Unanimous Consent Request--S. 1520

Floor Speech

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Mr. REED. But in addition, on Tuesday night, Secretary of Defense Austin released a statement stating that he had received the Independent Review Commission's recommendations and that the administration will work with Congress to remove the prosecution of sexual assault and related crimes from the military chain of command, a recommendation I agree with. I made that clear for weeks now.

And this statement makes it clear that the argument before us is not about removing sexual assault or crimes connected to sexual misconduct from the chain of command. The argument is about removing felonies like barracks larceny, destruction of government property of a significant value, and crimes that have been handled by the military chain of command effectively for years and years and years.

In addition, Secretary Austin notably praised the comprehensive nature of the IRC's assessment across all four lines of effort, not just military justice reforms, but, as importantly, prevention, climate and culture, and victim care.

The necessity to approach this issue in a holistic and comprehensive manner is vitally important if we want to actually reduce the incidence of sexual assault in the ranks. We would be naive to believe we can simply prosecute ourselves out of this problem. That isn't how this will work.

Accountability is important, but it must be part of a larger reform, and I hope we can all agree that it is far preferable to prevent a sexual assault than simply to prosecute one.

Finally, I want to highlight Secretary Austin's statement that the Department will need new resources and authorities to implement these recommendations. It must work with Congress to secure additional authorities and relief where needed, as well as additional personnel, funding, and sufficient time to implement them.

And so, as I have said a number of times already, I intend to include the administration's recommendations that derive from the President's Independent Review Commission in the markup of the defense bill, subject to amendment.

Colleagues who have dedicated themselves for many years to issues of national defense and are knowledgeable of the UCMJ will have an opportunity to make amendments, to make suggestions, to debate this bill in detail, and then the result will be reported to the floor of the Senate, and all Senators will have such an opportunity. That is what we have done traditionally, particularly when it comes to significant changes in the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

And with that, I would reiterate my objection to the Senator from New York's request.

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