Ayotte Welcomes Announcement that Pentagon Will Immediately Implement Special Victims' Counsel Program

Press Release

U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) welcomed today's announcement that the Pentagon will immediately implement a special victims' advocacy program to assist military sexual assault victims through the legal process. The initiative is similar to bipartisan legislation that Senator Ayotte authored with Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) to provide victims of sexual assault in all service branches with a Special Victims' Counsel - a trained and certified military lawyer who can provide legal guidance and support. At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in June, Senator Ayotte urged the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, to provide Special Victims' Counsel to victims in all military services. He later endorsed the proposal.

The Pentagon also announced today it would establish standards regarding inappropriate behavior between instructors and trainees, which is similar to a provision in the Murray-Ayotte legislation that called for stronger prohibitions on such behavior. Both Murray-Ayotte provisions were included in stand-alone legislation - the bipartisan Combating Military Sexual Assault Act (S. 871) -- that they introduced in May. In June, the Senate Armed Services Committee approved the Murray-Ayotte Special Victims' Counsel provision as part of a package of major military sexual assault reforms included in the Fiscal Year 2014 National Defense Authorization Act. The full Senate is expected to consider the legislation in the fall.

"It's encouraging that the Department of Defense is taking steps to implement these reforms immediately, rather than waiting for them to become law," said Senator Ayotte. "The actions announced today will provide greater protections to victims, increase reporting, and result in more prosecutions - and they represent a significant step forward as we continue efforts to stop sexual assault in the military."

As a former prosecutor and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Ayotte has led bipartisan efforts to reform the way the military handles sexual assault cases - helping craft legislation that provides greater support to the victims of these crimes and ensures that military commanders are held accountable.

Summary of Department of Defense Executive Actions:

* Creating a legal advocacy program in each military service that will provide legal representation to sexual assault victims throughout the judicial process;
* Ensuring that pretrial investigative hearings of sexual assault-related charges are conducted by JAG officers;
* Providing commanders with options to reassign or transfer a member who is accused of committing a sexual assault or related offense in order to eliminate continued contact while respecting the rights of both victims and the accused;
* Requiring timely follow-up reports on sexual assault incidents and responses to be given to the first general or flag officer within the chain of command;
* Directing DoD's Inspector General to regularly evaluate closed sexual assault investigations;
* Standardizing prohibitions on inappropriate behavior between recruiters and trainers and their recruits and trainees across the Department, and;
* Developing and proposing changes to the Manual for Courts-Martial that would allow victims to give input during the sentencing phase of courts-martial.

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