Steps on the issue was part of last Years NationalDefense Authorization bill that president obama signed. While obviously her work is not done, i am hopeful we can build up some of these initial changes which included one ensuring that all convicted offenders in the military are processed for discharge or dismissal from the armed forces regardless of what they serve in an second remove cases dismissed from the immediate Commanding Officer in Sexual Assault cases which is one of the issues we will look at today as to whether we need to remove such authority entirely from the chain of command and place them in a process. We live to the combat ban that prevents women from serving in many combat positions that can lead to significant promotion opportunities that open door for more qualified women to excel in our military. We have increased diversity and top leadership positions improving response from leadership when it comes to responding to Sexual Assault. We passed an amendment introduced by senator based on our legislation which means troops that do to to you come pregnant as a result of a rape no longer have to pay outofpocket for those concerning our first second panel of witnesses after we will hear from senator Barbara Boxer who has extraordinary passion and leadership on this issue our second panel will be both men and women who are going to tell their personal stories and i want to salute each and every one of you for having the courage to tell such painful and personal stories. Its my hope and belief by committing the selfless act you are encouraging others to step forward and are also helping prevent crimes going unpunished. We have the duty to you and thousands of victims you represent to examine whether military justice is possible and what is the most effective and fair system that can be. Despite some very dedicated j. A. G. Officers i do not believe the current systematically meets are standard. That statistic on prosecution rates and Sexual Assault in the military are devastating. Only 240 preceded to trial. Nearly 70 of these reports are rape aggregated Sexual Assault. A system where less than one out of 10 reported perpetrators are taken to trial for their alleged crimes is not a system that is working and that is a reported crime. The Defense Department itself puts the real number closer to 19,000 where in reality closer to one out of 100 alleged perpetrators are faced with any accountability at all. And its entirely inadequate and unacceptable. My view is that emphasizing institutional accountability in the prosecution of cases is needed to a real deterrent to criminal behavior. We need to encourage victims to come forward and purchase a paid in a prosecution is not detrimental to their safety or their future and it will result in justice being done. Currently according to the department of defense 477 of servicemembers are too afraid to report their assaults because of your braille retaliation or unjust punishment. Too many victims do not feel justice is likely or even possible. We need to take a close look at the military Justice System and we need to be asking the hard questions with all options on the Table Including moving this issue outside of the chain of command so we can get closer to reality in our services. The case we have all read about in the audio air base is shocking and the outcome should compel all of us to take the necessary action to ensure that justice is swift and certain not rare and fleeting. I had the opportunity to press secretary hagel on the issue of Sexual Assault and secretary hagel responded by saying i agree. Its not good enough. The whole chain of command needs and accountable. I couldnt agree more. I was pleased with the secretarys Public Statement earlier this week that he is open to the changes to the military Justice System as well as legislation to ensure effectiveness in our responses to the crime of Sexual Assault. In addition secretary had written to letters requesting a review in light of these decision to be made by march 20 through march 27 is a useful first step. After Ranking Member graham makes an opening remark we will hear the testimony from senator Barbara Boxer who has been a leading voice on this issue. And last years defense bill she successfully included in them and that prohibits any individual who is convicted of felony Sexual Assault for being issued a waiver to join the military. We will then have the following witnesses who have been a victim of Sexual Assault while serving in the military or a knowledgeable advocate for addressing the issue of Sexual Assault in the military. I will now defer to senator graham to give his opening remarks. See i want to thank senator gillibrand for having the hearing. 