The US’ top military officers were likely to advise the US Congress not to go too far overhauling the military’s justice system to address the problem of sexual assault when they testify at a US Senate hearing yesterday.
Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey and top officers from each branch of the military were to comment on legislation meant to stem a rise in sexual assault cases in the military.
According to letters sent by the officers to the committee and obtained by media, the top brass support some key curbs, but seemed concerned about taking too much power away from commanders.
One measure they are likely to balk at is US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s proposal to take responsibility for prosecuting sex crimes out of the victim’s chain of command and give it to special prosecutors.
“Victims need to know that their commander holds offenders accountable, not some unknown third-party prosecutor,” Commandant of the Marine Corps General James Amos wrote in a letter dated May 17.
A study released by the US Department of Defense last month estimated that cases of unwanted sexual contact in the military, from groping to rape, rose 37 percent last year to about 26,000 cases from 19,000 the previous year.
There has been outcry in Congress over how the military handles such cases, including those in which commanders showed leniency to accused offenders.
That outrage has led lawmakers to put together legislation that, in some cases, commanders think goes too far.
It was unclear if words of caution from top brass will prompt lawmakers to reverse course.
In a May 20 letter, US Army Chief of Staff General Raymond Odierno wrote that changes to the system “must not be made in a piecemeal fashion. And poor decisions by a few of my commanders should not be the impetus for drastic and rapid legislative amendments.”
Still, Odierno, along with Dempsey and the top uniformed officers of the Navy, Air Force and Marines, in their letters backed an April recommendation by UD Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel to Congress to eliminate the power of senior commanders to alter verdicts in courts-martial for major crimes like murder or sexual assault.
However, Hagel also recommended commanders retain the power to alter sentences.
US defense officials have said that the ability to reduce sentences is key to being able to engage in plea bargaining, in which defendants cooperate in exchange for a lesser sentence.
Throughout their letters, the officers warned that undermining a commander’s authority too much risked also undermining his ability to ensure good order and discipline.
“A message that commanders cannot be trusted to mete out discipline will undermine this responsibility; removing commanders from the military justice process will convey just such a message,” Dempsey wrote.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia