[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 17687-17688]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT

  Mr. DURBIN. The Presiding Officer knows better than most what it 
means for someone to enter our military, to raise their hand and take 
an oath in service to the United States. It is the giving of their time 
and their lives. Equally important, they are risking their lives. They 
know they can be called upon in that capacity to defend this country. 
They can be injured. They can lose their lives in the defense of this 
Nation, and many have. But they still do it on a voluntary and selfless 
basis. We realize that for most of them they have viewed their threats 
as the enemies who are going to attack the United States or their 
units. But we have come to learn that there are other enemies within 
the military who are equally troublesome and worrisome.
  It is one thing to have a son or a daughter--someone you love very 
much--take an oath to serve in the military and run the risk of a 
dangerous encounter with an enemy. But it is absolutely unacceptable to 
think that these men and women in the military would run the risk of a 
dangerous attack by someone else in the military.
  Speaking to the issue of sexual assault, it is one which is topical 
because we have finally, finally started to come to grips with the 
reality of what it means. Our responsibility is to ensure that the men 
and women of the military have everything they need. Sexual assault 
threatens it. It erodes the basic trust, respect, and professionalism 
that our troops uphold and rely on to perform their duties. In a more 
fundamental sense, it also cuts to the heart of the basic questions of 
safety, dignity, and justice as Americans.
  However we measure it, the current system has failed our 
servicemembers. The evidence is overwhelming. It has been estimated 
that 26,000 incidents of sexual assault occurred in the military in a 
recent year. Only 3,400 reports were made from victims. The Institute 
of Medicine estimates that 21.5 percent of Active-Duty women and 
literally thousands of Active-Duty men have been sexually assaulted. We 
also know that 60 percent of the victims who do report these sexual 
assaults say they are retaliated against for doing so--60 percent. 
Overwhelming majorities of victims say they often do not report an 
incident because they do not think it will make any difference. It is a 
sweeping and comprehensive indictment of the current system.
  I have a responsibility as chairman of the Appropriations Defense 
Subcommittee to work more closely with members of the military and 
their leaders than ever before. I have come to know them, to like them, 
to respect them. When they tell me, as they all have to a person, that 
they are doing everything conceivable to deal with this problem, I 
believe them, but I also believe there are elements within the culture 
of some parts of our military which are almost intractable and which 
have to be dealt with in a new and more definitive way.
  Let me share one example. It came to light recently. I attended a 
Freedom Salute Ceremony for an Illinois National Guard unit that 
recently returned from Theater Gateway operations in Kuwait. They had 
been gone a year. It was a small unit, fewer than 20. They came home, 
and their families were with him. They were out at Camp Lincoln in 
Springfield, IL. This unit was in charge of transportation, making sure 
that 100,000 servicemembers who came through that theater had what they 
needed to make it to their next destination and ultimately back home. 
Some of these people were being redeployed, do not get me wrong, but 
many were headed home. I heard from these members of this unit.
  Among the servicemembers they helped move through this hub was a 
young woman who had been sexually assaulted somewhere in the region. 
That was not the first stop. The first stop for this sexual assault 
victim was a barracks situation where she literally had to walk through 
the men's restroom facilities to go the women's restroom facilities. 
This is a victim of sexual assault. She told us--the person I spoke to 
in the unit--that this victim said to her that these were the first 
sympathetic faces she had seen or worked with since this terrible 
incident and she was grateful to this Illinois Guard unit for standing 
by her in this emotionally trying time.
  I was happy to hear that this Guard unit had stepped up to give this 
young woman the help she needed, but it is inexcusable--in fact, it is 
shameful--that the rest of the system failed her. It is a story 
repeated too many times across the services.
  This current system has to change, and it will. I thank for their 
extraordinary advocacy Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Senator 
Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Senator Patty Murray of Washington, and 
many others. They put into the pending bill on the Defense 
Authorization Act many effective and necessary reforms.
  I supported them. I appreciate Chairman Levin and Ranking Member 
Inhofe for including 26 reforms in the underlying Defense authorization 
bill. I would like to highlight one reform in particular in which I 
played a small part--the special victims' counsel. I wish to highlight 
this reform because victims need and deserve someone in their corner 
helping them through

[[Page 17688]]

what is probably one of the toughest moments of their lives.
  In testimony earlier this year in the Appropriations Defense 
Subcommittee which I chair, the head of the Air Force General Welsh 
talked about how effective this pilot program of special victims' 
counsel has been. The bill that is pending before us would expand their 
services. My subcommittee's appropriation spending mark ensures that it 
will be fully funded.
  The bills other reforms are equally powerful: improving prevention; 
holding leaders accountable for the climate in the military on this 
issue; reforming the military justice code. On these reforms, there is 
strong bipartisan agreement.
  Many of those reforms, including one we may vote on before we leave 
this week, were thanks to the leadership of Senator Claire McCaskill. 
She has been relentless in her efforts to lead on this important issue. 
Today is no different. She has an amendment which she offered which 
empowers the victims of sexual assault to have a greater voice in how 
their cases are prosecuted. It would require commanders' promotion 
reviews to take sexual assault climate into account. It would eliminate 
the so-called good soldier defense by which commanders are permitted to 
consider the defendant's overall value to the unit. I really appreciate 
Senator McCaskill's leadership. Her amendment is a positive one.
  The crux of today's floor debate is whether the Senate pushes this 
reform even further. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York offered an 
amendment that aims to give victims greater confidence that the 
military justice system is free from any bias by giving the decision on 
these cases to a senior judge advocate general outside the victim's 
chain of command.
  However we come down on this proposal, we all know this would be a 
significant change for a military justice code that has only undergone 
two significant changes since 1950, but I believe we must go forward 
with the Gillibrand proposal. I will vote in favor of her proposal. I 
did not come to this decision lightly. I have discussed this issue with 
my colleagues in the Senate, as well as every single military leader 
they have recommended I meet with. I have met with them publicly and 
privately. I have listened carefully. I have called the victims to hear 
their side as well. I considered the views of outside experts as well 
as my colleagues. Many of my colleagues have served in the military, 
and they have personal insights. After much deliberation, I have 
concluded that every single one of those reforms, including Senator 
Gillibrand's proposal, is going to be necessary if we are going to give 
victims the confidence they need and the support they need to come 
forward.
  I would also note that Senator Gillibrand's effort is endorsed by a 
diverse and thoughtful range of outside groups. They include the 
National Women's Law Center, the Vietnam Veterans of America, the Iraq 
and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the Defense Advisory Committee on 
Women in the Services, and the Service Women's Action Network.
  I know our senior military leaders are committed to cracking down on 
sexual assault. Many commanders around the world are just as outraged 
as Congress and just as committed to prosecuting offenders and setting 
a new tone in the military. But it is the role of Congress to ensure 
that the system those leaders implement is fair and reasonable. It must 
put the victims of assault back in control and the perpetrators of 
these claims on notice. It must restore victims' confidence. These 
reforms accomplish this goal. I look forward to supporting them.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning 
business for up to 15 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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