Pentagon reports decrease in military sexual assault

Sexual assault incidents in the military were down in 2016 compared to previous years, showing “indications of progress,” the Pentagon says in a report released Monday.

But Department of Defense (DOD) officials said six out of every 10 victims who formally report such crimes receive retaliation, a problem they are trying hard to remedy.

The military still struggles to handle sexual harassment cases, as highlighted by the recent controversy over Marines sharing nude photos and personal information of female Marines other women without consent in a private Facebook group. More than 30 Marines now face punishment for their alleged involvement, and lawmakers have pushed for stricter military language and laws to prevent such an occurrence from happening again.

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“Anytime that we have behavior of service men and women that are not aligned with our values, it’s not a good thing,” said Navy Rear Adm. Ann Burkhardt, the new director of DOD’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO).

“I think it highlights and the survey data supports that — that sexual harassment is an area that we need to make further progress,” she told reporters at the Pentagon.

Overall, an estimated 14,900 service members surveyed last year experienced sexual assault, down from 20,300 from 2014 when the Pentagon last conducted a survey of similar size, according to the report.

About 4.3 percent of active-duty women and 0.6 percent of active duty men said they experienced sexual assault in the year prior to being surveyed, the report states.

The military services received 6,172 reports of sexual assault involving service members “as either victims or subjects of criminal investigations throughout fiscal year 2016, which represents a 1.5 percent increase” from the 6,083 reports made in fiscal year 2015.

That translates into roughly one in three service members who experienced a sexual assault coming forward in 2016, up from 1 in 14 in 2006.

The increase of service members “who made the difficult decision to report a sexual assault” is an indication of “continued trust in our response and support systems,” according to Elizabeth Van Winkle, the acting assistant secretary of defense for readiness.

This year’s report shows “indications of progress,” as the number of active duty service members estimated to have experienced sexual assault are “at the lowest levels we have seen since we began to survey on prevalence,” Van Winkle said.

She added, however, that “we do not confuse progress with success. There remain a number of important challenges that demand our continued attention. There is no acceptable number of sexual assault incidents.”

The Defense Department established SAPRO in 2005 as the authority for sexual assault policy and to assure services complied with Pentagon policy.

For this year’s report, SAPRO sent out a survey to 735,000 active duty members and received a response from 24 percent, or 150,000.

“I think what you see in the numbers this year is more and more people hearing their commanders, their senior officers, promising that if you come forward and tell us about it we’re going to take some kind of action,” said Nate Galbreath, SAPRO deputy director.

Many have called for sexual assault cases to be taken outside the military chain of command to further prevent incidents.

“It is unmistakable as power and discretion has been taken away from commanders, sexual assault numbers have decreased,” said retired Col. Don Christensen, former Air Force chief prosecutor and president of advocacy group Protect Our Defenders.

“The Pentagon and their allies in Congress have steadfastly opposed finishing this job by turning authority over to independent prosecutors and further reducing the impact of command bias.”

The Pentagon holds that preventing sexual assault is a top priority for Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

“We will not tolerate sexual assault and we will continue to build a culture of respect and accountability,” Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said during the briefing.