DOD’s and the Coast Guard’s Programs to Prevent and Respond to Sexual Assault

DOD has taken positive steps to respond to congressional direction by  establishing policies and a program to prevent, respond to, and resolve  reported sexual assault incidents involving servicemembers, and the Coast  Guard, on its own initiative, has taken similar steps. However, we also found that several factors hinder implementation of the  programs, including (1) guidance that may not adequately address how to  implement DOD’s program in certain environments, (2) inconsistent  support for the programs, (3) limited effectiveness of some program  coordinators, (4) training that is not consistently effective, and (5) limited  access to mental health services. Specific steps that DOD has taken include    establishing a standardized departmentwide definition of sexual    establishing a confidential option to report sexual assault incidents,  known as restricted reporting;    establishing a Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office to serve  as the single point of accountability for sexual assault prevention and  response;  requiring the military services to develop and implement their own  policies and programs, based on DOD’s policy, to prevent, respond to,  and resolve sexual assault incidents;    establishing training requirements for all servicemembers on  preventing and responding to sexual assault; and   reporting data on sexual assault incidents to Congress annually. DOD’s guidance may not adequately address some important issues. While most commanders support the programs, some do not. Program coordinators’ effectiveness can be hampered when program  management is a collateral duty. Visibility over Reports of Sexual Assault

We found, based on responses to our nongeneralizeable survey and a 2006  DOD survey, the most recent available, that occurrences of sexual assault  may be exceeding the rates being reported, suggesting that DOD and the  Coast Guard have only limited visibility over the incidence of these  occurrences. At the 14  installations where we administered our survey, 103 servicemembers  indicated that they had been sexually assaulted within the preceding 12  months. Of these, 52 servicemembers indicated that they did not report the  sexual assault incident. Commonly cited reasons by survey respondents at the  installations we visited included: (1) the belief that nothing would be done;  (2) fear of ostracism, harassment, or ridicule by peers; and (3) the belief  that their peers would gossip about the incident. For example, a junior enlisted female observed that the  military is going to great lengths to improve the ways that sexual assault  can be reported and commented that “in my opinion, people will be more  likely to report an incident anonymously.” Similarly, a female senior  officer commented that “giving the victim a choice of making a restricted  or unrestricted report is a positive change and allows that person the level  of privacy they require.”

	DOD and the Coast Guard’s Oversight over Reports of Sexual Assault

DOD and the Coast Guard have established some mechanisms for  overseeing reports of sexual assault involving servicemembers. In reviewing DOD’s and the Coast Guard’s  programs, we found that neither has established an oversight framework  because they have not established a comprehensive plan that includes  such things as clear objectives, milestones, performance measures, and  criteria for measuring progress, nor established evaluative performance  measures with clearly defined data elements with which to analyze sexual  assault incident data. Because DOD’s and the Coast Guard’s sexual assault  prevention and response programs lack an oversight framework, their  respective programs, as currently implemented, do not provide decision  makers with the information they need to evaluate the effectiveness of the  programs or to determine the extent to which the programs are helping to  prevent sexual assault from occurring and to ensure that servicemembers  who are victims of sexual assault receive the care they need. Without an oversight framework to guide program implementation, DOD  and the Coast Guard also risk not collecting all of the information needed  to provide insight into the effectiveness of their programs. However, DOD does not include these data in its annual  report, and the Coast Guard does not provide these incident data to  Congress because neither is required to do so. Congressionally Directed Defense Task Force on Sexual Assault in the Military Services Has Not Yet Begun Its Review

To provide further oversight of DOD’s sexual assault prevention and  response programs, the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization  Act for Fiscal Year 2005 required that the Defense Task Force on Sexual  Assault in the Military Services conduct an examination of matters relating  to sexual assault in cases in which members of the Armed Forces are  either victims or offenders. However, as of July 2008, this task force has yet to begin its review. We expect to make a number or  recommendations in our final report to improve implementation and  oversight of sexual assault prevention and response programs in both  DOD and the Coast Guard.
Why GAO Did This Study

In 2004, Congress directed the Department of Defense (DOD) to establish a comprehensive policy to prevent and respond to sexual assaults involving servicemembers. Though not required to do so, the Coast Guard has established a similar program. This statement addresses the extent to which DOD and the Coast Guard (1) have developed and implemented policies and programs to prevent, respond to, and resolve sexual assault incidents involving servicemembers; (2) have visibility over reports of sexual assault; and (3) exercise oversight over reports of sexual assault. This statement draws on GAO's preliminary observations from an ongoing engagement examining DOD's and the Coast Guard's programs to prevent and respond to sexual assault. In conducting its ongoing work GAO reviewed legislative requirements and DOD and Coast Guard guidance, analyzed sexual assault incident data, and obtained through surveys and interviews the perspective on sexual assault matters of more than 3,900 servicemembers stationed in the United States and overseas. The results of GAO's survey and interviews provide insight into the implementation of the programs but are nongeneralizable. GAO expects to issue its final report in August 2008 and to make a number of recommendations to improve implementation of sexual assault prevention and response programs and improve oversight of the programs in both DOD and the Coast Guard.

What GAO Found

DOD and the Coast Guard have established policies and programs to prevent, respond to, and resolve reported sexual assault incidents involving servicemembers; however, implementation of the programs is hindered by several factors. GAO found that (1) DOD's guidance may not adequately address some important issues, such as how to implement its program in deployed and joint environments; (2) most, but not all, commanders support the programs; (3) program coordinators' effectiveness can be hampered when program management is a collateral duty; (4) required sexual assault prevention and response training is not consistently effective; and (5) factors such as a DOD-reported shortage of mental health care providers affect whether servicemembers who are victims of sexual assault can or do access mental health services. Left unchecked, these challenges can discourage or prevent some servicemembers from using the programs when needed. GAO found, based on responses to its nongeneralizeable survey administered to 3,750 servicemembers and a 2006 DOD survey, the most recent available, that occurrences of sexual assault may be exceeding the rates being reported, suggesting that DOD and the Coast Guard have only limited visibility over the incidence of these occurrences. At the 14 installations where GAO administered its survey, 103 servicemembers indicated that they had been sexually assaulted within the preceding 12 months. Of these, 52 servicemembers indicated that they did not report the sexual assault. GAO also found that factors that discourage servicemembers from reporting a sexual assault include the belief that nothing would be done; fear of ostracism, harassment, or ridicule; and concern that peers would gossip. Although DOD and the Coast Guard have established some mechanisms for overseeing reports of sexual assault, neither has developed an oversight framework--including clear objectives, milestones, performance measures, and criteria for measuring progress--to guide their efforts. In compliance with statutory requirements, DOD reports data on sexual assault incidents involving servicemembers to Congress annually. However, DOD's report does not include some data that would aid congressional oversight, such as why some sexual assaults could not be substantiated following an investigation. Further, the military services have not provided sufficient data to facilitate oversight and enable DOD to conduct trend analyses. While the Coast Guard voluntarily provides data to DOD for inclusion in its report, this information is not provided to Congress because there is no requirement to do so. To provide further oversight of DOD's programs, Congress, in 2004, directed DOD to form a task force to undertake an examination of matters relating to sexual assault in which members of the Armed Forces are either victims or offenders. However, as of July 2008, the task force has not yet begun its review. Without an oversight framework, as well as more complete data, decision makers in DOD, the Coast Guard, and Congress lack information they need to evaluate the effectiveness of the programs.