According to a statement released by the Department of Defense on August 27, 2014, United States Army General Officer Michael T. Harrison was forced to retire recently with a reduced rank after being found to have mishandled reports of sexual assault. As I read the article published by The New York Times, I was expecting to find that some form of criminal action had also been taken and that there would be some recognition of sympathy for those victims whose cases had been mishandled. Instead, the consequences of this general’s actions were to retire as a one star general, as opposed to a two star. No criminal action was taken, and no justice to the victims was given.

If you have seen the eye-opening documentary ‘The Invisible War,’ then you know that it raised awareness for the appalling number of victims who are involved in sexual assaults in military settings, but also that it spurred legislation ensuring investigations of abuse were handled efficiently, and justice was given to the victims. As can be seen with Harrison’s case, these incidents are still occurring and as a woman myself, I still do not feel like enough is being done.

Susan Brownmiller, an American journalist, describes sexual assault in military settings as an unfortunate but inevitable by-product of the necessary game called war. Quite frankly, the punishment Harrison received is nothing short of a joke. After the amendment of federal policies regarding sexual assault in the military two years ago, I question Congress as to why this is still happening? This game we call ‘sexual assault in war’ is unacceptable. According to “The Invisible War,”

‘Since 2006, more than 95,000 service members have been sexually assaulted in the U.S. military. More than 86 percent of service members do not report their assault, and less than five percent of all sexual assaults are put forward for prosecution, with less than a third of those cases resulting in imprisonment.’

These figures should be enough to not only change punishment for the mishandling of reports of sexual assault, but to help victims come forward and receive justice for their traumatic experiences. As of 2014, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, federal law now defines Military Sexual Trauma (MST) as one of the most frequent diagnoses given to veterans of warfare. If we know that so many individuals suffer from such traumatic experiences, why isn’t policy being changed? Even more importantly, why aren’t those who are meant to protect us doing their jobs properly?

Each military force dominates the way reports and investigations of assault are handled. This ‘in house’ shambles of a system is essentially allowing officials to get away with their own wrongdoings. We are allowing individuals to commit acts without fear of punishment or consequence. In order to lower the rates of sexual assault in the military, the focus needs to be on controlling the environment, and providing an alternative system for report of misconduct. I am no expert in changing legislation, and I am no intellectual genius on the makings of policy, but I am certainly no fool to being aware that victims are suffering, and legislators need to wake up and realize that this type of consequence is normalizing military sexual assaults.

Our common coping mechanism for crime is imposing laws to regulate punishment to those who inflict pain and suffering. By imposing taking someone’s gold sparkly badge away and giving him or her a silver sparkly one instead because they essentially ignored someone’s suffering, is unacceptable. Sexual assault and abuse is not normal, regardless of the situation, regardless of the setting, and regardless of the perpetrator. In order to enable victims to report their abusers, and in order to protect future men and women from the pain and suffering so many veterans go through, something needs to change!

Now more than ever, I cannot wrap my head around the fact that our same country who is fighting to protect us from terrorism, our country who is fighting for the rights of the thousands of innocent individuals losing their lives in the Middle East, can also be the same country that contains individuals being sexually violated and then silenced by the same exact people who are meant to protect us.

Hannah Kaye

Hannah Kaye is originally from London, now living in New York. Recently graduated with an MA in criminal justice from John Jay College. Strong contenders for things she is most passionate about are bagels and cupcakes. Contact Hannah at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Americans may soon get some information regarding CIA operations and intelligence procedures in the post 9-11 information gathering frenzy.

For the past five years, the Senate Intelligence Committee has been compiling a report totaling 6,300 pages, in which details of the Agency’s information-gathering tactics are assessed. The committee began looking into the Agency’s actions after 9/11. In 2012, the report was completed but remained confidential. And apparently, it doesn’t reflect too highly on the CIA. This Thursday, the Committee voted to declassify a 480-page summary of the report. Now, the White House has to agree by giving the final approval.

But declassification may not be as straightforward as many hope it to be. Before the findings are released, the CIA will have the opportunity to redact any statements which compromise national security. And rightfully so- the public doesn’t need to know every detail of what the Agency has been doing for the past decade. But the question has to be asked- if this document is so detrimental to the Agency, as Committee Chairwoman Diane Feinstein has claimed, will it stop at redacting only the parts of the document that are a threat to national security?

Another problem is the time it will take for this document to be declassified. Some suspect that because there are still trials for terrorists going on, groups like the Pentagon and FBI need to be called in to review the documents further to ensure information critical to those trials is not released. President Obama has supported declassifying the report, but his press secretary Jay Carney made it clear Obama doesn’t have a specific timeframe in mind, saying “he would expect that the actions that are necessary to declassify a document that be conducted in all due haste,” but refusing to give a specific timeframe in which they would happen.

But perhaps most problematic with the potential declassification of these documents is the fact the findings might not change anything. When Obama came into office in 2009, he stopped waterboarding. While it’s important the Senate has looked into these activities, what if releasing this information to the public is untimely? If the CIA has amended their policies to conform to Obama’s standards, is there any substantive benefit that could come from the public seeing how they messed up years ago?

I would argue yes, to an extent. From Edward Snowden to Chelsea Manning, the American public has been debating whether or not this kind of information should be provided in large quantities, and who should release the information in the first place. This committee report seems to be the best of both worlds: information released about government actions from a reliable source, in a way that won’t compromise national security. Americans will get more transparency, but not in a way that puts intelligence officers, or relations with other countries, on the line.

But at the same time, what does the American public gain from finding out about the ill actions of the CIA years ago? While there is probative value to understanding how past administrations have functioned, and this may allow citizens to stay cognizant of government officials (both elected and otherwise), it’s possible there will not be enough context provided in regards to this report. Without working background knowledge on the subject, a lot of people could look at snippets of information while missing the bigger picture.

So this declassification seems to be a step in the direction of transparency for American citizens, but a standstill for actual change in CIA policy. Ultimately, that will have to come from powers much higher up than the average American reading the report.

[White House] [CNN] [Huffington Post] [USA Today]

Molly Hogan

Molly Hogan is a student at The George Washington University and formerly an intern at Law Street Media. Contact Molly at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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