The new defense bill makes historic changes to the way the military deals with sexual assault, and more changes could come in 2014.
The Senate approved the most sweeping changes yet to the way the military deals with sexual assault cases when it passed a Pentagon funding bill late Thursday night. The 2014 National Defense Authorization Act passed 84-15, after weeks of delays and arguments over procedural minutiae threatened to derail months of work to help sexual assault survivors.
The defense bill will include dozens of changes to Defense Department policy, such as criminalizing retaliation against victims of sexual assault who report, and preventing military commanders from overturning jury convictions. The compromise bill created by key members of the House and Senate last week does not include Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s proposed reforms, which would have taken decision-making authority over sexual assault prosecutions out of the military’s chain of command.
Both Gillibrand and Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill have vowed to continue their efforts to reduce the number of sexual assaults in the armed forces, which a Defense Department report estimated hit some 26,000 in the 2012 fiscal year. Gillibrand has already introduced her reforms as a stand-alone bill, and McCaskill has said she will introduce her own additional slate of reforms as an alternative to Gillibrand’s plan, which she has opposed since its inception. Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Wednesday night on the floor that he expected votes on those bills early next year.
On Thursday afternoon, the White House released a statement in support of the NDAA and urged its passage. “The Administration commends the Congress for its work to expand efforts to prevent sexual assault and significantly strengthen protections for victims as well as extending important compensation and benefits for our service members, which are important for recruitment, retention and morale of our Armed Forces,” it said.
The bipartisan support for many of the sexual assault measures included in the defense bill was one of the few examples of cooperation between Republicans and Democrats at the end of this year. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s decision to change Senate rules to require a simple majority to approve presidential nominees, the so-called “nuclear option,” angered Republicans enough to slow the remaining business to a crawl.
The Senate failed just before Thanksgiving to pass its own version of the defense authorization because of a dispute over Republican-backed amendments like harsh Iran sanctions. Reid and Levin spearheaded efforts to pass the measure before an extension of last year’s bill would have expired on December 31.
This is the 52nd year in which Congress has passed a defense authorization bill. In addition to overhauling parts of the Pentagon’s sexual assault policy, the bill will make it easier to transfer prisoners held at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay to other countries.
In addition to the coming policy changes, there will be a new director of the office dedicated to dealing with sexual assault to oversee the Pentagon’s implementation of the reforms. On Monday, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced that Major General Jeffrey Snow will head the Defense Department’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office. He will take over for the current Director, Maj. Gen. Gary Patton, in January.