Youre watching live coverage on cspan 3, watch live on cspan. Org or our app. And the air force National Guard over guardsman in their varying statuses who commitment Sexual Harassment, assaulter or other acts. Also Services Available who are victims of these egregious crimes. Brigadier general walker will also discuss the office of complex investigations in their role in filling the gap for the state agitant generals when local Law Enforcement authorities and or federal agencies are unwilling or unable to investigate. Also looking forward to hearing from them, their response to the findings that the independent review committee, and how the National Guard bureau intends to implement the ircs recommendations. The morale, readiness, and every aspect of service is poisoned each time a Service Member is sexually assaulted or sexually harassed in our military. The National Guard is no different. Guard personnel have fought in the wars in iraq and afghanistan, aided countless civilians in Natural Disaster and see providing essential healthcare and support to fight the current covid19 pandemic. And they suffer from a convoluted and understaffed system of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment prevention programs. Complex and cumbersome reporting processes and a lack of justice. The numbers are staggering yet the data is lacking. According to the dod 2019 annual report on Sexual Assault in the military, the number of reported Sexual Assaults in the guard jumped nationwide from 173 in 2009 to 607 in 2019. More than a 300 increase. Beyond that, little data exists. Ive been advocating for progress more than ten years. Those numbers dont tell even a fraction of the story. Individual stories of guard personnel caught in a web of confusing bureaucracy are harrowing, stories like the West VirginiaNational Guard officer, then Lieutenant General teresa james raped in her hotel room by a superior officer, consistently disbelieved until the National GuardBureau Investigators finally found the perpetrator used intimidation and fear to sexually assault her resulting in nonconsensual intercourse. To make matters worse and to because she reported her superior officer for rape, the victim was given uncharacteristically low evaluation and retained in the guard for one year, instead of the standard two years. Three years later, d. O. D. Inspector general found the, quote, West Virginia guard retaliated against her for reporting that she was raped, unquote. Her perpetrator faced no charges and was allowed to go on to endanger other guardsmen. Lieutenant colonel james waited years to be believed and then was medically discharged from the service for ptsd resulting from her sexual trauma. Stories like this one are all too common across the National Guard. Extensive reporting by journalists uncovered problems with Sexual Assault and harassment in the National Guard in many states, including florida, minnesota, pennsylvania, vermont, and wisconsin. Many involving botched investigations and failure to report sex crimes to police. We are here today to pull back the curtain that has allowed this insidious rot that threatens our National Security and countless lives to go unchecked. In the worst cases, made the threat even more dire. No longer can the National Guard hide behind their unique status. To the National Guard, the spotlight of congress is on you. Take care of your soldiers, take care of your airman, stamp out Sexual Harassment and assault, stop the retaliation. We are watching. To all the soldiers and airmen of the National Guard, we have not forgotten you. My pledge to all the survivors of military Sexual Violence, to those who reported and were ostracized, those who reported and faced retaliation and all those who are afraid toreport and may be suffering alone, were on your team, and the National Guard is on notice, Sexual Assault and harassment will not be tolerated. We pay your bills, we fund you. The game is over. Ranking member gallagher, now recognized for opening remarks. Thank you, madam chair, before i begin, id like to say i look forward to working with you through this upcoming nda cycle. Last year was a whirl wind, but i hope we can continue to attack our military personnel challenges in a bipartisan fashion and want to thank the witnesses for joining us. I agree that Sexual Assault and harassment are a blight on our armed forces be it active reserve or guard, this hearing to coordinate with state and see bring some cases, now the National Guard sits in a very interesting position which makes this a pleks issue, very few guard members in a federal Service Status and subject to the Justice System at anytime unless activated under title 10 orders, doing civilian jobs and therefore subject to the same laws as anybody else, so the majority of guard members the legal distinctions dont cause issue but conduct of becoming a member of our armed forces does happen often outside of any federal jurisdiction and guard members live under 54 sets of state or territorial laws. Now congress charged the National Guard bureau and office of investigations with assisting in cases where Law Enforcement cant or wont address a guardrelated crime and since 2012, oci helped fill the gap between state and local, Law Enforcement criminal investigations and the high standards we apply to our Service Members. These cases often deal with complex legal issues and oci worked very hard to find solutions over the last ten years. As always, there is more we can do to improve accountability and integrity in armed forces and i look forward to hearing from the witnesses on what tools could actually improve the handling of assault cases at oci and how the guard bureau can better provide guard prevention resources to the states. Opportunity to question the witnesses, five minutes, respectfully ask the witnesses to summarize their testimony. After general hutchinsons remarks, opportunity to question the witnesses five minutes. Respectfully ask the witnesses to summarize their testimony in five minutes, written comments and statements will be made part of the hearing record. Lets begin and welcome our panel, general, daniel hawkinson, chief of National Guard bureau and Brigadier GeneralCharles Walker, director of office of complex investigations. Thank you both for being here today and we look forward to hearing from you. Please, begin, general hawkinson. You may have to unmute yourself. Can you hear us, general . Give a thumbs up if you can hear us. But we cant hear you, so. Well move on to Brigadier GeneralCharles Walker and in the interim maybe you can get your technology figured out there. Have someone on your staff help you. Brigadier general walker. Ranking member gallagher, distinguished members of the subcommittee, its my pleasure to be here today and offer testimony with respect to the office of complex investigations brings to this as chair spear points out, it is a poison within our ranks. And the National Guard in all levels is committed to eradicating Sexual Violence against all Service Members. Today, we hope to testify about the unique, particular aspects of National Guard service which at times may create gaps in our ability to handle criminal activity within our military service but also to reinforce the fact that these matters are being taken serious and the avenues that are available for military justice, and ill use that not as