National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016

Floor Speech

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Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Mr. President, I rise to urge my colleagues to support my amendment No. 1578, the Military Justice Improvement Act, to ensure that survivors of military sexual assault have access to an unbiased, trained, military judicial system.

Last year, despite the support of 55 Senators, a coalition spanning the entire ideological spectrum, including both the majority and minority leader, our bill to create an independent military justice system free of inherent biases and conflicts of interest within the chain of command was filibustered by this body.

But as we said then: We will not walk away. The brave men and women in uniform who are defending this Nation deserve a vote. That is our duty. It is our oversight role. It is Congress's responsibility to act as if the brave survivors of sexual assault are our sons, our daughters, our husbands, our wives, who are being betrayed by the greatest military on Earth. We owe them that at the very least.

Over the last few years, Congress has forced the military to make many incremental changes to address this crisis. And after two decades of complete failure and lip service to zero tolerance, the military now says, essentially: Trust us this time; we have it.

They misrepresent data to claim that their mission is accomplished, but when you dig below the service of their top lines, you will find that the assault rate is exactly where it was in 2010--an average of 52 cases every single day--and 3 out of 4 servicemember survivors still don't think it is worth the risk of coming forward to report crimes committed against them.

Seventy-five percent don't trust the current system. One in seven victims was assaulted by someone in their chain of command. And in 60 percent of the cases, a supervisor or unit leader is responsible for either sexual harassment or sexual discrimination. This is not the climate our military deserves. It is no surprise, then, that one in three survivors believes that reporting would hurt their career.

For those who do report, they are more likely than not to experience retaliation. Despite a much touted reform that made retaliation a crime, the DOD made zero progress on improving the 62-percent retaliation rate that we had in 2012.

According to a Human Rights Watch report, the DOD cannot provide a single example of serious disciplinary action taken against those who retaliated against a victim of sexual assault. A sexual assault survivor is 12 times more likely to suffer retaliation than to see their offender get convicted of a sex offense.

In my close review of 107 cases--from the largest domestic military bases and one from each service--in 2013, I found that nearly half of those who did move forward and report ended up dropping out of their cases. Survivors still have little faith in this system. Under any metric the system remains plagued with distrust and does not provide the fair and just process that our men and women in the military deserve.

Simply put, the military has not held up to the standard posed by General Dempsey 1 year ago when he said:

We are on the clock, if you will ..... the President said to us in December, you've got about a year to review this thing ..... and if we haven't been able to demonstrate we are making a difference, you know, then we deserve to be held to the scrutiny and standard.

I urge my colleagues to hold the military to that higher standard. Enough is enough with the spin, with the excuses, and the false promises.

Just yesterday I received a letter from a survivor of military sexual assault who is serving Active Duty. She says:

The reason I am writing on her behalf is because I fear she will be retaliated against for speaking out.

While the military is on the Hill lobbying Senators not to support the Military Justice Improvement Act (MJIA), I am asking you to take a stand with survivors and their families.

These military lobbyists have good intentions; however, I am doubtful any of them will represent my perspective.

I have experienced the anguish of a child who has been raped by another servicemember, a fellow brother-in-arms whom she should have been able to trust.

Please support the Military Justice Improvement Act, a commonsense law that significantly improves the military justice system. Our military sons and daughters who survive these heinous crimes carry high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide. I believe that if the MJIA is passed, it could save lives and will positively affect the lives of survivors, both victims and their families.

No one should have to worry about retaliation from their chain of command when they report these crimes. Retaliation happens so often that a majority of these assaults go unreported. Every military victim of sexual assault deserves due process, professional treatment by a trained military individual, and equal opportunity to seek and receive justice.

Our military has promised improvement and has had adequate time in which to improve, but the numbers show that the military has failed to live up to its promise.

The Department of Defense has admitted that it made no progress since 2012. It is time for the chain of command to be removed from decision-making in sexual assault cases and replaced by those trained, non-biased military personnel, educated in the law and experienced in handling sexual assault cases.

Further, MJIA specifically carves out sexual assault and other serious crimes, with the remainder of military crimes being left in the chain of command.

Please hold the military to a higher standard by voting yes to an unbiased military system, promoted in MJIA.

We have to listen to our victims, our survivors, the men and women who give their lives to this country, who will sacrifice anything for this country. America's military, if they do these reforms, will have fewer dangerous criminals and far more heroes. The brave men and women we send to war to keep us safe deserve nothing less than a justice system equal to their sacrifice. By listening to the victims, we can deliver that.

I urge everyone here to listen to our brave survivors, support our bill, and do the right thing.

I would now like to yield the floor to one of the authors of the Military Justice Improvement Act, the Senator from Iowa.

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