STATEMENT: Protect Our Defenders Responds to GAO Report That Finds Pentagon Has Failed to Successfully Address Issues of Sexual Assault in Military Training Environments
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 9, 2014 Contact: Brian Purchia, brian@protectourdefenders.com
*** STATEMENT ***
PROTECT OUR DEFENDERS RESPONDS TO GAO REPORT THAT FINDS PENTAGON HAS FAILED TO SUCCESSFULLY ADDRESS ISSUES OF SEXUAL ASSAULT IN MILITARY TRAINING ENVIRONMENTS
Washington DC – Today, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report finding that the DoD has failed to properly oversee its programs to prevent sexual assault in military training environments, and must take further steps to address this problem.
The GAO Report found that the Air Force has failed to properly measure sexual harassment and assault in its training environment, has failed to fully implement its own recommendations, and has failed to even provide basic oversight or to measure the effectiveness of its programming.
Out of 46 recommendations from the Air Force’s 2012 Commander’s report to improve prevention, investigation, and response to sexual assault, the GAO found that only 39 had been fully implemented. However, according to the report, “the Air Force has not fully established an oversight framework to evaluate the effectiveness of actions taken in response to [its own] recommendations.”
The report continues that “without fully establishing an oversight framework…the Air Force will not know whether to sustain the efforts it has implemented or undertake different actions.” In other words, there is no way to tell if the Air Force’s actions have even made a difference in responding to or preventing sexual assaults.
Furthermore, GAO found that CORBT, the interagency council charged with improving basic training, does not adequately focus on sexual assault in its charter or include key stakeholders, including the Marine Corps, in sharing lessons on sexual assault prevention. Finally, the report found that none of the military branches adequately survey their trainees on sexual assault and misconduct, making it that much harder to even understand the scope of the problem.
Nancy Parrish, President of Protect Our Defenders, released the following statement:
“As this report shows, the Pentagon’s approach to addressing the serious issue of sexual assault and misconduct among trainees is to throw everything at the wall and hope something sticks. However, it is impossible to effectively combat this crisis without knowing if and to what extent the programs they are implementing are helping or hurting the situation. By failing to evaluate its programs, the DoD is once again avoiding accountability for maintaining a safe and just training environment.”
“Military training continues to be an oppressive and hostile environment for victims, and a target-rich setting for sexual predators. The Pentagon’s failure to identify effective solutions for prevention, as well as its failure to do justice on behalf of survivors of military sexual assault, has ensured that this crisis will continue. Until there is independent oversight of these programs, and until there is a professional, impartial military justice system, our service members will continue to be at risk for victimization and retaliation.”
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GAO: DOD Needs to Take Further Actions to Prevent Sexual Assault during Initial Military Training
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-14-806
About Protect Our Defenders: Protect Our Defenders is a human rights organization. We seek to honor, support and give voice to the brave women and men in uniform who have been sexually assaulted while serving their country, and re-victimized by the military adjudication system – a system that often blames the victim and fails to prosecute the perpetrator. Learn more about Protect Our Defenders at www.protectourdefenders.com or on Facebook at http://facebook.com/ProtectOurDefenders or follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ProtectRDfnders.
Protect Our Defenders partners with Attorney Susan Burke, Burke PLLC to advance lawsuits filed against the DoD and service academies for repeatedly ignoring rape, sexual assault and harassment, failing to prosecute perpetrators and retaliating against the victim.
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