A dispute is growing between the Pentagon and the Air Force’s former chief prosecutor over how the military handles sex assault cases — and it reaches the office of Defense Secretary Ash Carter.
Retired Col. Don Christensen, who is now president of Protect our Defenders, a group that advocates for military service members who have been sexually harassed or assaulted, is pushing back hard on the Defense Department’s suggestion that Christensen and his group don’t understand how the sexual assault prosecution process works.
Christensen has asked Carter for a face-to-face meeting to discuss the problem in a letter dated June 3.
The dispute began in April, when Protect our Defenders released a report alleging the Pentagon misled Congress about sexual assault cases. The group said the military gave Congress inaccurate information on sexual assaults that made civilian prosecutors appear less willing to pursue cases than military commanders. Now-retired Navy Adm. James Winnefeld, who at the time was vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, used that information during a 2013 congressional hearing to argue against a bill taking prosecutions out of military hands.
The Associated Press also published a story based on records it obtained from Protect our Defenders.
On May 26, Carter sent Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., a letter questioning the assumptions and conclusions of the Protect our Defenders report. Gillibrand is a leading advocate for overhauling policies on prosecuting military sexual assaults, and has sponsored a bill — supported by Protect our Defenders — that would remove the power of some senior commanders to decide whether or not to prosecute sexual assault cases.
In that letter, Carter said the issues raised in the Protect Our Defenders report “are based on certain misunderstandings of how the military justice system works … or a disagreement on what ‘counts’ as a sexual assault case.”
In his June 3 response, Christensen bristled at the suggestion and noted he served as a judge advocate for more than 23 years, including four as the Air Force’s chief prosecutor.
“I certainly understand ‘how the military justice system works’ and am confident our report contains no ‘misunderstanding’ of the process or ‘how prosecutions are conducted under’” the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Christensen wrote.
Christensen said a rebuttal included with Carter’s letter contained several inaccuracies and added that the white paper “demonstrated an appalling lack of seriousness” about what he said was inaccurate information provided to Congress.
Christensen said he fears Carter’s response shows Pentagon officials are not providing him accurate information on the state of sexual assault prosecutions.
“The bureaucracy in the Pentagon has its own agenda, and instead of addressing facts, they turn to spin,” Christensen said in the letter.
