Progress at academies noted

By M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Monday, March 17, 2008

A new Pentagon report cited "tremendous progress" and "robust" efforts to overcome sexual assault and sexual harassment at the nation's military service academies.

But a watchdog group expressed skepticism, saying the glowing terminology downplays issues that have persisted since an assault scandal erupted in 2003 at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

The academy drew mostly praise in the Department of Defense's annual report, which Congress mandated after investigating allegations that assault and harassment cases were mishandled, lightly punished or resulted in retaliation against accusers.

Scrutiny and reforms at the Colorado campus expanded to West Point and the U.S. Naval Academy, which also have made progress, Friday's report concluded.

"The academies have made tremendous progress over the last few years in establishing robust and effective prevention and response programs for both sexual assault and sexual harassment," the report concluded.

But Anita Sanchez, spokeswoman for The Miles Foundation, a Connecticut-based victims advocacy group, said the report downplays lingering problems, such as difficulty in tracking case data over time, confusion about incident reporting policies and how to reconcile the military justice system with civilian law enforcement practices.

"The adjectives that are used, like 'robust,' for example, we believe are an overstatement," Sanchez said.

"I think we'd have concerns about overutilizing those adjectives and overstating what has transpired."