Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley speak to press during a briefing at the Pentagon, May 6, 2021.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley speak to press during a briefing at the Pentagon, May 6, 2021. DOD photo / Staff Sgt. Jackie Sanders

Army Reorganizes Investigations Office After Fort Hood Review; Austin, Milley Signal More Changes

The service will remove harassment investigations from units, but keep them within the military ranks. Is that enough?

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin signaled Thursday he would support changing how the military handles sexual assault cases, but wouldn’t say whether he’ll accept a panel’s recommendation to remove investigations from the ranks. Meanwhile, Army officials announced their own changes intended to improve how some cases are investigated, including placing a civilian director atop the service’s investigative command.

At a Pentagon press conference, both Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley acknowledged that the current approach, in which unit commanders decide whether a case has merit to be prosecuted, hasn’t always worked. 

“We’ve done things a certain way for awhile, and I think, you know, we really need to kind of broaden our horizons and begin to look at things differently, and be willing to take different paths to improve things,” Austin said. 

The service chiefs and secretaries are currently weighing the Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault panel’s initial recommendation to send such cases to a proposed civilian-led office. They are to provide feedback to Austin. 

However, at least one of the services has already announced an alternative fix: A new policy directive signed Wednesday by acting Army Secretary John Whitley requires that sexual harassment investigations be handled by officers outside of the alleged harasser’s brigade, effective immediately. However, the unit commander will still choose whether to designate an investigator.

“Effective immediately, if sufficient information exists to permit the initiation of an investigation, commanders will appoint investigating officers from outside the subject’s assigned brigade-sized element to conduct sexual harassment investigations,” the Army announced. 

The Army’s changes also require that within six hours of a sexual assault or sexual harassment complaint, a colonel in the chain of command of the accused person must inform that soldier’s commander to issue a Military Protective Order if it is warranted, and the installation must file the order with the National Crime Information Center.

Last, the Army’s changes direct that brigade commanders must inform sexual assault victims within two business days of the final outcome of any judicial, non-judicial, or administrative proceedings.

On Thursday, Milley, who has previously supported keeping investigations within the chain of command, said his thinking changed after seeing internal military data on the lack of trust in reporting.

“We the chain of command, we the generals, the colonels, the captains and so on - we have lost the trust and confidence of those subordinates in our ability to deal with sexual assault, so we need to make a change,” Milley said. 

The independent review panel has recommended that the defense secretary transfer decision-making authority for special victims crimes from commanders to independent judge advocates, who would be responsible for determining whether to charge a suspect with a crime, and whether that charge should be tried at court-martial. These independent judge advocates would report to a civilian-led Office of the Chief Special Victim Prosecutor. 

The Army’s changes, which were announced just before Austin and Miley’s press conference, were established in response to the Fort Hood Independent Review it undertook in the wake of the death of Spc. Vanessa Guillén.

The attorney for Guillén’s family said the Army’s announced changes don’t go far enough. 

“The only way to protect our soldiers and gain trust is through the I Am Vanessa Guillén bill, otherwise we will continue to see the same problems but with a different dressing,” attorney Natalie Khawam told Defense One.

A second bill, the Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act that was introduced by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., may already have enough bipartisan support to pass the Senate. It would also remove investigations from the military’s chain of command. 

The Army also announced Thursday that it would split up responsibilities of the general officer who is simultaneously the Army’s provost marshal and the CID commanding general, jobs currently held by Maj. Gen. Donna Martin, who led the restructuring effort.

The restructuring atop the Army’s criminal investigation command was also in response to the Fort Hood Independent Review Committee.

The service will instead hire a civilian with criminal investigative experience to become the CID director and lead the command. They will initially report to the under secretary of the Army, according to the statement. 

The Army said under the restructuring, CID will have more civilian criminal investigators than military special agents  to increase unit experience levels and maintain continuity and partnerships with local law enforcement agencies.

Fort Hood, Fort Bragg, and Fort Carson will be the first posts to implement the CID reorganization, which will be done in phases. 

The restructure will “carry [CID] through the 21st Century” and help its mission to protect people, CID spokesman Chris Grey said in a statement Thursday. 

“This comprehensive restructuring will result in an organization with enhanced capabilities, investigative stability and capacity, organized with and led by civilian and military agents, military officers, and enlisted soldiers,” he said. 

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.