{"id":55242,"date":"2020-12-30T16:12:35","date_gmt":"2020-12-30T16:12:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/12\/30\/actions-taken-by-army-secretary-congress-after-spc-vanessa-guillens-death-are-insufficient\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T10:41:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T10:41:52","slug":"actions-taken-by-army-secretary-congress-after-spc-vanessa-guillens-death-are-insufficient","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/opinion\/commentary\/2020\/12\/30\/actions-taken-by-army-secretary-congress-after-spc-vanessa-guillens-death-are-insufficient\/","title":{"rendered":"Actions taken by Army secretary, Congress after Spc. Vanessa Guillen\u2019s death are insufficient"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/atype-video-jwplayer>
The secretary of the Army and five civilian members of the committee unveiled the results of a three-month examination of the command climate culture Ft. Hood.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

Fort Hood has garnered international attention after 28 soldiers assigned to the post died in the past year. The most prominent was Spc. Vanessa Guillen\u2019s alleged murder by a fellow soldier who then died by suicide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a captain, I was stationed at Fort Hood. Under the right leadership it can embody its nickname, \u201cThe Great Place.\u201d Conversely, under the wrong leadership, it can swing low and epitomize the surrounding city of Killeen\u2019s pseudonym, \u201cKill City.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kill City it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To address Fort Hood\u2019s challenges, Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy released the Fort Hood Independent Review Committee report<\/a> commissioned in July. The FHIRC determined Fort Hood\u2019s leadership was ineffective and created a permissive environment for sexual misconduct to flourish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A reverent McCarthy thanked the committee members for \u201ctheir outstanding efforts to provide us with an honest, fact-based assessment of the conditions at Fort Hood and a slate of recommended actions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What McCarthy failed to mention was that the Army\u2019s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office reports sexual misconduct in an annual report. Subsequently, he is required to present the secretary of defense with an action plan to prevent sexual assault within the ranks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SAPRO released its 2019 annual report on April 30 after McCarthy signed off on it on March 13. McCarthy proffered in the first paragraph that the Army\u2019s increasing rate of sexual misconduct reports \u201cmay be an indicator of increased victim confidence in their chain of command.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Approximately seven months later, McCarthy finally acknowledged to CBS News anchor Norah O\u2019Donnell that the prevalence of sexual misconduct in the Army has increased<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After McCarthy\u2019s admission, I reviewed the I Am Vanessa Guillen Act of 2020<\/a>. Frankly, Congress has not fulfilled its role in addressing military sexual misconduct, either. The bill was largely a summation of other published, binding documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill\u2019s definition of sexual harassment was the culmination of Army Regulation 600-20, Chapter 7, DoD Instruction 1020.03, and the Uniform Code of Military Justice Article 120d in its current form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill does offer a new proposal for military victims of sex-related offenses to sue the government for $100,000 after the report of the offense. As a survivor, I am skeptical that victims would subject themselves to be re-victimized for a mere $100,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill\u2019s sponsors also mandated that the Government Accountability Office report on military absent without leave procedures and that the SecDef submit a report on the Sexual Harassment\/Assault Response programs to Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, the SecDef already provides Congress with an annual report. Second, the GAO has provided Congress with several reports on sexual harassment\/assault to drive change without result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June 2011<\/a>, the GAO published its first report on military justice as related to sexual assault. The office determined that the DoD did not hold leaders accountable for the department\u2019s sexual harassment prevention program. Furthermore, the GAO recommended that DoD improve its accountability and develop an oversight framework for sexual harassment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DoD finally published a rudimentary Prevention Plan of Action in 2019 to reduce sexual assault in the military. However, the assistant secretary of defense for manpower and reserve affairs punted DoD\u2019s responsibilities to individual military departments to implement by June 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\t