Former President Jimmy Carter on Senator McCaskill reforms: “I thought it was not adequate”
Former President Jimmy Carter joined David Letterman on March 24th, 2014 and voiced his support for an independent and impartial justice system for our men and women in uniform. He shared his disappointment in the Sen. McCaskill led filibuster against the Military Justice Improvement Act and reflected on how not much has changed since the Tailhook scandal.
Fast forward to 15:54 for President Carter’s remarks on the military sexual assault epidemic and how to begin to resolve it.
When asked about how to tackle the epidemic of sexual assault in the military, President Carter said,
“There are a number of things that can be done. For instance, in the military the first thing you could do is to remove from the commanding officers the authority about whether a rapist will be tried or not.”
When asked about Sen. McCaskill’s reforms that were recently passed by the Senate.
“I thought it was not adequate, because I’ve been in the Navy. I was a submarine officer. I was qualified to command submarines. And it’s almost impossible for commanding officers to bring to justice a rapist, because it affects adversely on his capability as a military commander if sexual abuse is taking place in his company or his battalion.”
