established performance goals, such as a goal to ensure that a specific
percentage of servicemembers within a unit have received required
training. In the absence of such measures, Sexual Assault Prevention
and Response Office officials in DOD told us that they currently
determine the effectiveness of DOD's program based on how well the
military services are complying with program implementation
requirements identified by DOD.
Importantly, both DOD and the Coast Guard recognize the need to
establish an oversight framework in addition to their existing
oversight mechanisms. For example, the Sexual Assault Advisory Council
is in the initial stages of developing performance measures and
evaluation criteria to assess program performance and identify
conditions needing attention. However, DOD has not yet established time
frames for developing and implementing these measures. DOD also is
working with the military services to develop guidelines to permit,
among other uses, consistent assessment of program implementation
during site visits. In addition, Coast Guard program officials told us
that they plan to conduct reviews of their program for compliance and
quality in the future and plan to leverage any metrics developed by DOD
to assess their program. Further, the Coast Guard Investigative Service
has begun to conduct limited trend analysis on reported incidents,
including the extent to which alcohol or drugs were involved in alleged
sexual assaults.
Without an oversight framework to guide program implementation, DOD and
the Coast Guard also risk not collecting all of the information needed
to provide insight into the effectiveness of their programs. In
reviewing DOD's program, we found that the military services
encountered challenges providing requested data because the request to
do so was made after the start of the data collection period. For
example, with the exception of the Army, none of the military services
was able to provide data as part of the fiscal year 2007 annual report
to Congress on sexual assaults involving civilian victims, such as
contractors and government employees. Similarly, while there is no
statutory reporting requirement, the Coast Guard voluntarily
participates in DOD's annual reporting requirement by submitting data
to DOD's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office. However, DOD
does not include these data in its annual report, and the Coast Guard
does not provide these incident data to Congress because neither is
required to do so. As a result, at the present time Congress does not
have visibility over the extent to which sexual assaults involving
Coast Guard members occur.
DOD Lacks Access to Data to Conduct Comprehensive Cross-Service
Analysis over Time:
Though DOD's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office is
responsible for assisting with identifying and managing trends, it is
not able to conduct comprehensive cross-service trend analysis of
sexual assault incidents because it lacks access to installation-or
case-level data that would facilitate such analyses. DOD officials told
us that the military services will not provide installation-or case-
level incident data beyond those that are aggregated at the military
service level. These data are generally limited to information needed
to meet statutory requirements for inclusion in the annual report to
Congress. In discussing this matter with the military services, service
officials told us they do not want to provide installation-or case-
level data to DOD because they are concerned (1) the data may be
misinterpreted, (2) even nonidentifying data about the victim may erode
victim confidentiality, and (3) servicemembers may not report sexual
assaults if case-level data are shared beyond the service-level.
However, without access to such information, DOD does not have the
means to identify those factors, and thus to fully execute its
oversight role, including assessing trends over time. For example,
without case-level data, DOD cannot determine the frequency with which
sexual assaults are reported in each of the geographic combatant
commands to better target resources over time.
DOD Data Reported to Congress Could Be Misinterpreted:
DOD reports data to Congress annually on the total number of restricted
and unrestricted reported incidents of sexual assault. However, in
reviewing DOD's annual reports to Congress, we found that the reports
may not effectively characterize incidents of sexual assault in the
military services because the department has not clearly articulated a
consistent methodology for reporting incidents and the means of
presentation for some of the data does not facilitate comparison. For
example, meaningful comparisons of the data cannot be made because the
respective offices that provide the data to DOD measure incidents of
sexual assault differently. In the military services, Sexual Assault
Response Coordinators, who focus on victim care, report data on the
number of sexual assault incidents brought using the restricted
reporting option based on the number of victims involved. In contrast,
the criminal investigative organizations, which report data on the
number of sexual assault incidents brought using the unrestricted
reporting option, report data on a per "incident" basis, which may
include multiple victims or alleged offenders. We believe that this
lack of a common means of presentation for reporting purposes has
prevented users of the reports from making meaningful comparisons or
drawing conclusions from the reported numbers.