47 the 49 feel intimidated to come forward because they may face reprisal is something that is obviously wrong. Having said that the purpose of military justice is good order and discipline in the unit so when they are called upon to engage the enemy and to train and deploy together they can do so in the most effective fashion possible. The militarys unique place is not a democracy. Its a place where youre asked to do extraordinarily difficult things and you have to count on people to your right into your left to be there when you need them and vice versa. In the military we have a crime for a commander to have a personal relationship sexual in nature or otherwise overly familiar relationship that can be consensual, that would be consensual. We probably should look at that policy as well to make sure that we are dealing with fraternization cases in an appropriate dachshund. Why would you be concerned about a relationship that you would not be concerned about maybe in the private world . If your unit is called in to combat the last thing you want to think about is that the person who has a close relationship with the commander may get a pass at your expense. So we want to keep professional relationships between those who ordered the unit to engage the enemy so that those who follow the orders will never believe that there are some special relationship between the commander and a particular individual in the unit because that will break the order and discipline apart. That is one area where human sexuality can really deal a blow to a unit that is consensual. But i cant think of a more devastating blow to the unit then to than to have one member assault the other. If you want to break the unit apart and create a horrible environment to effectively engage the enemy, allow this to happen. Because it shows not only physical violence is the ultimate sign of disrespect. I cant think of the more disrespectful measures than taking advantage of someone or physically violating them. That is just absolutely not only a crime, it is an ultimate detrimental demise of the unit to have such conduct breakout. The reason senator gillibrand we want to prosecute people when they do that is that they are are destroying the in its effectiveness. Are the bad guys. Now having said that, i have been a military lawyer for 30 years. Another problem that could hurt the unit is for somebody to be wrongfully accused and feel like they have no voice. That the system is going to go from one extreme to the other. At the end of the day military justice is about rendering justice in an individual case but always military justice is to make that unit as effective as possible, to maintain good morale and discipline and if you are a female in a unit and you feel like nobody cares about what happens to you, you destroy morale. Also, if you are in a unit where people may misunderstand what you are saying and you feel like you cant defend yourself. We have got to find some balance here but to the victims thanks for coming forward. I know its not an easy thing to do. The numbers are astounding. If we are going to continue to be the most effective fighting force for freedom and good in the world we are going to have to solve this problem. As long as you have human beings you are going to have problems but clearly the message we are sending we are sending to our female members of the military is that we are way too indifferent and that your complaints are falling on deaf ears and to all of our commanders, how when the world can you lead your unit in a responsible manner if people in that unit feel like the system doesnt care about them . I will do everything i can within reason to make sure that that stops and that if you are accused of an offense of the military you still get a fair trial. Senator boxer. Thank you so much madam chairman and Ranking Member graham. Thank you both for holding this critical hearing. Its very timely and thank you so much or this opportunity to testify. I am very honored, very honored. Today im here to talk about the Violent Crime of Sexual Assault in the military not about fraternization. Im not here to talk about disrespect of vicious crimes and im not here to talk about false charges but about real charges and the way they are handled. As you well know, congress to our great i think credit passed a bipartisan violence against women act and i think everyone on both sides of the aisle who worked so hard for that. I was so proud of president obama signing it into law last week. That law recognizes every human being, every human being male, female deserves protection from violence and it sends a clear and unequivocal message that wherever a Sexual Assault occurs madam chairman whether on a College Campus or on an indian reservation or in a religious setting or in our military, yes the offender must be punished. Sexual assault is a heinous and Violent Crime and it must be treated as such. It isnt an internal matter. It is it is a Violent Crime and that must be treated as such. And i want to thank each and everyone of you for supporting the boxer cornyn amendment that says no the military cannot take offenders, people who have been convicted of Sexual Assault into the military. That will help us Going Forward but we need to do much more. We know this crisis is staggering and despite some important reforms by the department of defense and i thank them for those, they are trying to improve prevention, investigation, prosecution but still too many military sex offenders go unpunished and too many victims do not get the justice that they deserve. As the chairman said its unacceptable and it must stop and we are the ones to stop it. And you particularly are the ones who can stop it. Well in response to a letter that senator shaheen and i sent defense secretary hagel committed to taking a hard look at the military Justice System. He agrees that much more must be done to combat military Sexual Assault. Now let me tell you i dont have all the answers. If i had all the answers i would tell you that today. But one thing i do know is that immediate steps must be taken to prevent senior commanders who have the ability to unilaterally overturn a decision or sentence by a military court and i want to thank senator mccaskill who introduced legislation to do just that. That is the first