{"id":56142,"date":"2021-05-13T21:20:32","date_gmt":"2021-05-13T21:20:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/05\/13\/senator-baffled-by-dod-testimony-on-sexual-assault-incident-visibility-at-unit-level\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T09:58:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T09:58:56","slug":"senator-baffled-by-dod-testimony-on-sexual-assault-incident-visibility-at-unit-level","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/management\/pay-benefits\/2021\/05\/13\/senator-baffled-by-dod-testimony-on-sexual-assault-incident-visibility-at-unit-level\/","title":{"rendered":"Senator \u2018baffled\u2019 by DoD testimony on sexual assault incident visibility at unit level"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A senator who has been pushing defense officials for years to root out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/05\/13\/tiny-uptick-in-2020-military-sex-assault-reports-officials-say\/\" target=\"_blank\">sexual assault<\/a> and harassment in the ranks said she was \u201cbaffled\u201d and \u201cexasperated\u201d by a defense official\u2019s testimony that DoD doesn\u2019t have visibility over what\u2019s happening on the ground at units and installations with these issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIsn\u2019t that the unit commander\u2019s job?\u201d asked Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., during a hearing of the personnel panel of the Senate Armed Services Committee May 12. Gillibrand, who is chairwoman of the panel, has pushed to remove sexual misconduct cases from the traditional military chain of command. She pointed out that DoD has maintained for years that commanders should keep that authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This year, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/04\/29\/major-overhaul-in-how-the-military-handles-sexual-misconduct-cases-may-finally-happen\/\" target=\"_blank\">bipartisan congressional proposal led by Gillibrand<\/a> \u2014which would remove that authority from the chain of command and instead establish an independent counsel\u2019s office to oversee the cases \u2014 has gained support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gillibrand\u2019s questions were prompted by testimony by Elizabeth Van Winkle, whose responsibilities include advising personnel officials and the Secretary of Defense on developing policies, providing oversight, and integrating activities in the areas of sexual assault prevention and response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Van Winkle said Pentagon officials haven\u2019t had a clear picture of what\u2019s going on within units in terms of how sexual assault and harassment are being addressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re looking at all aspects of these issues to shed light where we previously didn\u2019t have visibility,\u201d said Van Winkle, executive director of DoD\u2019s Office of Force Resiliency, in her testimony before the subcommittee. If officials don\u2019t have that visibility at the unit and installation level, Van Winkle said, \u201cthen we simply don\u2019t have a good sense of whether our initiatives are getting to where they need to be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gillibrand said she was \u201cexasperated\u201d by that statement, noting that commanders have had this authority at the unit level. \u201cSo for you to state there\u2019s no visibility there, is an absurd statement. You have visibility because you have unit commanders,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou\u2019ve had testimony from survivors in the last eight years I\u2019ve been working on this that when they are sexually harassed, 66 percent of the time it comes from their unit commander. So you\u2019ve had plenty of visibility onto this issue. \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhat\u2019s invalid about the information you\u2019ve been getting from service members \u2026.. direct testimony saying they\u2019re being harassed, direct testimony that when they do come forward with a sexual assault report that they are retaliated against?\u201d Gillibrand asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s not that that\u2019s invalid, it\u2019s that we didn\u2019t know where it was happening,\u201d Van Winkle said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In terms of broader policies and programs, Van Winkle said, she wants to make sure that DoD also has visibility in situations where victims don\u2019t feel comfortable coming forward, so that officials can intervene in those situations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She said the issue was illustrated by the Fort Hood report, detailing problems with the command climate, among other issues. \u201cMany of the immediate actions the [Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin] has recently directed are to get just at that, what is happening on the ground. So we can intervene early and prevent these behaviors from happening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Following an alarming number of murders, suicides, sexual assaults and incidents of harassment at Fort Hood, an independent committee conducted a review of the command climate there. The committee determined there was an environment at Fort Hood that allowed sexual assault and harassment to proliferate. In December, Army officials relieved or suspended 14 leaders at Fort Hood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMilitary sexual assault is a big problem,\u201d Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told the services\u2019 personnel chiefs who also testified. \u201cWe hear some of the programs we expected to be implement on the ground haven\u2019t been. You\u2019re the leaders. It comes from the top first. We expect to see a lot of progress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gillibrand said the military has more data about these incidents than any district attorney\u2019s office has, because the services conduct annual surveys, and have reporting requirements. \u201cThis is supposed to be something the command has taken seriously, with zero tolerance for the last decade,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s not lack of visibility. It\u2019s not lack of information,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s lack of will.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gillibrand asked Van Winkle to \u201crework your testimony. What you\u2019ve said here is unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Deputy editor Leo Shane contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Isn&#8217;t that the unit commander&#8217;s job,&#8221; asked Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":94082,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":15,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,23,89,12,26,15,62],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3300],"class_list":["post-56142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pay-benefits","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"LBYH42X4RNHZNMH4FH6EKL47DE","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/05\/13\/senator-baffled-by-dod-testimony-on-sexual-assault-incident-visibility-at-unit-level\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Senator \u2018baffled\u2019 by DoD testimony on sexual assault incident visibility at unit level - Navy Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&quot;Isn&#039;t that the unit commander&#039;s job,&quot; asked Sen. 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