Ernst, Grassley join call for military to speed up sexual assault response

DES MOINES — Iowa’s Republican U.S. senators, Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley, have signed a bipartisan letter expressing their disappointment with the Pentagon’s proposed timeline for implementing newly recommended measures to combat sexual assault in the military.

The U.S. Defense Department in September announced its plan to implement recommendations put forth in a report from the Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault, which was ordered by President Joe Biden.

The proposal includes implementation of some measures between 2027 and 2030, according to the senators’ letter.

More than 20,000 active U.S. service members may have experienced sexual assault, according to the most recent study from the Defense Department.

The letter, addressed to U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and signed by eight U.S. senators, including Ernst and Grassley, expresses frustration that the proposed implementation is too slow, calling it a “vague approach and lax timeline.”

“This approach does not rise to the challenge of addressing the crippling and endemic sexual assault crisis afflicting our nation’s military,” the letter says.

The letter also is signed, among others, by Democratic U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, of New York. Ernst — a combat veteran and sexual assault survivor — and Grassley have in recent years worked with Gillibrand on addressing sexual assault in the military. They have proposed legislation that would move the decision whether to prosecute sexual assault allegations outside the military chain of command to independent military prosecutors, and boost training and security measures. The Senate version of the bill has more than 60 co-sponsors, and the identical House version has 220 co-sponsors.

The senators’ letter says if the bill proposed by Gillibrand, Ernst and Grassley were to pass, many of the Defense Department’s proposals would be mandated within six months.

“Ensuring the safety of all who serve and delivering justice for victims of sexual violence are not problems that can wait to be resolved on the Department of Defense’s proposed timeline,” the letter says. “The men and women who serve in our military cannot continue to operate another day, let alone another decade, under a chain of command that is unwilling or incapable of taking decisive action to address this epidemic. A problem of this magnitude demands an immediate, proportionate response.”

The letter’s other signees are Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.; Mike Braun, R-Ind.; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.