step and only the first step. Two recent events and want to share with you. Highlight the urgent need for dramatic change. The first case involves a decision by an air force Lieutenant General to dismiss all charges against Lieutenant Colonel convicted of aggravated Sexual Assault and again all you have to had to do was listen to senator mccaskills comments on it to understand how this gets us. Many in congress are military and our nation were stunned to read that the general used his discretion as the convening authority to throw out a military guilty verdict. The jury of highranking military officers and i want to say who on this journey for kernels a Lieutenant Colonel had sentenced a Lieutenant Colonel to a year in prison and dismissal from the air force. That is a jury of his peers for sure. Under the uniform code of justice the generals decision to overturn that verdict is final and it cannot be reviewed or changed. The second event i wanted to hear because you may not know this. It took place in my home state of california. Last month an Army Veteran Shot and killed two Santa Cruz Police detectives who were attempting to question him over Sexual Assault allegations. In the aftermath of the shooting we learned that even though the former soldier has faced two separate rape charges while serving in the army, charges against him were dropped and he was discharged without a conviction as part of a plea bargain. Now what is it going to take to convince the military that Sexual Assault is a violent and vicious crime and that those who perpetuate it, they are capable of other Violent Crimes including murder. What is it going to take if they vicious Violent Crime, and those capable of that vicious crime are capable of other crimes, murder. The examples. Speak for themselves in there so many more. You will hear them today and your heart will break. It is time for us to take swift decisive steps to ensure that decisions of the military Justice System dont rest solely in the hands of one individual. Its not enough that our military has tolerance for Sexual Assault. You can say anything. I can say anything. But the facts speak for themselves. The department of defense estimates that 19,000 Sexual Assaults occurred in the military and i want to point out to my colleagues and my friends that many of these cases involved men. Only 17 are ever reported. I am so grateful to both of you for this hearing and senator gillibrand im so happy that you chose to hold the subcommittee, your first, on military Sexual Assault. I look forward to working with you on a conference of solution to this problem. Todays hearing is the first on this critical issue in nearly a decade, a decade. Its high time not only for this hearing but for changes in the way the military handles these cases. I know all of us who are touched by this issue are going to work with our colleagues, republicans independents back and with the military. The military most of all wants this to go away and we have to and his terrible tragedy of Sexual Assault. Just think of what an amazing legacy will be for the senate if we succeed and even more important think about how many men and women we will rightly protect. Thank you so much and im very excited to have this hearing and they go with your leadership, the two of you, we can get this done. Thank you very much. Thank you senator boxer for your very strong and valuable testimony. We are so grateful for your leadership. We are now going to welcome than the next panel. You can come up and i will read a biography briefly for each of you while you get settled. We have anu bhagwati is the executive director and cofounder of the Service WomensAction Network. The former captain and commander and she serves as a marine officer from 1999 to 2004. While serving she faced discrimination and harassment as a woman in the military. We have Bridget Mccoy former specialist in the u. S. Army. Bridges served in u. S. Army from 1987 to 1991. She was 18 years old when she signed up to serve her country in the first gulf war. She was sexually assaulted by a non officer and rebekah havrilla. Rebekah served in u. S. Army from 2,042,008. She was only female member of the bomb squad in eastern afghanistan attacked by a colleague on the Pakistani Border during her last week in the country in 2007. We have brian lewis former petty officer third class navy. Brian was in the u. S. Navy in june of 1997. During his tour he was raped by a superior noncommissioned officer and forced to go back out to sea after the assault. Anchorage each of you to express your views candidly and tell us what is working and what is not working. Tell us who understand what to do to address this problem of Sexual Assault in the military. We will hear your Opening Statement heres your complete and prepared statements will be included in the record. Following the open statements we limit our question to seven minutes in the first round to senators. Ms. Bhagwati. Thank you. Good morning chairman gillibranr graham and members of the subcommittee. My name is anu bhagwati and the executive director of Service WomensAction Network or swan and a former marine corps captain. Swans mission is to transfer military culture by securing opportunities and freedom to surf without discrimination harassment are sold and to perform services to assure High Quality Health Care health care and benefits for Women Veterans and their families. Military Sexual Violence is a personal issue for me. During my five years as a marine officer experi