National Defense Authorization Act

Floor Speech

Mr. DURBIN. The Presiding Officer knows better than most what it means for someone to enter our military, to raise their hand and take an oath in service to the United States. It is the giving of their time and their lives. Equally important, they are risking their lives. They know they can be called upon in that capacity to defend this country. They can be injured. They can lose their lives in the defense of this Nation, and many have. But they still do it on a voluntary and selfless basis. We realize that for most of them they have viewed their threats as the enemies who are going to attack the United States or their units. But we have come to learn that there are other enemies within the military who are equally troublesome and worrisome.

It is one thing to have a son or a daughter--someone you love very much--take an oath to serve in the military and run the risk of a dangerous encounter with an enemy. But it is absolutely unacceptable to think that these men and women in the military would run the risk of a dangerous attack by someone else in the military.

Speaking to the issue of sexual assault, it is one which is topical because we have finally, finally started to come to grips with the reality of what it means. Our responsibility is to ensure that the men and women of the military have everything they need. Sexual assault threatens it. It erodes the basic trust, respect, and professionalism that our troops uphold and rely on to perform their duties. In a more fundamental sense, it also cuts to the heart of the basic questions of safety, dignity, and justice as Americans.

However we measure it, the current system has failed our servicemembers. The evidence is overwhelming. It has been estimated that 26,000 incidents of sexual assault occurred in the military in a recent year. Only 3,400 reports were made from victims. The Institute of Medicine estimates that 21.5 percent of Active-Duty women and literally thousands of Active-Duty men have been sexually assaulted. We also know that 60 percent of the victims who do report these sexual assaults say they are retaliated against for doing so--60 percent. Overwhelming majorities of victims say they often do not report an incident because they do not think it will make any difference. It is a sweeping and comprehensive indictment of the current system.

I have a responsibility as chairman of the Appropriations Defense Subcommittee to work more closely with members of the military and their leaders than ever before. I have come to know them, to like them, to respect them. When they tell me, as they all have to a person, that they are doing everything conceivable to deal with this problem, I believe them, but I also believe there are elements within the culture of some parts of our military which are almost intractable and which have to be dealt with in a new and more definitive way.

Let me share one example. It came to light recently. I attended a Freedom Salute Ceremony for an Illinois National Guard unit that recently returned from Theater Gateway operations in Kuwait. They had been gone a year. It was a small unit, fewer than 20. They came home, and their families were with him. They were out at Camp Lincoln in Springfield, IL. This unit was in charge of transportation, making sure that 100,000 servicemembers who came through that theater had what they needed to make it to their next destination and ultimately back home. Some of these people were being redeployed, do not get me wrong, but many were headed home. I heard from these members of this unit.

Among the servicemembers they helped move through this hub was a young woman who had been sexually assaulted somewhere in the region. That was not the first stop. The first stop for this sexual assault victim was a barracks situation where she literally had to walk through the men's restroom facilities to go the women's restroom facilities. This is a victim of sexual assault. She told us--the person I spoke to in the unit--that this victim said to her that these were the first sympathetic faces she had seen or worked with since this terrible incident and she was grateful to this Illinois Guard unit for standing by her in this emotionally trying time.

I was happy to hear that this Guard unit had stepped up to give this young woman the help she needed, but it is inexcusable--in fact, it is shameful--that the rest of the system failed her. It is a story repeated too many times across the services.

This current system has to change, and it will. I thank for their extraordinary advocacy Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Senator Patty Murray of Washington, and many others. They put into the pending bill on the Defense Authorization Act many effective and necessary reforms.

I supported them. I appreciate Chairman Levin and Ranking Member Inhofe for including 26 reforms in the underlying Defense authorization bill. I would like to highlight one reform in particular in which I played a small part--the special victims' counsel. I wish to highlight this reform because victims need and deserve someone in their corner helping them through what is probably one of the toughest moments of their lives.

In testimony earlier this year in the Appropriations Defense Subcommittee which I chair, the head of the Air Force General Welsh talked about how effective this pilot program of special victims' counsel has been. The bill that is pending before us would expand their services. My subcommittee's appropriation spending mark ensures that it will be fully funded.

The bills other reforms are equally powerful: improving prevention; holding leaders accountable for the climate in the military on this issue; reforming the military justice code. On these reforms, there is strong bipartisan agreement.

Many of those reforms, including one we may vote on before we leave this week, were thanks to the leadership of Senator Claire McCaskill. She has been relentless in her efforts to lead on this important issue. Today is no different. She has an amendment which she offered which empowers the victims of sexual assault to have a greater voice in how their cases are prosecuted. It would require commanders' promotion reviews to take sexual assault climate into account. It would eliminate the so-called good soldier defense by which commanders are permitted to consider the defendant's overall value to the unit. I really appreciate Senator McCaskill's leadership. Her amendment is a positive one.

The crux of today's floor debate is whether the Senate pushes this reform even further. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York offered an amendment that aims to give victims greater confidence that the military justice system is free from any bias by giving the decision on these cases to a senior judge advocate general outside the victim's chain of command.

However we come down on this proposal, we all know this would be a significant change for a military justice code that has only undergone two significant changes since 1950, but I believe we must go forward with the Gillibrand proposal. I will vote in favor of her proposal. I did not come to this decision lightly. I have discussed this issue with my colleagues in the Senate, as well as every single military leader they have recommended I meet with. I have met with them publicly and privately. I have listened carefully. I have called the victims to hear their side as well. I considered the views of outside experts as well as my colleagues. Many of my colleagues have served in the military, and they have personal insights. After much deliberation, I have concluded that every single one of those reforms, including Senator Gillibrand's proposal, is going to be necessary if we are going to give victims the confidence they need and the support they need to come forward.

I would also note that Senator Gillibrand's effort is endorsed by a diverse and thoughtful range of outside groups. They include the National Women's Law Center, the Vietnam Veterans of America, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services, and the Service Women's Action Network.

I know our senior military leaders are committed to cracking down on sexual assault. Many commanders around the world are just as outraged as Congress and just as committed to prosecuting offenders and setting a new tone in the military. But it is the role of Congress to ensure that the system those leaders implement is fair and reasonable. It must put the victims of assault back in control and the perpetrators of these claims on notice. It must restore victims' confidence. These reforms accomplish this goal. I look forward to supporting them.

I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

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