Further, DOD's annual report lacks certain data that we believe would
facilitate congressional oversight or understanding of victims' use of
the reporting options. For example, while DOD's annual report provides
Congress with the aggregated numbers of investigations during the prior
year for which commanders could not take action against alleged
offenders, those aggregated numbers do not distinguish cases in which
evidence was found to be insufficient to substantiate an alleged
assault versus the number of times a victim recanted an accusation or
an alleged offender died. Also, though DOD's annual report documents
the number of reports that were initially brought using the restricted
reporting option and later changed to unrestricted, it includes these
same figures in both categories--that is, the total number of
restricted reports and the total number of unrestricted reports. An
official in DOD's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office told us
that because the military services do not provide detailed case data to
DOD that the department is not able to remove these reports from the
total number of restricted reports when providing information in its
annual report. However, we believe that the double listing of these
figures is confusing.
Congressionally Directed Defense Task Force on Sexual Assault in the
Military Services Has Not Yet Begun Its Review:
To provide further oversight of DOD's sexual assault prevention and
response programs, the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization
Act for Fiscal Year 2005[Footnote 18] required that the Defense Task
Force on Sexual Assault in the Military Services conduct an examination
of matters relating to sexual assault in cases in which members of the
Armed Forces are either victims or offenders.[Footnote 19] As part of
its examination, the law directs the task force to assess, among other
things, DOD's reporting procedures, collection, tracking, and use of
data on sexual assault by senior military and civilian leaders, as well
as DOD's oversight of sexual assault prevention and response programs.
The law does not require an assessment of the Coast Guard's program.
Senior officials within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
for Personnel and Readiness have stated that they plan to use the task
force's findings to evaluate the effectiveness of DOD's sexual assault
prevention and response programs. However, as of July 2008, this task
force has yet to begin its review.
Senior task force staff members we spoke with attributed the delays to
challenges in appointing the task force members and member turnover. As
of July 2008, however, they told us that all 12 task force members were
appointed and that their goal is to hold their first open meeting, and
thus begin their evaluation, in August 2008. They also told us that
they project that by the end of fiscal year 2008 DOD will have expended
about $15 million since 2005 to fund the task force's operations--with
much of this funding going towards the task forces' operational
expenses, such as salaries for the civilian staff members, contracts,
travel, and rent. The law directs that the task force submit its report
to the Secretary of Defense and the Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and
Air Force no later than 1 year after beginning its examination. If such
a goal were met, the task force's evaluation could be complete by
August 2009. However, at this time it is uncertain whether the task
force will be able to meet this goal.
Concluding Observations:
In closing, we believe that DOD and the Coast Guard have taken positive
steps to prevent, respond to, and resolve reported incidents of sexual
assault. However, a number of challenges--such as limited guidance for
implementing DOD's policies in certain environments, some commanders'
limited support and limited resources for the programs, training that
is not consistently effective, limited access to mental health
services, and a lack of an oversight framework--could undermine the
effectiveness of some of their efforts. Left unchecked, these
challenges could undermine DOD's and the Coast Guard's efforts by
eroding servicemembers' confidence in the programs, decreasing the
likelihood that sexual assault victims will turn to the programs for
help when needed, or by limiting the ability of DOD and the Coast Guard
to judge the overall successes, challenges, and lessons learned from
their programs. We expect to make a number or recommendations in our
final report to improve implementation and oversight of sexual assault
prevention and response programs in both DOD and the Coast Guard. Our
final report will also include DOD's and the Coast Guard's response to
our findings and recommendations once they have had an opportunity to
further review our draft report.
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, this concludes my
prepared statement. I would be happy to answer any questions you may
have at this time.
GAO Contact and Acknowledgments:
If you have any questions on matters discussed in this testimony,
please contact Brenda S. Farrell at (202) 512-3604 or farrellb@gao.gov.
Key contributors to this statement include Marilyn K. Wasleski
(Assistant Director), Joanna Chan, Pawnee A. Davis, K. Nicole Harms,
Wesley A. Johnson, Ronald La Due Lake, Stephen V. Marchesani, Amanda K.
Miller, and Cheryl A. Weissman.
