{"id":1550,"date":"2013-05-16T16:07:04","date_gmt":"2013-05-16T22:07:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/?p=1550"},"modified":"2013-05-16T16:07:04","modified_gmt":"2013-05-16T22:07:04","slug":"mccaskill-wants-systemic-changes-criteria-for-military-on-sexual-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/mccaskill-wants-systemic-changes-criteria-for-military-on-sexual-violence\/","title":{"rendered":"McCaskill wants ‘systemic’ changes, criteria for military on sexual violence"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Robert Koenig<\/a>, St. Louis Beacon
\nclick here for original article<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

WASHINGTON \u2013 With both the Army and Air Force rocked by sexual violence charges against personnel tasked with preventing sexual assaults, U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill wants to mandate strict new criteria for officers in such jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have two incidents in two different branches of the military within 30 days of each other, then you realize that you need to scrub what\u2019s going on and start over \u2013 recertify, retrain and re-qualify all the people that are doing these jobs,\u201d McCaskill said.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, McCaskill and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. — both of whom are former prosecutors \u2013 introduced a bill to require the Pentagon to establish strict new criteria for personnel assigned to sexual assault prevention.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the job to prevent sexual assault is not taken seriously, then sexual assault is not going to be taken seriously,\u201d said McCaskill, saying she feared that many officers assigned to such posts are \u201cnot on a positive career trajectory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Late Tuesday, the Army said it was investigating allegations of pandering, abusive sexual contact, assault and maltreatment of subordinates against a sergeant who works in Fort Hood\u2019s Sexual Harassment and Assault Prevention and Response program. A week earlier, the Air Force officer in charge of sexual assault prevention was arrested outside a bar in Virginia and later accused of sexual battery.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t make this stuff up. This is just unbelievable,\u201d McCaskill said of the incidents, assuming that the charges are proven. She told reporters that her bill is \u201can attempt to prod the military into taking these jobs more seriously and getting better officers into those positions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The McCaskill-Klobuchar bill would require the Defense Secretary to:<\/p>\n