Sen. Martha McSally pushes to criminalize sexual harassment in military, add lawyers for victims

Sen. Martha McSally, who was sexually assaulted while serving in the Air Force, will push legislation to focus on criminalizing sexual harassment in the ranks and ensure that each military base has a lawyer who advocates for victims, she told USA TODAY in an interview.

McSally, an Arizona Republican on the Armed Services Committee and retired Air Force attack plane pilot, also said she stands by the commanders’ traditional role as the arbiter of prosecutions for sexual assault. That stance puts her at odds with fellow committee member Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.

“Look, I appreciate her passion and advocacy on this issue over the years,” McSally said. “But she’s not served in the military. There’s a unique role of the commander that is so important for our military.”

In March, McSally revealed during a Senate hearing that she had been raped by a superior officer and that she felt re-victimized by Air Force officials who questioned her about it. She has gone on to push the military to establish a task force charged with recommending substantive changes to the way the military combats sexual assault. The time was ripe: last week, the Pentagon announced an estimated 20,500 troops had been sexually assaulted in 2018, a 38% increase compared with 2016.

McSally spoke with USA TODAY about the critical role of commanders in dealing with sexual assault, top recommendations from the task force and why she’s best suited to lead Congress on dealing with sexual assault.

Her defense of a commanders’ prerogative to prosecute sexual assault cases puts her at odds with Gillibrand and on the same page as Pentagon leadership. In an op-ed in Thursday’s USA TODAY, Elizabeth Van Winkle, who oversees the Pentagon’s sexual assault prevention and response efforts, wrote that commanders make those decisions on the advice of lawyers and cannot overrule them without review by superior officers.

“A commander standing in front of their force with the power to criminally charge them for not abiding by orders is an extremely powerful tool within the military,” Van Winkle wrote.

Gillibrand’s staffs say the Pentagon has promised action on sexual assault for years but has not come close to its goal of “zero tolerance.”

“The senator has been proud to fight alongside retired military leaders and commanders plus so many brave survivors who know firsthand what needs to be done to fix this broken system,” said her spokeswoman, Whitney Brennan.

McSally disputed the notion that the increase in sexual assaults within the ranks is linked to commanders’ authority to prosecute the cases. She advocates maintaining that authority and ensuring commanders have the best prosecutors and investigators advising them.

“It’s not going to fix the problem to strip commanders,” McSally said. “In fact, I think it would exacerbate the problem because they would feel less accountable and less responsible.”

She also plans to propose legislation that would criminalize sexual harassment. Troops can be prosecuted for sexual harassment under the part of military law that governs good order and discipline. The recommendation to make it a specific crime is one of the top recommendations of the task force. The risk of assault increases when sexual harassment is tolerated.

“It’s a great idea to separate and specifically criminalize sexual harassment,” McSally said. “It shows commitment to saying we’re not going to tolerate this. It also allows us to track those who have had any kind of punishment related to sexual harassment, potentially the early sign of somebody who has behavior that’s on what they call the continuum of harm.”

Another recommendation to be included in her legislation would assign lawyers known as special victims counsels to every military base. Those lawyers advocate on the victims’ behalf, she said, and having one at each installation would allow the lawyer to be on hand as soon as a report is made.

McSally’s acknowledgement that she was herself a victim of sexual assault in the military generated intense media interest and the attention of Air Force officials. She granted a few interviews but, for the most part, has kept a low profile and has not revealed the name of her assailant or where the attack occurred. Her first-hand experience, she said, gives her a unique perspective in the Senate.

“Not only do I have 26 years of experience in the military and in the ninth class of women at the Air Force Academy, I’ve been a commander myself,” McSally said. “I’m also a military sexual assault survivor myself. I don’t come at my positions lightly. This is something I have personally experienced as a crime.

“I’ve seen where the system has failed in the past. I’ve seen the impact of these crimes on our military. I think I bring the credibility and the passion and the experience to be able to lead on this issue and to hold our military accountable. It’s not just lip service. It’s actual action that’s going to keep our men and women safe when they sign up to serve. And we’re going to hold people accountable for these crimes.”