[End of section]
Footnotes:
[1] For purposes of this testimony, we use the term "military services"
to refer collectively to the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps.
While the Coast Guard is a military service, it generally falls under
the control of the Department of Homeland Security and not the
Department of Defense. Therefore, we address the Coast Guard separately
from the other military services.
[2] GAO, Military Personnel: The DOD and Coast Guard Academies Have
Taken Steps to Address Incidents of Sexual Harassment and Assault, but
Greater Federal Oversight Is Needed, [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-
bin/getrpt?GAO-08-296] (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 17, 2008).
[3] The 2006 Gender Relations Survey of Active Duty Members defines
unwanted sexual contact to include rape, nonconsensual sodomy (oral or
anal sex) or indecent assault (unwanted, inappropriate sexual contact
or fondling) that can occur regardless of gender, age, or spousal
relationship.
[4] The 95 percent confidence interval for this estimate is +/-1
percent.
[5] GAO, Results-Oriented Cultures: Implementation Steps to Assist
Mergers and Organizational Transformations, [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-03-669] (Washington, D.C.: July
2, 2003).
[6] Pub. L. No. 108-375 § 577 (2004).
[7] In February 2004, the Secretary of Defense directed the Under
Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to undertake a 90-day
review to assess sexual assault policies and programs in DOD and the
services and recommend changes to increase prevention, promote
reporting; enhance the quality and support provided to victims,
especially within combat theaters; and improve accountability for
offender actions. Among the recommendations of the task force was that
DOD establish a single point of accountability for all sexual assault
policy matters within the department.
[8] Department of Defense Directive 6495.01, Sexual Assault Prevention
and Response (SAPR) Program (Oct. 6, 2005).
[9] Department of Defense Instruction 6495.02, Sexual Assault
Prevention and Response Program Procedures (June 23, 2006).
[10] Except for legal processes provided under the Uniform Code of
Military Justice and Manual for Courts-Martial and criminal
investigative policy matters that are assigned to the Judge Advocates
General of the military services and DOD's Inspector General,
respectively.
[11] Commandant Instruction 1754.10C, Sexual Assault Prevention and
Response Program (SAPRP) (Dec. 20, 2007).
[12] Except for the Navy, which refers to its program as Sexual Assault
Victim Intervention, each of the military services refers to its
program as Sexual Assault Prevention and Response.
[13] Defense Manpower Data Center 2006 Gender Relations Survey of
Active Duty Members (DMDC Report No. 2007-022, March 2008). The
weighted response rate was 30 percent.
[14] For the DOD female population, this is an estimate of 6.8 percent
with a margin of error of +/-1 percent. For the male population, this
is an estimate of 1.8 percent with a margin of error of +/-0.6 percent.
The margins of error are calculated with a 95 percent confidence
interval.
[15] For the Coast Guard female population, this is an estimate of 3
percent with a 95 percent level of confidence with a margin or error of
+/-3 percent. For the male population, this is an estimate of 1 percent
with a margin of error of +/-1 percent.
[16] DOD's instruction requires the Sexual Assault Prevention and
Response Office to serve as the single point of responsibility for
sexual assault policy matters, except for legal processes provided
under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and Manual for Courts-
Martial, and criminal investigative policy matters that are assigned to
the Judge Advocates General of the military services and DOD's
Inspector General, respectively.
[17] [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-03-669].
[18] Pub. L. No. 108-375 § 576 (2004).
[19] The Defense Task Force on Sexual Assault in the Military Services
is an extension of the Defense Task Force on Sexual Harassment and
Violence at the Military Service Academies established by the Secretary
of Defense pursuant to the National Defense Authorization Act for
Fiscal Year 2004, Pub. L. No. 108-136 § 526 (2003). The Ronald W.
Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 directed
that the task force studying the academies be renamed and begin
carrying out the new functions required by the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 once it had completed its duties
under the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004. The
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 also allowed
the Secretary of Defense to change the composition of the task force
after it completed its work related to the academies and before it
began to carry out its new functions. The Defense Task Force on Sexual
Harassment and Violence at the Military Service Academies submitted its
report on June 30, 2005.
[End of section]
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