Military Survey: 302 Sex Assaults

Female cadets and midshipmen at three U.S. military academies say there have 302 incidents of sexual assault against them since they entered the schools, a Pentagon inspector general's survey has found.

However, the survey also found that the women said they reported only 22 of the assaults.

Inspector General Joseph E. Schmitz surveyed cadets and midshipmen at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., and the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. last spring on an anonymous basis to gauge the scope of and reporting of sexual assaults.

Details of the survey results and a new military-wide policy aimed at protecting the confidentiality of people who report being sexually assaulted were obtained by The Associated Press on Friday. The Pentagon was to discuss the findings at an afternoon news conference.

Both the survey and the policy are in response to sexual assault issues in the armed forces and a scandal at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., that surfaced in January 2003. It led to reviews of the military's sexual assault policies and the departures of the academy's leadership.

Last year, nearly 150 women came forward with accusations that they had been sexually assaulted by fellow cadets between 1993 and 2003. Many alleged they were punished, ignored or ostracized by commanders for speaking out.

Schmitz's survey found that the women said that since they became cadets and midshipmen there were 64 instances in which an offender had intercourse with them against their will and without consent, and 30 instances of anal and oral sex against their will and without consent.

It also found that there were 176 incidents in which female cadets and midshipmen's "private parts" were "touched, stroked or fondled" without their consent, and 127 instances in which the perpetrator physically attempted to have sexual intercourse or oral or anal sex but was not successful.

The numbers of assaults were fairly even across the three academies.

The assaults occurred most often in dormitories or barracks and when the women were freshmen and sophomores. And, the women reported that fellow cadets and midshipmen were the offenders.

Most women said they didn't report the assaults because they feared public disclosure, ostracism, harassment, ridicule, not being believed and other repercussions. Others said they didn't believe the offenses were serious enough to report and that they handled it themselves.

The new policy, outlined in a March 16 memo to top Pentagon officials by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, lays out several options victims now will have to report assaults confidentially.

Under the policy, the victim now will be able to confidentially disclose details of the sexual assault to a health care provider or a designated sexual assault response coordinator and receive medical treatment without triggering an official investigation.

Currently, victims can report assaults to chaplains confidentially and without fear that an investigation will be launched. That will not change.

The Pentagon's policy "prefers complete reporting of sexual assaults to activate both victims' services and accountability actions. However, recognizing that a mandate of complete reporting may represent a barrier for victims to gain access to services when the victim desires no command or law enforcement involvement, there is a need to provide an option for confidential reporting," Wolfowitz said in the memo.

The service branches have three months to implement the policy.

By Liz Sidoti