Two months after President Joe Biden first ordered it, the Pentagon held the first meeting of a 90-day independent review commission on sexual assault in the military that its leader told the Washington Examiner will not include any active-duty members of the military.
Even before he was seated as defense secretary, at his Jan. 19 nomination hearing, Lloyd Austin indicated that sexual assault and harassment in the military would be one of his priority issues. On his first day at the Pentagon, Austin issued a memo on sexual assault and followed a month later with several “immediate actions,” including evaluating “high risk” installations such as Fort Hood. But the clock for the commission itself only started Wednesday, and senators on the Left are demanding faster action.
“The DOD’s most recent survey estimated that almost 21,000 service members were sexually assaulted in 2018,” New York Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand said at a Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee hearing on the failure of military leadership to address sexual assault.
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Gillibrand said rampant sexual assault in the ranks means it is more likely a female soldier will be raped by a fellow service member than shot by the enemy in war.
“There is an epidemic of sexual assault in our military,” Gillibrand added in her opening statement, which coincided with the DOD commission announcement. “Despite 30 years of promises to change and over a billion dollars spent on prevention and response measures.”
Former White House adviser on violence against women Lynn Rosenthal, charged with leading the commission, told reporters Wednesday the group spent the first month assembling and defining its charter.
“We are about looking at major shifts at big picture items that could really change the culture, improve care for victims, bring about evidence-based prevention, and hold offenders accountable,” she said.
“I don’t expect an in-the-weeds view of 150 policies that should be tweaked around the edges,” she said. “That is not what we are about.”
Rosenthal identified targeting command leadership and considering independent special prosecutors outside of the military for sexual assault cases, something Gillibrand has long called for.
“I’ve spoken with Sen. Gillibrand. I’m very familiar with her view, and we’re very interested in diving into her recommendations,” she said. “The secretary and the president have said all options should be on the table.”
Addressing the failures of command leadership, such as at Fort Hood, Rosenthal said: “It’s about lack of leadership. It’s about lack of resources. It’s about lack of priority.”
However, Rosenthal told the Washington Examiner that none of her 13 IRC members are active-duty members of the military.
“First, we looked for people with expertise. There’s actually no one on this commission that is active duty,” she said. “We’re taking a really direct square on look at women in the services and what that means.”
Rosenthal said more than half of the IRC members have served in the military, including a JAG officer, a former Marine Cobra Attack pilot, and two West Point graduates. Army member, Col. Bridgette Bell serves on the panel while on inactive status as she pursues a doctorate.
Members also include a former Bush administration Justice Department official and a member from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
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Still, Rosenthal insisted that the experts in gender integration and civilian prosecutors on the team will assure the military culture is respected as the panel works to devise recommendations over the next three months.
“Underneath them are the consultative teams that are made up of senior leaders and subject matter experts within the department and the services,” she said. “So they’ll be participating in the conversation, but they are not the decision-makers.”
