New York Times, USA Today Opinions Urge Military Culture, Policy Changes To Curb Sexual Assaults

May 8, 2013 — An opinion piece and editorials on Tuesday discussed a recent Department of Defense report that found sexual assaults in the military increased by 35% from 2011 to 2012. They also commented on charges of sexual battery brought against an Air Force officer who was in charge of sexual assault prevention programs.

~ Maureen Dowd, New York Times: "It has been a bad week for the hidebound defenders of a hopelessly antiquated military justice system that views prosecution decisions in all cases, including rape and sexual assault, as the private preserve of commanders rather than lawyers," columnist Dowd writes. Referring to the recent arrest of Jeffrey Krusinski -- an Air Force lieutenant colonel in charge of the military branch's sexual assault prevention programs -- for sexual battery, she writes that the incident has "a fox-in-the-henhouse echo of [Supreme Court Justice] Clarence Thomas, who Anita Hill said sexually harassed her when he was the nation's top enforcer of laws against workplace sexual harassment." Dowd notes that incident preceded the release of a Department of Defense report this week that estimated 26,000 incidences of sexual assault occurred in the military during 2012. "It was the sort of rare confluence of events that can actually lead to change here, especially because it's a nonpartisan issue and because ... [t]hree of the six Senate Armed Services subcommittees are now led by women," Dowd writes (Dowd, New York Times, 5/7).

~ New York Times: "Transforming the military's entrenched culture of sexual violence will require new approaches and a much stronger effort than what the Pentagon has done so far," a Times editorial states. The piece notes that a DOD report found sexual assaults in the military increased from 2011 to 2012, adding, "Those who thought that the crisis could not get any worse have been proved wrong." The report and the arrest of Krusinski "have shown the Air Force's assault prevention efforts to be an absurd joke," the editorial continues. According to the editorial, the "most promising proposal" for combatting sexual assault is a measure by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) that would "end the power of senior officers with no legal training but lots of conflicts of interest to decide whether courts-martial can be brought against subordinates and to toss out a jury verdict once it is rendered" (New York Times, 5/7).

~ USA Today: A "mountain of evidence" indicates that the problem of sexual assaults in the military "not only persists but is getting worse," according to the editorial. It notes that after the release of the DOD report finding an increase in sexual assaults, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel argued that final authority to overturn courts-martial decisions should remain with military commanders. "Several members of Congress are seeking to put those decisions where they belong, in the hands of military prosecutors," the editorial states, concluding, "[U]ntil this fundamental change is made, the Pentagon's efforts will continue to be an unfunny joke" (USA Today, 5/7).