{"id":56210,"date":"2021-06-18T06:06:25","date_gmt":"2021-06-18T06:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/06\/18\/military-justice-changes-must-go-beyond-sex-cases-says-senator\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T09:51:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T09:51:57","slug":"military-justice-changes-must-go-beyond-sex-cases-says-senator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/06\/18\/military-justice-changes-must-go-beyond-sex-cases-says-senator\/","title":{"rendered":"Military justice changes must go beyond sex cases, says senator"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is on the brink of success in <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\">her yearslong campaign <\/a>to get sexual assault cases removed from the military chain of command. But getting over the finish line may depend on whether she can overcome wariness about broader changes she\u2019s seeking to the military justice system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is now widespread support for using <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/04\/22\/end-commanders-power-to-block-military-sex-cases-pentagon-panel-says\/\" target=\"_blank\">independent military lawyers to handle sexual misconduct cases<\/a>, but Gillibrand is promoting legislation that goes beyond that, extending that change to all major crimes. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/05\/03\/top-us-general-drops-opposition-to-change-in-militarys-sex-assault-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\">Top Pentagon officials<\/a> and key lawmakers are open to the sexual assault shift, but they say applying it more broadly requires far more study and debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In an interview with The Associated Press, Gillibrand said the wider change is necessary to combat racial injustice within the military, where studies have found that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airforcetimes.com\/news\/your-air-force\/2020\/12\/21\/consistent-widespread-racial-disparities-hurt-black-airmen-ig-study-finds\/\" target=\"_blank\">Black people are more likely to be investigated and arrested for misconduct<\/a>. She intends to press that point in the coming days.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/04\/29\/major-overhaul-in-how-the-military-handles-sexual-misconduct-cases-may-finally-happen\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"216\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/TedCruz.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Major overhaul in how the military handles sexual misconduct cases may finally happen<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Several key critics of the proposal are now supportive of the change due to a lack of progress on the issue from military leaders.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asked if she might compromise on her bill, Gillibrand said that time has passed. \u201cWe\u2019ve been doing that for eight years. We\u2019ve been getting something through every year, and some things just don\u2019t work. You need this broad-based reform,\u201d the New York Democrat said. \u201cThis is a bill whose time has come.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For years, however, lawmakers have framed their push for change in the military justice system around problems with sexual misconduct cases. Victims \u2014 largely women \u2014 have long said they are reluctant to file sexual assault or harassment complaints because they fear they won\u2019t be believed or will face retaliation. They\u2019ve complained that allegations are sometimes dismissed by a good ol\u2019 boys network among unit commanders or that attackers get away with minimal punishments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those complaints have resonated, and support has grown on Capitol Hill and in the Pentagon, where senior defense leaders acknowledge that, despite years of effort, they\u2019ve made little progress combating sexual misconduct in the ranks. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2021\/06\/10\/austin-signals-intent-to-recommend-changes-to-military-sexual-assault-prosecutions\/\" target=\"_blank\">Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin<\/a> and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for the first time said they were open to taking sexual assault and harassment charges out of the chain of command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But both also said that extending the change to all major crimes would require more time and review.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2021\/06\/10\/austin-signals-intent-to-recommend-changes-to-military-sexual-assault-prosecutions\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP21126675166992.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Austin signals intent to recommend changes to military sexual assault prosecutions<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Austin is not ruling out support for removing sexual assault prosecutions from the chain of command.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Similarly, Sen. Jack Reed, chair of the Armed Services Committee, supports the change for sexual misconduct and said this week that he believes it will get committee approval. But he said he wants more thorough discussion within the committee for changes that affect the entire Uniform Code of Military Justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe worst thing we can do to victims of sexual assault is to move a bill through that can\u2019t be implemented effectively or on time, creates too large a workload for too few qualified military judge advocates, imperils prosecutions, leads to convictions being overturned on appeal, or results in neglected cases because the necessary attention cannot be devoted to them,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, said Pentagon estimates indicate the broader bill would require more senior qualified lawyers than the department has, and will take 180 days to implement. He also has repeatedly objected to Gillibrand\u2019s efforts to get unanimous approval to move her bill separately to the full Senate for a vote, saying it should be included in the overall defense bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asked about cost, Gillibrand said it will be \u201cvery little\u201d because the prosecutors already are in place and they already take the cases to court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Pentagon, however, believes it won\u2019t be that simple, and that if lawyers are pulled out of the chain of command to handle major crimes, others will be needed to deal with other cases and duties, such as desertion, military discipline or legal policy reviews. