[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 83 (Thursday, May 13, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2525-S2526]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTION

      By Ms. HIRONO (for herself, Mr. Booker, Mr. Coons, Mr. Leahy, Ms. 
        Baldwin, Mr. Lujan, and Mrs. Gillibrand):
  S. 1611. A bill to amend title 10, United States Code, to improve the 
responses of the Department of Defense to sex-related offenses, and for 
other purposes; to the Committee on Armed Services.
  Ms. HIRONO. Mr. President, I rise today to reintroduce the `I Am 
Vanessa Guillen Act' that addresses longstanding systemic problems in 
the way that the military responds to sexual harassment and sexual 
assault. I thank Representative Speier and Representative Mullin for 
reintroducing this important legislation in the U.S. House of 
Representatives.
  Army Specialist Vanessa Guillen disappeared from her Fort Hood, 
Texas, Army base in April 2020. Tragically, last June, Fort Hood 
officials confirmed that remains found near the Leon River in Bell 
County, Texas, were Vanessa's. Vanessa had told other soldiers at Fort 
Hood that she was being sexually harassed and confided to her family 
that the perpetrator was a fellow Army Soldier. A separate fellow 
Soldier was suspected of beating Vanessa to death with a hammer, and 
then, with his girlfriend, dismembering, burning, and burying Vanessa's 
body about 30 miles from Fort Hood. This other Soldier--the suspect in 
question--fatally shot himself when confronted by authorities for 
questioning off post. His girlfriend has been charged in federal court 
with conspiracy to tamper with evidence.
  The Army finally acknowledged that Vanessa did report being sexually 
harassed by a superior in her chain of command in the months leading up 
to her murder. Vanessa's family has called for changes to how the 
military handles reports of sexual harassment and assault and has asked 
for a law to allow a third-party investigative team to look into 
reports of sexual harassment within the military. They are right to 
demand better from the military--as should we all.
  Despite on-going efforts to root out the toxic culture of sexual 
harassment and sexual assault in the military, it is still very much 
alive. And that's not just my opinion--the Army itself has confirmed 
that sad fact in recent months following their release in December 2020 
of the Fort Hood Independent Review Committee Report, which shockingly 
included as one of its findings that the Command Climate at Fort Hood 
has been permissive of sexual harassment and sexual assault.
  How long will victims of sexual harassment and assault continue to be 
afraid to report their abusers? It seems that the military justice 
system is rather the military system without justice where survivors of 
these crimes cannot have confidence to know that their reports will be 
confidential, taken seriously, and adjudicated properly.
  We need to address this injustice now. An effective and strong 
military unit is one that relies on the trust between all members of 
that unit. Sexual harassment and sexual assault have no place in our 
military--they break that critical trust. It is a betrayal of every 
Soldier, Sailor, Airman and Marine if leaders do not do everything 
possible to eradicate the toxic culture which allows sexual harassment 
and sexual assault to fester and erode good order and discipline within 
the ranks.
  To ensure our military readiness, we need to do everything possible 
to help ensure victims and survivors of these heinous crimes are 
supported, treated with respect, and not traumatized again, and that 
their perpetrators are held accountable in a military justice system 
they can trust. These are fathers and mothers, daughters and sons, 
sisters and brothers, who have volunteered to give the ultimate 
sacrifice when called upon. They should not have to fear their fellow 
servicemembers at home nor feel that when they raise concerns, they are 
not taken seriously.
  Therefore, I am reintroducing the ``I Am Vanessa Guillen Act''. The 
provisions in this legislation will move prosecution decisions on 
sexual assault and sexual harassment cases outside of the chain of 
command to an Office of the Chief Prosecutor within each military 
service; create a standalone military offense for sexual harassment; 
establish trained sexual harassment investigators who are outside of 
the chain of command of the complainant and the accused to investigate 
all claims of sexual harassment; implement the recommendations of the 
Fort Hood Independent Review Committee Report to strengthen the 
independence and effectiveness of the Army's Sexual Harassment/Assault 
Response and Prevention (SHARP) Program; require both DoD and the 
Comptroller General to conduct separate evaluations of the military 
services' sexual assault prevention and response programs; and 
establish a process by which servicemembers can make claims for 
negligence against DoD in the case of sexual assault or sexual 
harassment. I was quite pleased to hear that DoD's Sexual Assault 
Independent Review Commission recently released initial recommendations 
to the Secretary that tracked closely with several of the provisions in 
this legislation: moving prosecution decisions on sexual assault and 
sexual harassment cases outside of the chain of command to an Office of 
the Chief Prosecutor within each military service and requiring all 
sexual harassment allegations to be investigated outside the immediate 
chain of command.
  These changes will encourage survivors to come forward to report 
sexual assault and sexual harassment, more effectively bring justice 
for survivors, and strengthen the ability of the military services to 
protect its most important resource--the people who wear the uniform of 
the United States.
  We need to pass the `I am Vanessa Guillen Act' to fix a broken 
military justice system.

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