Independent Commission to Examine All Options in Combating Sexual Assaults in the Military
Feb. 26—WASHINGTON — The Defense Department's new independent commission will consider "all options" to combat sexual assaults in the military, the group's leader said Friday.
"We want to hear a diversity of views from every level of the services and in civilian society. And we will take all of those views into account in our deliberations and our recommendations," said Lynn Rosenthal, who has been tapped to lead the commission's independent review.
She is the president of the Center for Family Safety and Healing, a nonprofit focused on family violence, and previously worked as the policy director for the Biden Foundation's Violence Against Women Initiatives as well as a White House adviser, according to her online biography.
President Joe Biden ordered a 90-day commission be established to find solutions to sexual assault and sexual harassment in the military, according to a Jan. 23 memo by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Austin tasked the top uniformed leaders for each of the Defense Department's five military services to submit internal reviews of each service's prevention policies so he was better informed of the situation. He also asked the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness to find data and information on the latest initiatives for preventing violence.
The new commission's top focus will be holding rapists accountable, Rosenthal said Friday at the Pentagon, but the group will also look at climate, culture, and prevention in the military.
"This effort, this commission is dedicated to those service members who've suffered from sexual assault. Both those who have come forward and shared their stories at great personal cost and those who've suffered in silence and who continue to suffer in silence alone, and also at great cost," she said.
Don Christensen, a retired Air Force colonel and president of Protector Our Defenders, an advocacy organization for ending military sexual violence, praised the independent commission and its civilian leadership.
"We must fix a bureaucratic military justice system that fails to hold sex offenders accountable and is destroying thousands of careers each year," he said in a statement Friday. "Fundamental reform is the clear answer. We're hopeful that this new commission moves the needle toward a justice system that our service members deserve."
The next step for the commission is creating its charter and finding its personnel. The membership will be comprised of current and former military leaders, advocates for sexual assault survivors, and sexual assault experts, according to Rosenthal.
"We hope to have a very dynamic process and I don't think we need to be afraid of a diversity of views. That is part of this conversation, that we need not fear it and especially because the secretary has invited that kind of inquiry," she said.
Rosenthal expects the commission will do some travel to see programs that show promise in addressing sexual assault. She also said an online portal will be available for people to submit their stories about what they have experienced.
After the commission is formally established, they will have initial recommendations within 60 days, especially regarding accountability issues. If a recommendation does come up that warrants immediate action to be taken, Rosenthal said she believes Austin will move quickly to implement it.
"I think the secretary is our greatest asset in fighting this problem. He gets it so deeply. He cares about it so much. He cares about his service members," she said.
Rosenthal said members of Congress will also be consulted by the commission, particularly Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. She also said she was familiar with the senator's advocacy for removing the chain of command from sexual assault cases.
"We don't have a predetermined outcome. I think that accountability is critical...I also believe that these pillars intersect with each other. So, without a clear pathway for accountability, the work we want to do on prevention will be completely undermined," Rosenthal said.
The commission's recommendations will only be the first step and the "core question" will be how they ensure the recommendations become part of the military's culture, she said.
"That's what the commission will be charged with," Rosenthal said.
Twitter: @caitlinmkenney
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