the term of our military justice, but the fact that arts men and women were serving in a nonfederalized capacity are serving as citizen soldiers and airman, entitled to same protection as anyone in their community which is why local prosecution are our avenue for activity at the National Guard. Certainly, general hokinsons Opening Statement covers the gambit of activities and situations within the guard, subjects to this hearing and i hope hell be on shortly so he can elaborate on those things. My scope is as director of the office of complex investigations which if this is the appropriate time, i can go into details about the office of complex investigation in the hopes general hokinson can come on board with regard to where the National Guard is coming today on these issues, but has already been pointed out in Ranking Member gallaghers opening, the office of complex investigation and in 2012, it is a direct outgrowth of the last Time Congress was intimately involved with the military and issues of Sexual Assault. Back in 2012, there were a number of cases in which military members had complained and rightfully so about the handling of the investigations and lack of results with prosecution pertaining to Sexual Assault cases. As result of that, d. O. D. Guidance propagated which required that commanders no longer use their indigenous or organic resources to investigate Sexual Assaults and that all Sexual Assault validation would refer to military criminal investigative organizations such as the office of special investigations for the active duty airforce or cid, criminal Investigation Division for the army. But unlike those active and reserve components under title 10, guards men and women do not have access to that due to their subservence in nonfederalized status so to fill that gap we created the office of complex investigation which would help in instances where local Law Enforcement which is our first line of defense against Sexual Violence allegations is either unwilling or unable to investigate thoroughly those allegations. In those limited instances the office of complex investigations steps in and provides investigative tool for the 54 addtives general, these investigations include only Sexual Assault allegations but using the department of defense definition for Sexual Assault with broad and encompassing everything from a groping all the way towards a penetrative Sexual Assault. We, in the office of complex investigation are a centralized asset primarily based out of Andrews Air Force base, provide capacity which allows us to provide one, a consistent ability and a, an ability to provide a fair and balanced report to state additive general for action, that i point out, we are not a criminal investigative organization, we provide administrative investigations as a backstop so victims and the National Guard will have an opportunity to address Sexual Violence against its members and to remove those within our ranks who may be perpetrators. In an administrative context. What we are not is a criminal context which, as you know, in a criminal setting, theres jailtime, potentially, theres sexual registries, and other controls that our societys deemed appropriate for these type of crimes. So oci is not the default for the National Guard, merely the avenue we result to when logic enforcement is not able or willing under a variety of circumstances to adequately investigate those instances of Sexual Violence. At this time, i will end my statements in hopes, general can Carry Forward with his more broad Opening Statements which encompasses all aspects of what the National Guard is doing with respect to eradicating Sexual Violence within our force. Thank you, Brigadier General. General hawkinson, are you live now . Can you hear me now . We certainly can. Please proceed. Out standing. Thank you. Good afternoon, chair spears, Ranking Member gallagher, honorable members of the subcommittee, thank you for inviting member walker and i before you today. In case you have not heard directly from me already, i want to be clear, there is no place for Sexual Assault or harassment in our Nations Armed forces or anywhere else for that matter there is no act more heinous and violating the trust of a fellow Service Member, the members raise their right hand to follow the constitution and fight our nations wars and serve our communities in times of crisis. There is strong leadership at every level and a work place free from the violence of assault and harassment. This is a serious problem and we recognize it as such. That is why the effort to achieve the National Guard bureau, i met with our team, because despite all our efforts we didnt seem to be making a difference. As a result, i ordered a formation of a task force to impose National Guard bureaus representatives in 54 state areas with washington dc to prevent Sexual Assault and suicide within our ranks. Six months as a result of the task force examinations, identified 19 recommendations to improve our guardsmens safety. These recommendations fall into six strategic areas leader education, growing a healthy culture, resource distribution and communication, partnerships, generalization of efforts and effective measurement. Upon review of their recommendations i accepted all of them. Taken together, they mean one thing above all, we need a greater focus on prevention to eliminate Sexual Assault and harassment in our formations. In addition, we are strongly engaged in the implementation of secretary austins review commission recommendations, to help improve our prevention programs, through National Guards unique operating environment and continue to enhance victim care and support. It was evident from our task force that prevention starts with creating a Cultural Trust. Our guardsmen and their families must have confidence in their chain of command, need to have confidence in victim efficacy and response services. They need to have confidence in the offices that investigate Sexual Assault, and they need to have confidence that offenders will be held accountable. We have to earn that confidence by establishing and maintaining a culture of trust in every state, territory in d. C. And at every level of leadership. We are taking action on building that Cultural Trust and preventing Sexual Assault and harassment within our ranks, working on way to see stage with better guidance and resources and analyzing data that focuses on risk factors so we can directly affect those risk factors. In addition to the Sexual Assault and suicide task force, i also made changes to our office of complex investigations or oci. These changes included moving oci from under our General Counsel Office and making it a separate, standalone directive. I also placed a general officer in charge, as we often do in the National Guard, we are leveraging general walkers civilian experience as a federal judge. In addition, we Work Together with our aggitants general to increase number of oci investigators by 65 , substantially reduce case back log and help survivors get results. Also working with the agitant general to hire integrators as resources become available. Having a specially trained force focused on addressing this issue helps demonstrate our commitment to eliminating Sexual Assault and harassment in the National Guard. We are also improving prevention training for guard members and leaders at every level i