The Army and Air National Guard in turn coordinate  with Army and Air Force staff, respectively. OCI Conducts Administrative Investigations of Sexual Assault and State Assessments, Receives Funds from DOD’s Sexual Assault Program, and Uses Temporarily Assigned Investigators

OCI conducts administrative investigations of reports of sexual assault, in  addition to state assessments of state National Guard units. Since 2013, OCI has completed  approximately 380 administrative investigations of sexual assault and 5  state assessments, as shown in figure 2. Adjutants General and their staffs stated that OCI  provides the states with an unbiased or impartial third-party review of  reported incidents of sexual assault. OCI Is Funded through Appropriations Made Available by Congress for DOD’s Sexual Assault Special Victims’ Counsel Program

OCI is primarily funded through amounts made available by Congress for  transfer to the services for the Sexual Assault Special Victims’ Counsel  Program in annual Operation and Maintenance, Defense-wide (O&M,  Defense-wide) appropriations. According to an OCI  official, the funding increase has been in response to increasing requests  for OCI’s services by the states and territories. Specifically, in fiscal year  2014, OCI funding was approximately $1.4 million, and by fiscal year  2018 total funding was almost $5 million. OCI Investigators Are Temporarily Assigned National Guard Members

According to the National Guard’s 2018 Report to Congress, OCI  primarily relies on National Guard members staffed temporarily to the  office as investigators to conduct its sexual assault investigations and  state assessments. OCI Has Policies for Sexual Assault Investigations and Controls to Help Ensure Key Policies Are Followed, but Has Inconsistently Documented How Case Acceptance Criteria Are Met

NGB guidance establishes policies for OCI’s investigations, and OCI has  implemented internal controls to help ensure it follows key policies. Our analysis of a non-generalizable sample of 27 case files from 5 states  from fiscal years 2016 and 2017—out of a total of approximately 225  cases for those same years—found that OCI generally adhered to key  policies. For example, OCI included the Adjutants General requests to  initiate the OCI investigation and executive summaries explaining OCI’s  determination of whether or not the allegation was substantiated in all 27  case files. National Guard Bureau Policies Outline Case Acceptance Criteria, but OCI’s Case Files Inconsistently Include Supporting Documentation to Show How the Criteria Have Been Met

NGB policies describe two criteria that allegations of sexual assault must  meet for OCI to initiate and conduct an investigation. All 27  written requests from the Adjutants General included in the sample of  case files we analyzed included a statement that used this standardized  language and indicated that the state National Guard staff had  determined the existence of a National Guard nexus and confirmed  coordination with at least one criminal investigative organization prior to  requesting OCI’s assistance, consistent with NGB policy. However, we found that OCI’s case files do not consistently include  supporting documentation to show how the case acceptance criteria— specifically the determination of a National Guard nexus and verification  of coordination with the appropriate criminal investigative organizations— were met. Without a  requirement that supporting documentation related to the National Guard  nexus and criminal investigative organization coordination efforts is  included in each case file, OCI does not have reasonable assurance that  the cases it is investigating adequately meet the two criteria for case  acceptance. However, the  NGB does not require OCI to include supporting documentation in its  case files for verifying how state National Guard officials determined that  case acceptance criteria have been met. Recommendation for Executive Action

The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Chief of the National  Guard Bureau, in coordination with the Office of Complex Investigations,  includes a requirement in its guidance to collect and maintain supporting  documentation as part of its case files that verifies whether and how (1)  the National Guard nexus exists, and (2) the allegation has been referred  to the appropriate military criminal investigative organization or civilian  law enforcement organization prior to opening an OCI investigation.
Why GAO Did This Study

Sexual assault incidents involving military service members can devastate victims and have far reaching impacts for DOD due to the potential for these crimes to undermine the department's core values, degrade mission readiness, and raise financial costs.
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 included a provision that GAO review, among other things, the purpose and structure of OCI and its adherence to policies. This report (1) describes OCI's services and budgetary and staffing resources; and (2) evaluates OCI's policies for investigations and internal controls to ensure its policies are consistently followed. GAO analyzed OCI policy, budget, and staffing documents and interviewed OCI, DOD, Army, and Air Force officials. GAO also interviewed National Guard officials and analyzed case files for select years from a nongeneralizable sample of five states.

What GAO Found

The National Guard Bureau's (NGB) Office of Complex Investigations (OCI) was established in 2012 to conduct administrative investigations into allegations of sexual assault that are not criminal in nature and are conducted only when criminal law enforcement entities, such as military criminal investigative organizations or local civilian law enforcement, have declined or do not have jurisdiction to investigate and a National Guard nexus has been identified. Since 2013, OCI has completed approximately 380 investigations of allegations of sexual assault at the request of state National Guard officials and 5 assessments of state National Guard units to review the current culture, policies, and practices for the handling of sexual assault, among other things. State National Guard officials told GAO that OCI provides the states with an unbiased or impartial third-party review of reported incidents of sexual assault. OCI is primarily funded through amounts made available for the Sexual Assault Special Victims' Counsel Program in the Department of Defense's (DOD) annual defense-wide Operation and Maintenance appropriation. This funding has increased from approximately $1.4 million in fiscal year (FY) 2014 to almost $5 million in FY 2018; which OCI officials attributed to increasing demands for OCI's services. OCI uses trained National Guard members temporarily assigned to the office as investigators.
NGB guidance establishes OCI investigation policies and OCI has implemented controls to help ensure key policies are followed. However, OCI has inconsistently documented how case acceptance criteria have been met. GAO's analysis of a sample of 27 case files from 5 states from FY 2016 and FY 2017 found that OCI generally adhered to key investigation policies. For example, in accordance with its policies, in all 27 case files GAO reviewed, OCI had included the state National Guard's requests to initiate an OCI investigation and executive summaries explaining OCI's determination of whether or not the allegation was substantiated. Furthermore, NGB has established two case acceptance criteria—specifically that a National Guard nexus exists and that coordination with at least one criminal investigative organization occurred. According to OCI officials, state National Guard officials are to verify these criteria are met before submitting requests for OCI to initiate an investigation of sexual assault. NGB has developed a template with standardized language that includes these criteria that the states should use. While OCI's case files included the request letters with standardized language from state National Guards indicating the state National Guard staff had determined the case acceptance criteria were met, they did not consistently include supporting documentation to verify how the case acceptance criteria were met. This is because NGB policy does not require such documentation to be included in OCI's case files. Without such documentation, OCI does not have reasonable assurance that the cases it accepts for investigation adequately meet the two criteria for case acceptance.

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that DOD require OCI to include supporting documentation in case files to verify a National Guard nexus exists and referral to the appropriate law enforcement organization occurs. DOD concurred with the recommendation.