[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 4352-4353]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             SEXUAL ASSAULT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Speier) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SPEIER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to tell a story of a 17-year-
old Catholic school girl from the Seattle suburbs whose dreams to join 
the Marine Corps were destroyed by a sexual predator.
  The girl's recruiter, after discussing sexual harassment policy with 
her, decided to give her a big hug, then lifted her on his lap and 
fondled her breasts. He then tried to get her to perform oral sex on 
him at another visit to the Marine recruiting office; and on a third 
occasion, he had her fondle his genitals while the girl was riding in 
his car.
  She told the King County District Attorney's Office that she felt 
pressured into the sexual contact to get a position within the Corps.
  While King County investigators found the girl's claims to be 
credible, the recruiter's chain of command within the Marine Corps did 
not and returned him to his job after a brief suspension, while the 
high school student was denied justice and denied the job of her 
dreams.
  Just Google ``Marines sex scandal,'' and you will find this article 
and several other scandalous stories about soldiers who hold these 
positions of trust.
  These are exactly the type of stories that prompted Defense Secretary 
Chuck Hagel to issue a directive last May to require the screening of 
sexual assault counselors, recruiters, and drill sergeants in all the 
services, looking for any criminal wrongdoing or unethical behavior.
  It appears the Army took Secretary Hagel's directive seriously, as it 
screened 20,000 soldiers, disqualified 588, and is moving to get rid of 
at least 79 soldiers in these sensitive posts for offenses that include 
sexual assault.

                              {time}  1100

  Between the Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps, however, only a 
handful of servicemembers were disqualified. The Navy, after screening 
more than 10,000 soldiers, first said it only disqualified five, but 
just yesterday, we learned that the number has skyrocketed as the Navy 
has actually disqualified 151 sailors from these positions of trust. 
The Air Force just revealed Tuesday it disqualified two soldiers after 
at first initially reporting none were disqualified, and the Marine 
Corps so far has disqualified absolutely no one.
  We all know, without question, that sexual assault in the military is 
a crisis and that it is not simply limited to the Army. It appears to 
be quite clear that the services used widely divergent methodology in 
assessing the suitability for these servicemembers and that the 
different services interpreted Hagel's directive very differently. It 
is my understanding that one of the service's interpreted Hagel's 
directive so narrowly that it simply checked the civilian sexual 
predator registry. Hagel has, apparently, discussed with top brass in 
the Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps the 588 disqualifications in the 
Army and whether the other services will pursue a follow-up review. He 
has reportedly stopped short, however, of issuing another directive.
  I believe Secretary Hagel should issue a directive to rescreen the 
officers in the other services, and I sent him a letter Tuesday urging 
him to do so because choosing the wrong people for these positions of 
trust is a betrayal for our troops. The numbers of those disqualified, 
by the way, were not voluntarily made public. They continue almost 
weekly to be unearthed by an enterprising reporter at USA Today. The 
DOD also hasn't revealed what actions it has taken against those who 
were disqualified. The public has a right to know.
  I do salute the Army for scrubbing what has been a cancerous culture, 
evidenced by the pending court-martial of Sergeant Gregory McQueen, 
whose job it was to help prevent sexual assault but who, instead, was 
allegedly running a prostitution ring at Fort Hood.
  Until the Marine Corps, Air Force, and Navy follow the Army's path, 
however, I have little faith that the Department of Defense is capable 
of stamping out military sexual assault by weeding out sexual predators 
and other criminals in these highly important positions of trust.

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