As the Senate debates the Defense Authorization bill, I introduced with several colleagues an amendment to strengthen military whistleblower protection laws to ensure those who report sexual assault and other misconduct are not further victimized by retaliation.
There’s plenty of evidence that military personnel have an unbelievably difficult time when blowing the whistle on misconduct, fraud or even sexual assault. Too often, these complaints get tossed into the garbage for no good reason. Retaliation seems to be the norm rather than the exception. The simple changes in our amendment can make a big difference for whistleblowers.
The bipartisan Military Whistleblower Protection Act would extend whistleblower protections to witnesses as well as victims, and ensures action is taken both to provide corrective relief to victims of retaliation and to discipline those who retaliate. It also extends the current 60-day period to file a report to one year, bringing it more in line with other federal and contractor whistleblowers who have longer reporting periods—often up to three years to report misconduct. Finally, it requires the service branches to actively support those with confirmed cases of retaliation by submitting their request to clean up their records to the Board for Military Correction of Records, rather than leaving that responsibility solely on victims to accomplish on their own.
A Government Accountability Office audit reported that more than 60 percent of service members who reported sexual assaults in 2012 experienced retaliation. Less than 1 percent of whistleblowers who filed reprisal complaints obtained relief, and only 19 percent of those who the Inspector Generals’ certified had experienced retaliation ever got their records corrected. Additionally, a Pentagon study released in May 2013 and based on a confidential survey sent to more than 100,000 active-duty service members found as many as 26,000 members of the military experienced offenses ranging from sexual harassment to sexual assault last year. However, fewer than 3,400 individuals reported the incidents. The Department of Defense concluded most victims did not step forward because they worried about retaliation and believed that reporting the alleged offense would negatively impact their military careers.
The amendment I cosponsored with Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia and Susan Collins of Maine is supported by more than 50 good government, public health and veterans’ organizations.
The Military Whistleblower Protection Act amendment goes hand in hand with another amendment I’m cosponsoring with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York. The Military Justice Improvement Act amendment takes prosecutions out of the hands of commanders and gives them to professional prosecutors who are independent of the chain of command to help ensure impartial justice for the men and women of our armed forces. It’s the right thing to do, it will improve military morale and readiness, and it protects those who volunteer to defend our nation and protect our freedoms.