2003 U.S. Air Force Academy sexual assault scandal

The Air Force Academy sexual assault scandal began with an anonymous email on January 2, 2003 to the Secretary of the Air Force, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Senator Wayne Allard, Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, other U.S. Congressmen, and media representatives. The e-mail asserted there was a significant sexual assault problem at the United States Air Force Academy that had been ignored by the Academy’s leadership. The Secretary immediately directed the General Counsel of the U.S. Air Force (SAF/GC) to establish a high-level Working Group to review cadet complaints concerning the Academy’s program of deterrence and response to sexual assault. The Secretary also tasked the Working Group to review allegations of sexual assault reported from January 1993 through December 2002. The Secretary subsequently directed the U.S. Air Force Inspector General to review individual U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) cases and to investigate cadet complaints concerning the alleged mishandling of sexual assault cases. In due course these investigations were carried out and a report issued on September 14 2004, [http://www.af.mil/library/posture/usafa_report.pdf Summary of report, pdf file] .

Background

President Gerald R. Ford signed legislation October 7, 1975, permitting women to enter the military academies. Women entered the United States Air Force Academy for the first time on June 28, 1976. The first class with women graduated in May 1980, and were nicknamed "80s Ladies".

Twelve percent of the women who graduated from the Air Force Academy in 2003 reported that they were victims of rape or attempted rape while at the Academy.ref|1 It is estimated that about 20 percent of all women students were victims; few of the alleged attackers have graduated, despite insufficient evidence for court martial. Sexual predation was mainly directed toward freshmen and sophomores who were under 21 and blackmailed after accepting alcohol from upperclass cadets. Women who complained were generally pushed or counseled out of the academy, ostensibly for alcohol abuse and fraternization which led to the situation in which rapes occurred. This situation is thought to have been generally known among the leadership of the United States Air Force, but little has been done until recently to correct the situation or to discipline officers in leadership positions at the Academyref|2ref|3; those that have been disciplined have often been scapegoats, including a Colonel who was forced into retirement despite having been assigned to the Air Force Academy for only two months, well after the rapes occurred. While this culture of sexual abuse does represent a significant stain on the honor and reputation of the Academy, it is important to note that the occurrence of rape was not necessarily disproportionately greater than that at other colleges and universities [http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/182369.pdf] .

In more recent years, however (beginning specifically in the spring semester of 2003), new leadership was instated at the Academy, and began sweeping changes to the Academy culture and environment in order to correct these problems and ensure that they will not happen again. Specifically new sexual assault reporting procedures have been produced, alongside new mandatory reporting procedures, as part of an "Agenda for Change" program.

A confidential survey of 4200 cadets and midshipmen, all of the women and about 1000 men, at US military academies conducted by the Defense Department in the spring of 2004 revealed 302 claims of sexual assault by women of which only one third had been officially reported. Taking this data into consideration, on March 18 2005 a new policy was announced for all US military academies which would permit a victim of sexual assault to seek counseling and medical care confidentially without triggering the disciplinary process. This policy, it is hoped, will increase the percentage of sexual assaults which are reported and increase the willingness of victims to seek assistance. Military commanders would receive notice of the request for help but not the identity of the victim thus providing them with more accurate information. Hopes were expressed that the new policy, by giving more control over the situation to victims, would also result in more official reporting through disciplinary channelsref|4.

On March 26 2005 it was reported in the combined weekend edition of the "Rocky Mountain News" and "The Denver Post" that acting Secretary of the Air Force, Peter B. Teets had recommended in a memo to Donald Rumsfeld, Defense Secretary that former commanders and other Air Force officers, now mostly retired, who were implicated in the sexual assault scandal by the inspection by the Inspector General's Office and the Fowler Commission not be prosecuted as they had "acted in good faith" and "were not intentionally or willfully derelict in their duties" as they attempted to deal with the sexual assault issue. Continuing, Teets wrote, "Moreover, any mistakes or misjudgments some of them may have made are mitigated by the complexity of the issues they faced, the necessity of policy trade-offs and compromises, and the difficulty of measuring program effectiveness." "The record of missed warning signs is disturbing, but these officers acted in good faith to discharge their responsibilities to act in the cadet's best interests by taking bold steps to deter sexual assaults and implement effective reporting procedures." "Given their uniform excellence and long service to the Air Force and their country, I have determined that taking the highly unusual step of imposing disciplinary action against these retired members under these circumstances is not warranted."

Teets's memo was forwarded to Congress over the Easter weekend, but despite the congressional recess was met with dismay by the office of Senator Wayne Allard, Republican Senator from Colorado and Representative Louise Slaughter, Democrat of New York who have led congressional inquiries into the scandal. Concern was also expressed by Kate Summers of the victims rights group Miles Foundation.

In late 2006, a military judge dismissed a rape charge against an accused cadet because the accuser's mental health professional refused a court order to release medical records of statements the accuser had made to her. [ [http://www.gazette.com/usafa/display.php?id=1322116&secid=50 Tom Roeder, "Air Force Academy Rape Case is Dropped", "Colorado Springs Gazette", Sep. 30, 2006.] ] On January 10, 2007, the Associated Press reported that civilian prosecutors declined to file charges in an alleged sexual assault that started the aforementioned 2003 sexual assault scandal because they could not meet the required burden of proof. [ [http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2007/01/af.casedrop070111/ "Academy Sex Assault Case Won’t Go to Civilian Court", "Air Force Times", Jan 12, 2007.] ]

References and external links

* cite web|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/29/national/29ACAD.html?th|publisher=The New York Times|title=Rate of Rape at Academy Is Put at 12% in Survery|date=August 28|year=2003

* cite web |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/23/politics/23CADE.html?th|publisher= The New York Times|title=Air Force Ignored Academy Abuse|date=September 23|year=2003

* cite web|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/08/politics/08cadets.html?th|publisher=The New York Times|title=Commanders Are Faulted on Assaults at Academy|date=December 8|year=2004

* cite web|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/19/politics/19academies.html?th|publisher=The New York Times|title=Pentagon Sets New Policy on Reporting Sex Assaults at Academies|date=March 19|year=2005

* [http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_3652603,00.html Rocky Mountain News article, "No punishment recommended in sex assault scandal" March 26 2005 article in the Rocky Mountain News]
* [http://216.239.63.104/search?q=cache:RFOXkbWrDGQJ:www.af.mil/library/posture/usafa_report.pdf++%22inspector+general%22+%22air+force+academy%22+%22sexual+assault%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 Report to SECAF AIR FORCE INSPECTOR GENERAL SUMMARY REPORT CONCERNING THE HANDLING OF SEXUAL ASSAULT CASES AT THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE ACADEMY, September 14 2004 (html file)] [http://www.af.mil/library/posture/usafa_report.pdf Pdf file]
* [http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1204/120804p1.htm Article, "Pentagon blames Air Force Academy leaders for sexual misconduct scandal," December 8 2004, GOVEXEC.com]
* [http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Dec2004/d20041207igsummary.pdf Evaluation of Sexual Assault, Reprisal, and Related Leadership Challenges at the United States Air Force Academy, December 3 2004, Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Defense]
* [http://afa.gazette.com/fullstory.php?id=4144 Colorado Spring Gazette article, "Confidentiality military-wide for alleged sexual assault victims," December 8 2004]

References