Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand today released the following statement in response to the annual report on sexual harassment and assault at the nation’s military service academies:
“This report is more confirmation that sexual assault is still a major problem at our military service academies. Despite repeated claims by military leadership of zero tolerance for sexual assault throughout the military, it is disheartening to see a lack of significant progress in preventing and responding to allegations of sexual assault — and that an intense stigma still surrounds those who are brave enough to report. All of our service academies and our entire military have to do better, and Congress has a responsibility to hold them accountable. I urge my colleagues to immediately pass my bipartisan bill to fix our broken military justice system, the Military Justice Improvement Act, so that our military finally has access to a justice system that is professional, effective, and fair.”