2003 US Air Force Academy sexual assault scandal

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The Air Force Academy sexual assault scandal began with an anonymous email on January 2, 2003 to the Secretary of the Air Force, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Senator Wayne Allard, Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, other U.S. Congressmen, and media representatives. The e-mail asserted there was a significant sexual assault problem at the United States Air Force Academy that had been ignored by the Academy’s leadership. The Secretary immediately directed the General Counsel of the U.S. Air Force (SAF/GC) to establish a high-level Working Group to review cadet complaints concerning the Academy’s program of deterrence and response to sexual assault. The Secretary also tasked the Working Group to review allegations of sexual assault reported from January 1993 through December 2002. The Secretary subsequently directed the U.S. Air Force Inspector General to review individual U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) cases and to investigate cadet complaints concerning the alleged mishandling of sexual assault cases. In due course these investigations were carried out and a report issued on September 14, 2004, [Summary of report, pdf file].

The problem of sexual assault is present at the other U.S. service academies, at other colleges and universities, and in the U.S. Military as a whole. This instance was noteworthy in its institutional prevalence and in the fact that the administration of the Academy preferred to vilify the female victims and not their male attackers. Many of the male cadets involved were allowed to graduate "with honor," despite multiple accusations.

Background

President Gerald R. Ford signed legislation October 7, 1975, permitting women to enter the military academies. Women entered the United States Air Force Academy for the first time on June 28, 1976. The first class with women graduated in May 1980, and were nicknamed "80's Ladies".

Twelve percent of the women who graduated from the Air Force Academy in 2003 reported that they were victims of rape or attempted rape while at the Academy.¹ It is estimated that about 20 percent of all women students were victims; few of the alleged attackers have graduated, despite insufficient evidence for courts martial. Sexual predation was mainly directed toward freshmen and sophomores who were under 21 and blackmailed after accepting alcohol from upperclass cadets. Women who complained were generally pushed or counciled out of the academy, ostensibly for alcohol abuse and fraternization which led to the situation in which rapes occurred. This situation is thought to have been generally known among the leadership of the United States Air Force, but little has been done until recently to correct the situation or to discipline officers in leadership positions at the Academy^{2 3}; those that have been disciplined have often been scapegoats, including a Colonel who was forced into retirement despite having been assigned to the Air Force Academy for only two months, well after the rapes occurred. While this culture of sexual abuse does represent a significant stain on the honor and reputation of the Academy, it is important to note that the occurrence of rape was not necessarily disproportionately greater than that at other colleges and universities [link].

In more recent years, however (beginning specifically in the spring semester of 2003), new leadership was instated at the Academy, and began sweeping changes to the Academy culture and environment in order to correct these problems and ensure that they will not happen again. Specifically new sexual assault reporting procedures have been produced, alongside new mandatory reporting procedures, as part of an "Agenda for Change" program.

A confidential survey of 4200 cadets and midshipmen, all of the women and about 1000 men, at US military academies conducted by the Defense Department in the spring of 2004 revealed 302 claims of sexual assault by women of which only one third had been officially reported. Taking this data into consideration, on March 18, 2005 a new policy was announced for all US military academies which would permit a victim of sexual assault to seek counseling and medical care confidentially without triggering the disciplinary process. This policy, it is hoped, will increase the percentage of sexual assaults which are reported and increase the willingness of victims to seek assistance. Military commanders would receive notice of the request for help but not the identity of the victim thus providing them with more accurate information. Hopes were expressed that the new policy, by giving more control over the situation to victims, would also result in more official reporting through disciplinary channels⁴.

On March 26, 2005 it was reported in the combined weekend edition of the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post that acting Secretary of the Air Force, Peter B. Teets had recommended in a memo to Donald Rumsfeld, Defense Secretary that former commanders and other Air Force officers, now mostly retired, who were implicated in the sexual assault scandal by the inspection by the Inspector General's Office and the Fowler Commission not be prosecuted as they had "acted in good faith" and "were not intentionally or willfully derelict in their duties" as they attempted to deal with the sexual assault issue. Continuing, Teets wrote, "Moreover, any mistakes or misjudgments some of them may have made are mitigated by the complexity of the issues they faced, the necessity of policy trade-offs and compromises, and the difficulty of measuring program effectiveness." "The record of missed warning signs is disturbing, but these officers acted in good faith to discharge their responsibilities to act in the cadet's best interests by taking bold steps to deter sexual assaults and implement effective reporting procedures." "Given their uniform excellent and long service to the Air Force and their country, I have determined that taking the highly unusual step of imposing disciplinary action against these retired members under these circumstances is not warranted."

Teets's memo was forwarded to Congress over the Easter weekend, but despite the congressional recess was met with dismay by the office of Senator Wayne Allard, Senior Republican Senator from Colorado and Representative Louise Slaughter, Democrat of New York who have led congressional inquiries into the scandal. Concern was also expressed by Kate Summers of the victims rights group Miles Foundation.

References and external links

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