WASHINGTON — New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand grilled the nation’s top military leaders yesterday over an alarming increase of sexual assaults reported by the armed forces, complaining that some commanders can’t “distinguish between a slap on the ass and a rape.”
Democrat Gillibrand, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, defended her legislation that would remove commanders from deciding sexual-assault cases and put the decision in the hands of “independent” prosecutors.
“Not all commanders are objective, not every single commander necessarily wants women in the force,” Gillibrand said. “Not every commander believes what a sexual assault is, not every single commander can distinguish between a slap on the ass or a rape because they merge all of their crimes together.”
But the leaders of the nation’s military branches, including Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, opposed changing the discipline structure.
“Making commanders less responsible and less accountable will not work. It will undermine the readiness of the force,” Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno told the panel. “Most importantly, it will hamper the timely delivery of justice to the very people we wish to help.”
The Pentagon recently estimated that as many as 26,000 military members may have been sexually assaulted last year, a 35 percent increase from two years ago. Only 3,374 of the incidents were reported.
Gillibrand pointed to Israel, Britain and Germany as having procedures similar to those she’s recommending.