Defense Secretary supports taking decision to prosecute sexual assault cases out of chain of command
CBSN
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will recommend to President Biden that decisions to prosecute cases of sexual assault should be taken out of the chain of command. Austin's recommendation comes amid increasing pressure from Congress to overhaul the system for addressing sexual assault in the military.
"We will work with Congress to amend the Uniform Code of Military Justice, removing the prosecution of sexual assaults and related crimes from the military chain of command," Austin said in a statement. He is set to testify Wednesday before the House Armed Services Committee. He said he will also support the inclusion of other special victims' crimes inside this independent prosecution system, including domestic violence, because of the correlation between these crimes and sexual assault.Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.