DOD under fire for farming out sex-assault survey
Politico reports:
The Defense Department is contracting out a high-profile survey on sexual assaults, raising alarm with a top Senate critic that the changes will obscure the military’s work in cleaning up its ranks.
Pentagon officials confirmed Tuesday they’ve entered into a deal with the RAND Corp. to take over the biennial study of gender issues for active duty military members — and those results will be sent to President Barack Obama by the end of the year. The last version of that report counted an estimated 26,000 unwanted sexual contacts in 2012 and gave victim advocates a powerful data point as they pushed Congress and the White House to make major changes to the military justice system.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) in a letter to DoD questioned why it was taking the survey away from the Defense Manpower Data Center, which has conducted five previous versions dating back to 1988. She also requested information on whether RAND’s survey would use new methodology, definitions or other techniques that would complicate measuring improvements in the military’s workplace environment.
