By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Pentagon’s top brass has voiced deep concern over legislation supported by most U.S. senators that would overhaul the military justice system for crimes like sexual assault, according to letters released on Tuesday by a senator critical of the reform effort.
But the senior U.S. military officers, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army General Mark Milley, acknowledged failings in addressing sexual assault in the ranks. They did not endorse new remedies in lieu of the legislation.
Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has spearheaded the legislation taking U.S. military commanders out of the decision-making process about when to prosecute sexual assault cases in the military. Her bill would do the same for other major crimes, turning such decisions over to trained prosecutors.
The bill, which has 64 co-sponsors, is being blocked from consideration on the floor of the Senate, however, by the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Democrat Jack Reed, who chairs the panel, favors removing the military’s chain of command from prosecuting cases of sexual assault but sees the legislation as too broad.
“I recognize a substantial number of Sailors have lost trust in our Navy’s ability to handle these cases appropriately,” Chief Naval Officer Admiral Mike Gilday wrote in one of the letters released by Senator James Inhofe, senior Republican on the Armed Services Committee.
But Gilday said he was concerned about the wide scope of Gillibrand’s legislation and the time line for implementation.
In another letter, Army Chief of Staff General James McConville wrote: “My best military advice continues to be that removing commanders’ case disposition authority would be detrimental to the good order and discipline required for effective warfighting.”
Gillibrand said in a statement the letters were disappointing but not surprising.
“Their arguments are recycled talking points from the battles for progress in the past and are void of any coherent argument beyond the disingenuous ‘good order and discipline,'” she added.
Sexual assault victims’ advocates argue the proposed measures are long overdue, saying commanders’ authority creates a conflict of interest that can end up backfiring against victims. Commanders are not required to have any background in the law or prosecuting sex crimes.
Sexual assault and harassment in the U.S. military is largely underreported and the Pentagon’s handling of it has come under renewed scrutiny.
A 2018 Pentagon survey estimated that 20,500 male and female service members experienced some kind of sexual assault that year.
An independent commission on sexual assault set up by the Pentagon has recommended to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that the military take the decision to prosecute cases out of the chain of command.
On Wednesday, bipartisan members of the Democratic-led House of Representatives are due to introduce their version of the legislation. To become law, the measure must pass the Senate and House and be signed into law by President Joe Biden.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali; Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Peter Cooney)
