Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Air Force Times
September 15, 2008
Pg. 32
By William H. McMichael
The director of the Pentagon’s program to prevent and respond to sexual assault in the ranks is not surprised at a government investigation’s conclusion that far more rapes and other sexual assaults are being committed than reports indicate.
It’s one of the nation’s most underreported crimes, period, said Kaye Whitley, director of the Defense Department’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office.
But that doesn’t mean the data the Pentagon has been collecting since 2004 are meaningless.
“It does tell us something,” Whitley said in an Aug. 27 interview at her Arlington, Va., office.
“It does tell us they’re occurring, it tells us where, it tells us who. So it’s a start.
“Our civilian counterparts struggle with this, as well. I mean, there’s no way of knowing how many are out there. But hopefully, what we will be doing is creating a climate so that people will feel comfortable with coming forward.”
The July 31 Government Accountability Office report also questioned other aspects of the military’s approach to sexual assault prevention and response, saying training programs lack consistent effectiveness; some local program coordinators are part-timers; some commanders do not support the program; and the Pentagon’s guidance suffers when applied to deployed and joint environments.
The GAO did note that the Pentagon “has taken positive steps to respond to congressional direction” and that the Coast Guard “on its own initiative has made similar progress.”
Whitley largely acknowledged the findings, saying she is glad to have the report “because it gives me the backing to get things done. But almost everything they recommended, we were doing something in the area anyway.”
Whitley had been expected to address GAO’s concerns at a July 31 congressional hearing.
But her boss, Michael Dominguez, the Pentagon’s No. 2 personnel official, declined to let her appear, although she had met previously with lawmakers and their staffs numerous times.
Whitley said that despite GAO’s concerns, and criticism by some lawmakers, the Pentagon’s program, launched in February 2004, is making headway.
“We think we have done an incredible amount in a very short time. But we’re also finding out there’s still a lot more to do.”
GAO visited 14 installations and found that 52 percent of service members who had been sexually assaulted over the preceding 12 months had not reported the assaults.
Whitley acknowledged that figure but noted the Pentagon’s “restricted reporting” policy has benefited 1,896 service members who might otherwise not have been treated.
That policy, introduced in 2005, gives victims who are reluctant to report the crime the option of obtaining treatment and counseling without making a report.
Whitley also countered GAO’s criticism that training programs aren’t “consistently effective.”
“I don’t think anyone knows how to measure the effectiveness of a sexual assault prevention and response program,” she said, adding that her researchers and outside experts are trying to grapple with that problem.
“If I say we have 2,900-and-something [assault] reports last year, you can’t make an assessment about good or bad or if that says anything,” she said. “If the numbers are high, did that mean there are a lot of rapes, or we have a good program so people are coming forward? If they’re low, does that mean … nobody’s getting raped? The numbers are what they are. All that tells us is the incidents.”
Whitley stressed the important role played by commanders, who can take judicial, nonjudicial and administrative action when an unrestricted report is made.
But “while most commanders support the program, some do not,” GAO said, noting that some have resisted posting information in barracks and work areas.
“There are two key people to making this work,” Whitley said. “That’s the [sexual assault response coordinator] and the commander. If those people are not working together, … then this program won’t work. You have to have the commander on board.”
One problem, she said, is that funding SARCs — there’s one at each installation — has been left to the services, which decide how to staff the positions.
Often, the result is making someone a SARC as a collateral duty.
One service has solved this: The Air Force has hired civilians at the GS-12 level to be full-time SARCs. “That’s very forward-thinking,” Whitley said.
Still, she’d like to see Congress create a separate funding stream. Money has been requested in the fiscal 2009 budget that would go far toward institutionalizing the program, she said.
Whitley’s office also is drafting a new prevention strategy that will expand the service concepts of “battle buddies,” “liberty buddies” and “wingmen” to foster an attitude of looking out for fellow service members who may be headed for trouble.
September 15, 2008
Pg. 32
By William H. McMichael
The director of the Pentagon’s program to prevent and respond to sexual assault in the ranks is not surprised at a government investigation’s conclusion that far more rapes and other sexual assaults are being committed than reports indicate.
It’s one of the nation’s most underreported crimes, period, said Kaye Whitley, director of the Defense Department’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office.
But that doesn’t mean the data the Pentagon has been collecting since 2004 are meaningless.
“It does tell us something,” Whitley said in an Aug. 27 interview at her Arlington, Va., office.
“It does tell us they’re occurring, it tells us where, it tells us who. So it’s a start.
“Our civilian counterparts struggle with this, as well. I mean, there’s no way of knowing how many are out there. But hopefully, what we will be doing is creating a climate so that people will feel comfortable with coming forward.”
The July 31 Government Accountability Office report also questioned other aspects of the military’s approach to sexual assault prevention and response, saying training programs lack consistent effectiveness; some local program coordinators are part-timers; some commanders do not support the program; and the Pentagon’s guidance suffers when applied to deployed and joint environments.
The GAO did note that the Pentagon “has taken positive steps to respond to congressional direction” and that the Coast Guard “on its own initiative has made similar progress.”
Whitley largely acknowledged the findings, saying she is glad to have the report “because it gives me the backing to get things done. But almost everything they recommended, we were doing something in the area anyway.”
Whitley had been expected to address GAO’s concerns at a July 31 congressional hearing.
But her boss, Michael Dominguez, the Pentagon’s No. 2 personnel official, declined to let her appear, although she had met previously with lawmakers and their staffs numerous times.
Whitley said that despite GAO’s concerns, and criticism by some lawmakers, the Pentagon’s program, launched in February 2004, is making headway.
“We think we have done an incredible amount in a very short time. But we’re also finding out there’s still a lot more to do.”
GAO visited 14 installations and found that 52 percent of service members who had been sexually assaulted over the preceding 12 months had not reported the assaults.
Whitley acknowledged that figure but noted the Pentagon’s “restricted reporting” policy has benefited 1,896 service members who might otherwise not have been treated.
That policy, introduced in 2005, gives victims who are reluctant to report the crime the option of obtaining treatment and counseling without making a report.
Whitley also countered GAO’s criticism that training programs aren’t “consistently effective.”
“I don’t think anyone knows how to measure the effectiveness of a sexual assault prevention and response program,” she said, adding that her researchers and outside experts are trying to grapple with that problem.
“If I say we have 2,900-and-something [assault] reports last year, you can’t make an assessment about good or bad or if that says anything,” she said. “If the numbers are high, did that mean there are a lot of rapes, or we have a good program so people are coming forward? If they’re low, does that mean … nobody’s getting raped? The numbers are what they are. All that tells us is the incidents.”
Whitley stressed the important role played by commanders, who can take judicial, nonjudicial and administrative action when an unrestricted report is made.
But “while most commanders support the program, some do not,” GAO said, noting that some have resisted posting information in barracks and work areas.
“There are two key people to making this work,” Whitley said. “That’s the [sexual assault response coordinator] and the commander. If those people are not working together, … then this program won’t work. You have to have the commander on board.”
One problem, she said, is that funding SARCs — there’s one at each installation — has been left to the services, which decide how to staff the positions.
Often, the result is making someone a SARC as a collateral duty.
One service has solved this: The Air Force has hired civilians at the GS-12 level to be full-time SARCs. “That’s very forward-thinking,” Whitley said.
Still, she’d like to see Congress create a separate funding stream. Money has been requested in the fiscal 2009 budget that would go far toward institutionalizing the program, she said.
Whitley’s office also is drafting a new prevention strategy that will expand the service concepts of “battle buddies,” “liberty buddies” and “wingmen” to foster an attitude of looking out for fellow service members who may be headed for trouble.