[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 124 (Wednesday, September 17, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H7485-H7486]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    SECRETARY OF THE ARMY'S SENIOR REVIEW PANEL ON SEXUAL HARASSMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from the District of Columbia [Ms. Norton] is recognized 
for 5 minutes.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, a number of women members of the women's 
caucus may be coming to the floor this afternoon to make speeches 
concerning the report of the Secretary of the Army's Senior Review 
Panel on Sexual Harassment.
  The reason women Members of the House would speak to this subject 
relates to the fact that sexual harassment in the Armed Forces was the 
first issue of the 105th Congress to come to the attention of the 
women's caucus. We did not choose it; it chose us. We came back to find 
a full-blown scandal. This time it was not Tailhook and the Navy, it 
was Aberdeen and the Army, and it looked like a far more serious 
scandal than the Tailhook scandal.
  We had a meeting with the Secretary of the Army. We have followed 
this issue, met with officials. Some of our Members have given very 
special attention to it. We have sought remedies, we have monitored 
this issue, and now a report comes through.
  Mr. Speaker, what is important to note about this report is the 
absence of equivocation. The findings of the report are nothing short 
of refreshing, and the Secretary of the Army, Mr. Togo West, deserves 
our compliments for sending forth a panel to do a job, frank and full, 
so that the Armed Forces of the United States would not be disgraced by 
continuing allegations of sexual harassment.
  Examples of findings that are bold and unequivocal are, and I am 
quoting: ``The Army lacks institutional commitment to the EO Program. 
Examples: Sexual harassment exists throughout the Army, crossing 
gender, rank and racial lines.'' Pretty stark, pretty frank, and the 
kind of straight talk that will pierce the ranks up and down. That is 
what we need if we want to get rid of this stuff.
  The panel said, ``We are firmly convinced that leadership is the 
fundamental issue.'' That is indeed refreshing. At Aberdeen we saw that 
there were drill sergeants and others of lower rank who were prosecuted 
and sanctioned. Only now are we seeing that at Aberdeen some of the 
upper ranks have also been sanctioned. Unless that happens,

[[Page H7486]]

there is no credibility for sanctions at all in a command structure. If 
one is at the top, one is in charge and one is accountable for whatever 
happens throughout the ranks.
  Among the conclusion and recommendations is one that says that ``It 
is necessary to imbed human relations training in the Army training 
system as a doctrinal imperative.'' That is very strong, because a 
doctrinal imperative means when it is part and parcel of a mission, and 
the mission is incomplete unless it is part of that mission.
  I was struck by a recommendation that the EO Programs had to be 
engineered to protect those who use it and ensure that those working in 
it are not stigmatized. That said to me that if one was in the EO part 
of the program, one was not in the regular Army, or at least one did 
not have the same respect as those who were. This says that those 
people must be given credit for what they are doing, take pride in it 
and do it well. And when it says protect those who use it, it implies 
that in fact what we know to be true was true, and that is that the EO 
Program just as well may not have been there when it came to matters of 
sexual harassment because it did not do its job.
  According to this report, women did not feel that they could come and 
report the sexual harassment at all. That is a comment on a justice 
system that no one ever wants to hear. The report says that a command 
climate assessment down to company size units, at least annually, 
should take place. If that had taken place, if there had been annual 
assessments at the company level, then it seems to me sexual 
harassment, which included criminal conduct, could have been found out. 
Unless one is willing to go down to that level, of course one is not 
going to find out about sexual misconduct. People do not come out, 
salute, and then engage in sexual harassment.
  We do not think that there needs to be a witch-hunt, but one can 
uncover these matters if we do our job, and I congratulate the Army on 
this report. We will be looking to see if they carry out the report 
with the strength that its language implies.

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