HEIDELBERG, Germany — In its fifth stop on a worldwide fact-finding tour of U.S. bases, the Defense Task Force on Sexual Assault in the Military Services met with a disappointment: No victims attended.
Despite publicity about the task force meeting and an invitation for sexual assault victims to inform the task force by telling the members of their own experiences, none arrived in the two days the task force was in Heidelberg this week.
"To tell you the truth, I wondered what the response would be. If I were a victim and the system had worked against me, how willing would I be to come and tell my story?" said Louis Iasiello, task force co-chair. "This is an evolutionary process. We may decide there’s another way to reach out to victims."
He said some victims did meet with the task force at other bases.
The task force tour is designed to assess the effectiveness of programs to address sexual assault prevention and response.
"To see patterns — that’s what we’re trying to do with these visits," said Iasiello, a retired rear admiral, once the Navy’s top chaplain and a military ethicist. "Here’s what we think is working right. Here are areas of improvement."
Along the way, Iasiello said, after data calls, focus groups and interviews with lawyers, doctors, social workers, victim’s advocates and victims, the group will make recommendations to commands.
Already, he said, some things are clear. Sexual Assault Response coordinators must have ready access to commanders. If there are "multi layers of reporting, they’re probably not in a position to succeed," Iasiello said.
One of the most important factors in whether a particular installation or command responds well — providing services for victims and holding perpetrators accountable — has to do with whether the commander really does take sexual assault seriously or just pays lip service.
"If the commander is, ‘Well, so and so is a great soldier and we really need him in combat…,’ that can lead to issues," Iasiello said.
"Command leadership is critical to establishing a … response to sexual assault," he said. "When you have commanders that understand the criticality, it really does empower the SARC. This is too critical to let this happen. It not only erodes good order and discipline, it also erodes our combat readiness."
Iasiello also said that prevention efforts consisting of "Death by Powerpoint" were completely ineffective and that more creative approaches should be used.
The task force trip follows a Government Accountability Office report highly critical of the military effort in combating sexual assault. The report said the military had provided inconsistent training on how rape victims could find assistance, failed to provide enough counseling for sex-crime victims, and had not done enough to get commanders on board.
Deployed soldiers had been particularly inadequately informed, the report said.
The DOD reported a total of 2,688 sexual assaults in the 21 months ending Sept. 30, 2007. But there are lingering suspicions that those numbers still represent the "tip of the iceberg," said Jenny Holbert, a task force spokeswoman. "No one has a good handle on the numbers," she said.
Sexual assault reporting appears to have gone up since 2005, when "restricted reporting" was first offered in which victims could seek medical and psychological care without triggering an investigation.
"It shows the sensitivity of the military to set up a system that’s almost countercultural," Iasiello said.
The GAO report said although care for victims was a good thing, it wasn’t the only thing.
Less than half of the reported sexual assaults — 1,182 — were referred to their commanders for legal action and just 181 went to court-martial. Another 572 were awaiting disposition.
Iasiello said that one of the things the task force is looking at is the standard of evidence required for a prosecution to go forward in various commands.
The task force travels to Ramstein Air Base on Thursday.
