Top general drops opposition to change in sex assault policy

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Top general drops opposition to change in sex assault policy

By ROBERT BURNS
May 3, 2021

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a potentially significant shift in the debate over combating sexual assault in the military, the nation’s top general says he is dropping his opposition to a proposal to take decisions on sexual assault prosecution out of the hands of commanders.

Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stopped short of endorsing the changes recommended by an independent review panel. But in an interview with The Associated Press and CNN, Milley said he is now open to considering them because the problem of sexual assault in the military has persisted despite other efforts to solve it.

“We’ve been at it for years, and we haven’t effectively moved the needle,” he said. “We have to. We must.”

The comments by Milley, as arguably the most influential officer and as the senior military adviser to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and to President Joe Biden, are likely to carry considerable weight among the service chiefs and add to momentum for the change.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/joint-chiefs-of-staff-lloyd-austin-joe-biden-sexual-assault-government-and-politics-e343b149e17bfa5cc104ea354bdf8065

[TomSlick]

1. This is potentially a big dammed deal.

Placing prosecutorial discretion for any crimes outside the chain-of-command is a complete shift from what has been the norm since 1775.

The military justice system would work better if prosecutorial discretion was exercised by lawyers. The failure of the chain-of-command to appropriately deal with sexual assault may be the break in the dam to reform the entire system.