Military’s War on Sexual Assault Proves Slow Going
Military’s War on Sexual Assault Proves Slow Going by Mark Thompson Thursday December 4 th , 2014 at 8:25 PM TIME 1 Share Just like the Pentagon’s recent real-world wars, its latest dispatch from the front in the battle against sexual assault contains both good and bad news. There are enough numbers crammed into the document that military boosters can hail the progress that has been made, while critics can claim the Defense Department still isn’t doing enough. “There have been indications of real progress,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said as he released the report Thursday afternoon, but “we still have a long way to go.” According to that latest accounting, the bad news is that reported assaults continue to rise—from 3,604 in 2012, to 5,518 last year, and to 5,983 in 2014 (the report charts fiscal years, which end Sept. 30). That’s an 8% jump in the past year. The good news, the 1,136-page report says, is that reforms in handling