Army leadership fired or suspended 14 Fort Hood leaders who failed to address a culture that permitted sexual assault.
The Army acted to adopt all 70 recommendations of the independent commission looking at the culture of sexual harassment at Fort Hood that led to the disappearance and death of Spc. Vanessa Guillen in April.
“This report without a doubt will cause the Army to change our culture,” Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy told Pentagon journalists Monday as the report was being released publicly.
McCarthy said the report revealed “a command climate at Fort Hood that was permissive of sexual harassment and sexual assault.”
The Army secretary commissioned the study on July 30, a month after the discovery of the remains of 20-year-old Guillen, who went missing from the Texas installation on April 23.
Guillen had suffered sexual harassment in the days leading up to her murder but had remained silent when she saw the complaints of other soldiers against the accused were dismissed.
“We own the results,” Army chief Gen. James McConville said, noting that he spoke to Guillen’s mother Tuesday morning. “I told her that we’re going to fix these issues and change the culture that allowed them to happen.”
McCarthy declined to admit that the Army’s Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention Program, or SHARP, was an explicit failure, saying instead that the report identified issues the Army had not yet seen.
Army leaders took only two questions before departing and turning the briefing over to members of the commission.
When they had their turn, commission members said a climate of fear pervaded hundreds of women they spoke to.
“There was an overall sense that there is that reluctance to report because who is going to believe us?” said commission member Carrie Ricci, a former Army JAG.
“Especially for a junior enlisted woman and especially one who maybe isn’t their star soldier at the moment,” she added.
In all, the commission interviewed 647 soldiers, including 503 women. In discussions, interviewees found 34 credible cases of sexual assault that went unreported and dozens of unreported cases of sexual harassment.
A survey of 31,000 members of the Fort Hood community and 49 research projects were also commissioned as part of the project.
Independent review committee chairman Chris Swecker said female soldiers had no faith in the process, from timely adjudication to confidentiality in reporting abuse.
“There was a fear and a founded fear that the confidentiality of the reporting process would be compromised,” he said. “The process was so long and drawn out that most people never saw the actual results, so there was no visible deterrent.”
The SHARP was simply not implemented among enlisted soldiers, he said. Further, Fort Hood had no missing persons protocol and was doing little to curtail drug abuse and violent crime problems.
“Serious crime problems on Fort Hood have gone unaddressed because the installation is in a fully reactive posture,” Swecker added.
Still, McCarthy laid blame on Fort Hood leadership, while noting the Army will take lessons learned from the report.
“I am greatly disappointed that leaders failed to effectively create a climate that treated all soldiers with dignity and respect,” he said.
Among those fired were the III Corps deputy commanding general and the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment Command Team. Those suspended may face harsher punishment pending results of an investigation into the command climate of the division.
While not charged with assigning blame, the independent commission refused to accept that poor leadership was the root cause.
“The problems that we saw are cultural,” said commission member Jack White. “Everybody is involved in culture, from the highest levels to the one-on-one interactions between the squad leader and his or her squad member.”
McCarthy called for a review of the SHARP and the implementation of the commission’s 70 recommendations no later than March 2021.
