Politico: Military sex assault bill stalled by Syria
Protect Our Defenders’ efforts are highlighted in this article from Politico:
Protect Our Defenders, a victim-advocacy group, has delivered more than 260 letters to senators. The group’s staff and officers had more than a dozen meetings with senators and their aides in Washington and back home in their states — many of them undecided — over the August break. Advocates say they’ll also be bolstered by several high-profile sexual assault cases moving now through the military’s opaque justice system, including the Naval Academy superintendent’s pending decision on whether to court-martial three former football players and the Fort Bragg trial later this month of Army Brig. Gen. Jeffery A. Sinclair, a rare event for such a high-ranking officer accused of assaulting a female subordinate.
McCaskill, who was blindsided earlier this summer by a Protect Our Defenders ad attacking her position in her home-state paper, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, also went on offense publishing an op-ed in USA Today with California Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez, herself a victim of sexual assault. The two Democrats went directly after Gillibrand. “We view this as a risky approach for victims — one that would increase the risk of retaliation, weaken our ability to hold commanders accountable and lead to fewer prosecutions,” they wrote.
