‘Tragic and Disappointing’: Military Sexual Assault Reports Jumped 13% in Biden Administration’s First Year
The number of sexual assault cases in the military skyrocketed 13 percent in fiscal year 2021, which included eight months under the Biden administration, according to an annual report put out by the Department of Defense (DOD) this month.
According to the report, which is required annually by Congress, the DOD received 8,866 reports of sexual assault involving service members in fiscal year 2021, a 13 percent increase from 7,816 reports made in fiscal year 2020.
Since not all sexual assaults are reported, the DOD estimates that 35,875 active-duty service members experienced sexual assault in fiscal year 2021 — about 19,255 women and 16,620 men. The members most at risk were junior enlisted service members.
The number of sexual assault cases is the highest since the statistics started being tracked in 2006.
The thousands of reported sexual assault cases stand in contrast to the fewer than 100 acts of extremism in the military despite the Biden administration’s early focus on the issue.
While Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin did stand up a commission in late February 2021 on sexual assault, he first stood up a Counter Extremism Working Group and ordered a force-wide “stand-down” on extremism.
The Biden Pentagon has also punished more troops for not being fully vaccinated than for sexual assault.
The DOD took disciplinary action in 2,683 sexual assault cases in fiscal year 2021. So far, it has kicked out at least 7,444 troops in a period of about one year for not being fully vaccinated.
Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder called the increase of sexual assault cases “tragic and disappointing.”
“We can [and] will change this trajectory,” he tweeted, adding that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the DOD are “already undertaking unprecedented cultural and organizational change to directly address this problem.”
The numbers in yesterday’s report on sexual assault in the military are tragic and disappointing, but we can & will change this trajectory. In fact, @SecDef & @DeptofDefense are already undertaking unprecedented cultural and organizational change to directly address this problem.
— Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder (@PentagonPresSec) September 2, 2022
In the Army, there was a 25.6 percent increase in sexual assault cases reported, the Navy a 9.2 percent increase, the Air Force a 2.4 percent increase, and the Marine Corps a 1.7 percent increase.
The DOD report also showed that the overall rate of those who experienced sexual assault and came forward to report it has decreased compared to fiscal year 2018. In fiscal year 2021, about one in five service members reported their sexual assault to a DOD authority, down from one in three service members in fiscal years 2016 and 2018, according to the report.
The report said the DOD assesses progress with sexual assault via two primary metrics: prevalence — the estimated total of service members experiencing sexual assault, and reporting rate — the percentage of victims coming forward to report the assault. By both metrics, the Biden administration is failing.
The number of troops who said they had confidence in the military’s sexual assault response system has also plummeted. Confidence among female troops dropped from 66 percent in 2018 to only 39 percent in 2021. Confidence among male troops dropped from 82 percent to 63 percent during that same time period.
The Biden administration requested $388.2 million for all of its sexual assault prevention and response programs for fiscal year 2022 but is requesting more than double that for fiscal year 2023: $940 million.
