A Democratic lawmaker said Wednesday that “heads should roll” for the recent scandal that has rocked the Marine Corps involving service members posting revealing photos of female Marines online.
Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., called on Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to kick out all Marines who participated in the incident.
“Secretary Mattis, this must change now. I call on you to hold your leadership accountable for these failures, to establish a culture of dramatic change, and that means heads should roll,” she said on the House floor. “Talk is cheap. Action is what is needed for the integrity of the military. Survivors must be supported and that will only happen if those bad Marines are drummed out of the Corps with no exceptions.”
A whistleblower, himself a former Marine, recently revealed that both current and former service members have posted nude and compromising photos online of their fellow troops. The report focuses on a “Marines United” Facebook group that has more than 30,000 members.
The whistleblower has received death threats and his wife has been threatened with rape.
Speier said the revelations show that the Marine Corps still suffers from a “cultural rot” that stems from more than just “a few bad Marines,” since it suffered a similar scandal in 2013.
“I stand before you again incredulous, angry and sad to say that absolutely nothing has changed,” she said.
