I expect that people find it hard to deal with emotionally sensitive issues. I may even expect that many people would want to shield themselves from it.
But I won't tolerate elected and appointed officials who run and hide when they not only have the power to do something about it, they have the explicit responsibility of doing something about it.
And when that issue concerns protecting women in the military from sexual assault, it should be absolutely unacceptable for the Defense Department's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO), to shirk their responsibilities of doing all they can to address what is a very serious issue, which includes participating in a congressional hearing on why so many alarming reports have been surfacing about the sexual assault rate in the military.
To bring you up to speed, various reports have indicated:
- Across various eras of military activity, 1 in 3 military women have reported being victims of sexual assault
- Of the women veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who have walked into a VA facility, 15 percent have screened positive for military sexual trauma
- Of the women who indicated having experienced sexual assault in a GAO study, around 50% indicated they did not report the incident because they didn't think anything would be done about it.
Dr.
Kaye Whitley is the Pentagon's Director of the Sexual Assault
Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO), which is quoted on their
website as being the “single point of accountability for the
Defense Department's sexual assault policy.” However, when Congress
became concerned that, despite SAPRO's activities, reports of sexual
assault in the military were trickling back at an alarming rate, they
mandated that the DOD develop an independent task force to
investigate the issue.
Unfortunately, the DOD has neither
named nor called to order this task force in
the four years since the congressional mandate to do so. And
last month, when the House Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform issued a subpoena for Dr. Whitley to participate in a hearing
on sexual assault in the military, the Pentagon blocked Whitley from
appearing.
The Pentagon gave the excuse that Whitley was not the
appropriate person to testify on this issue. The Director of the
single
point of accountability for the DOD's sexual assault policies?
Please. Luckily, the Pentagon's weak excuse for its actions didn't
just trigger red flags for me: Rep. Henry Waxman recognized the DOD's
evasive tactics -- and sent a formal letter to Defense Secretary
Robert Gates, threatening to hold him in contempt of Congress.
My,
how people suddenly come around when it's their own reputation on the
line: Gates has agreed to let Whitley testify at the hearing. I, for
one, will be waiting in anticipation to hear what she has to say
about SAPRO's efforts to address the disturbing reports of violence
against women in the military.
The good news is that Whitley is testifying. We may finally
get some answers. But the bad news is that we still don't have any
indication as to when, if at all, the DOD will call the task force to
order. We still need to put the pressure on Whitley to follow through
on those orders. Help join the fight by signing our petition to Kaye
Whitley, director of SAPRO.
