Foreign Policy: Want to make the military more effective? Address the problem of sexual assault

Robert Egnell writes in Foreign Policy Magazine:

If you, like me, are a soldier, this is going to be a painful read.

The issue of sexual assaults within the military took center stage in the wake of a Pentagon announcement that the number of reported cases of sexual assault had increased by 46 percent during the last fiscal year — a number that was already appallingly high. After many heated Senate debates, during the holidays President Obama finally signed the sweeping National Defense Authorization Act, which included a number of new sexual assault provisions. The president also went further by directing military leaders to review their efforts to prevent and respond to these crimes. Secretary Chuck Hagel and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are to report back to President Obama on December 1, 2014. The directive came with a stern warning: “If I do not see the kind of progress I expect, then we will consider additional reforms that may be required to eliminate this crime from our military ranks and protect our brave service members who stand guard for us every day at home and around the world.”

This begs the question, what is “the kind of progress” he expects, and what will it actually take to deal with this problem?

Read the full column.