[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 127 (Tuesday, July 29, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1589-E1590]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          HALTING RAPE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT IN THE U.S. MILITARY

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JANE HARMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 29, 2008

  Ms. HARMAN. Madam Speaker, the stories are shocking in their 
simplicity and brutality: a female military recruit is pinned down at 
knifepoint and raped repeatedly in her barracks. Though her attackers 
hid their faces she identified them by their uniforms. They were her 
fellow soldiers. During a routine gynecological exam, a female soldier 
is attacked and raped by her military physician. Yet another young 
soldier, still adapting to life in a war zone, is raped by her 
commanding officer. Afraid for her standing in her unit, she feels she 
has nowhere to turn.
  These are true stories, and, sadly, not isolated incidents. Women 
serving in the U.S. military are more likely to be raped by a fellow 
soldier than killed by enemy fire in Iraq.
  The scope of the problem was brought into acute focus for me during a 
visit to the West Los Angeles VA Health Center, where I met with female 
veterans and their doctors. My jaw dropped when the doctors told me 
that 41 percent of female veterans seen there say they are victims of 
sexual assault while in the military and 29 percent report being raped 
during their military service. They spoke of their continued terror, 
feelings of helplessness, and the downward spirals many of their lives 
have since taken.
  Numbers reported by the Department of Defense show the same sickening 
pattern. In 2006, 2,947 sexual assaults were reported--73 percent more 
than in 2004. The DOD's most recent report, released earlier this 
summer, indicates that 2,688 reports were made in

[[Page E1590]]

2007, but a recent shift from calendar year reporting to fiscal year 
reporting makes comparisons with data from previous years much more 
difficult.
  The Pentagon has made some efforts to manage this epidemic--most 
notably in 2005, after the media received anonymous e-mail messages 
about sexual assaults at the Air Force Academy. The press scrutiny and 
congressional attention that followed led DOD to create the Sexual 
Assault and Response Office. Since its inception, SAPRO has initiated 
training and improved reporting of rapes and sexual assaults but has 
inexplicably failed to track prosecution rates or how victims are 
faring within the military structure.
  At the heart of this crisis is an apparent inability or unwillingness 
to prosecute rapists in the ranks. According to the DOD's own 
statistics, a mere 181 out of 2,212 subjects--or 8 percent--
investigated for sexual assault in 2007 (including 1,259 reports of 
rape) were referred to courts martial. In nearly half of the cases 
investigated, the chain of command took no action and in the majority 
of those that were acted upon, the offenders were assigned 
administrative or non-judicial punishment. In other words, slaps on the 
wrist. In more than one-third of the cases that were not pursued, the 
commander took no action because of ``insufficient evidence.''
  This is in stark contrast to the civil justice system, where 40 
percent of those arrested for rape are prosecuted, according to the 
Department of Justice and FBI.
  The DOD must close this gap and remove the obstacles to effective 
investigation and prosecution. Failure to draw bright red lines 
produces two harmful consequences: it deters victims from reporting 
rapes and it fails to deter offenders. The absence of rigorous 
prosecution perpetuates a culture tolerant of sexual assault and rape--
an attitude that says ``boys will be boys.''
  The legislation that Mr. Turner and I introduce today calls on the 
Secretary of Defense to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy 
to end assault and rape in the military--to encourage and increase 
investigations and prosecutions.
  I have raised the issue personally with Defense Secretary Gates, 
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mullen, and Army Secretary Geren, 
among others. While they express real concern, thus far the military's 
response has been underwhelming. The apparent lack of urgency is 
inexcusable.
  Congress can do better too. While these sexual assault statistics are 
readily available, our oversight has failed to come to grips with the 
magnitude of the crisis. No doubt the abhorrent and graphic nature of 
the reports makes people uncomfortable. But this is no excuse for 
inaction. I applaud the National Security and Foreign Affairs 
Subcommittee of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee for 
holding hearings later this week to shine a light on the failure of 
existing policies.
  Madam Speaker, most of our service women and men are patriotic, 
courageous and hard-working people who embody the best of what it means 
to be an American. The failure to stem sexual assault and rape in the 
military runs counter to those ideals and shames us all.

                          ____________________