Military Review English Edition September-October 2013 | Page 7

IDENTITY CORROSION

Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, demonstrates Congress’ new interest in this fact. It easily passed in the Senate, and requires any service member convicted of rape, sexual assault, or forcible sodomy to be administratively discharged if their sentence does not already entail dismissal from the service. This is only the first of many acts of oversight aimed at controlling the military’s options when it comes to dealing with sex crimes.21 The legislation comes from her belief that “sexual violence in the military continues to occur at an alarming rate.”22 In essence, the Senate is telling the military in general, and the Army in particular, that it no longer trusts the Army to handle the problem.23 In the House, Rep. Speier of California sponsored the Sexual Assault Training Oversight and Prevention (STOP) Act, in November of 2011, aimed at providing oversight in sexual assault cases. The proposal calls for “removing authority from the chain of command to investigate sexual assault allegations.” 24 Beyond the STOP Act, Speier advocated further action in 2012, writing the House Armed Services Committee chairman

saying “it is imperative that Congress hold the military accountable and truly implement a zerotolerance policy in response to this problem.”25 Those are certainly not the words of a civilian authority that trusts the military to police itself. Most of the proposals outlined in the preceding paragraphs were made formal when President Barack Obama signed them into law as part of the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act.26 Clearly this indicates an erosion of trust. Legislation aimed at limiting a military commander’s ability to deal with acts of indiscipline are rare, and the military should view such Congressional oversight as evidence it is losing the faith of its civilian masters. One purpose of the UCMJ is to give commanders the ability to self-police the profession. It offers a full range of options in dealing with offenses whereby professionals exercise discretionary judgment and do not necessarily have to deal with all cases in the same way.27 If the Army desires to remain a profession, Congress must allow it to self-regulate within the guiding principles of its own ethic.

(U.S. Army)

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