Fears of inaction by their superiors and being discharged from the military have led sexually assaulted service members not to report the crimes committed against them, federal officials said.
The Department of Defense and the Coast Guard “have only limited visibility over the incidence of these occurrences,” said Brenda Farrell, director of defense capabilities for the U.S. General Accountability Office, in her report issued Thursday to Congress.
Farrell’s testimony served as a preliminary look at a GAO report expected in late August on sexual assaults at military installations.
The GAO found that half of sexually assaulted service members interviewed did not report the assault.
“Many people don’t understand … that [service members’] housing, health care and bank accounts are tied to the military; and the fear of being discharged weighs heavily on their minds,” said Anita Sanchez, communications director for the Miles Foundation, a Connecticut-based nonprofit advocate for military victims of sexual assaults.
While the DOD has taken positive steps to remedy the problem, “neither DOD nor the Coast Guard has developed an oversight framework that includes clear objectives, milestones, performance measures or criteria for measuring progress,” Farrell wrote in her testimony before the House Government Reform and Oversight subcommittee on national security and foreign affairs.
Farrell said Congress mandated the DOD to form a task force in 2004 to examine the issue of sexual assault, but that group has yet to meet.
The Defense Department did not respond to requests for comments Friday.
The GAO report also said some commanders at the 14 U.S. military installations it visited throughout the world were resisting or not fully complying with prevention programs, which “effectively limit service members’ … ability to exercise their reporting options.”
What could help the Defense Department in its effort is legislation sponsored by Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-District 7, that would streamline reporting standards to Congress and create a database to accurately measure sexual assault and prevention programs at military installations.
The GAO findings are similar to a report it issued in January in which reporting standards at service academies, such as the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, were inconsistent, and students were underreporting assaults.
“This is becoming a force protection issue, and is serving as an indicator to members of Congress that there has to be accountability,” Sanchez said.