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jeh Johnson, former Pentagon general counsel, wrote in the Lawfare blog on Wednesday that Gillibrand\u2019s bill \u201cappears to require a whole new bureaucracy. &#8230; No one should be under the illusion that the broad mission contemplated by the bill can be carried by a small band of elite JAGs in a suite someplace in northern Virginia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Johnson said a change for sexual assault crimes is long overdue, but added, \u201cCongress should take care to fashion a solution commensurate with the problem at hand, and not go too far.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gillibrand, who has 65 other Senate supporters for her bill, acknowledged that overcoming committee leaders\u2019 opposition will be a challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHaving the chairman and ranking member opposed to this reform is highly problematic if this bill goes to the committee,\u201d said Gillibrand, adding, \u201cIt would be easier if the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff or the secretary of defense supported our proposal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/04\/23\/end-commanders-power-to-block-military-sex-cases-pentagon-panel-says\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6589726.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">End commanders\u2019 power to block military sex assault cases, Pentagon panel says<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The recommendation by an independent review commission goes against decades of vehement Pentagon arguments to keep cases within the chain of command.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An independent review commission set up by Austin has recommended a similar change for sexual misconduct but did not consider other crimes in its study. Its plan would have judge advocates report to a civilian-led Office of the Chief Special Victim Prosecutor, and they would decide whether to charge someone and if the charge goes to court martial. The panel is expected to give Austin a report on prevention and victim support programs shortly, and he will then send his own recommendations to the president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Pentagon, said Gillibrand, will use the panel\u2019s initial report \u201cto confuse members of Congress, and they will try to muddy the waters and say, we\u2019ve already looked at this and they only recommended that sexual assault come out of the chain of command.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She said she hopes lawmakers will be convinced by data that shows racial bias in prosecution decisions made by the military. And she argued that limiting the change to sexual assault would be discriminatory \u2014 setting up what some call a \u201cpink\u201d court to deal with crimes usually involving female victims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019m deeply concerned that if they limit it to just sexual assault, it will really harm female service members. It will further marginalize them, further undermine them, and they\u2019ll be seen as getting special treatment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Eugene R. Fidell, a military law expert at New York University Law School, agreed, saying a separate system that largely benefits women will hurt unit cohesion. And he noted opponents\u2019 concerns that taking all major crimes out of the chain of command could result in fewer prosecutions. He said that\u2019s possible, but added that independent attorneys should make those decisions, and the result would be a higher conviction rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gillibrand is pledging to keep going to the Senate floor, seeking to have her bill considered separately. \u201cI will continue to do so until I convince Jack Reed that he should not stand in front of this bill,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Top Pentagon officials and key lawmakers are open to the sexual assault shift, but they say applying it more broadly requires far more study and debate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":94159,"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":62,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,22,23,89,12,26,62,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1354],"class_list":["post-56210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-disaster","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress","category-your-navy"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"5H6SYMGHF5GP3DASRO3HP25MDU","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/06\/18\/military-justice-changes-must-go-beyond-sex-cases-says-senator\/","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>Military justice changes must go beyond sex cases, says senator - Navy Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Top Pentagon officials and key lawmakers are open to the sexual assault shift, but they say applying it more broadly requires far more study and debate.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Military justice changes must go beyond sex cases, says senator\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Top Pentagon officials and key lawmakers are open to the sexual assault shift, but they say applying it more broadly requires far more study and debate.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/06\/18\/military-justice-changes-must-go-beyond-sex-cases-says-senator\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Navy Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-18T06:06:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T09:51:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lolita C. 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