House won’t consider proposed National Guard sexual harassment panel

Sexual harassment within the United States military is an ongoing issue that has resulted in many committees, reports and action plans being crafted to try and assess the problem and provide better avenues for victims to report the crimes.

According to data from the 2016 Department of Defense Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program Annual Report, 129,000 service members (including 25 percent of women and about 6 percent of men) “faced severe and persistent sexual harassment or gender discrimination in 2016.” The report further states that the majority of sexual harassment victims were victimized by someone within their chain of command.

Representative Camille Vella-Wilkinson (D-21 District, Warwick), a 20-year veteran of the United States Navy and former veterans liaison, said that she believes the problem is also occurring within the ranks of the Rhode Island National Guard.

In response to the claims she has heard, she proposed a resolution to set up a five-person panel to investigate sexual harassment claims within the Rhode Island National Guard – consisting of two members of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, a member of the Attorney General’s office and two civilians (one new-era veteran, who served in either Iraq or Afghanistan, and a former judge advocate general).

On Wednesday, however, it was reported that the resolution will not make it to the House floor.

Vella-Wilkinson said Representative Samuel Azzinaro (D-37th district, Westerly), who chairs the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, indicated that it would be in the best interest of the state to allow the National Guard to continue to abide by their own policies regarding sexual harassment within their ranks.

Brigadier General Christopher Callahan, Adjutant General and Commander of the Rhode Island National Guard, testified before the Veterans’ Affairs Committee on June 20 in response to testimony heard last month from military members that described incidents of sexual misconduct and harassment.

“Since my tenure began in August 2015, our team has been purposeful and intentional with efforts to eradicate behavior not consistent with our values,” Callahan said. “The bottom line is that the Rhode Island National Guard must be intensively inhospitable to sexual misconduct of any type; and ladies gentlemen, I believe we are.”

Callahan reported that one incident of sexual harassment was reported through the Equal Opportunity Survey during his tenure, that the complaint was verified and “the perpetrator was reduced in rank and I terminated their military service.”

Callahan said that, in response to “disconcerting feedback” from members of the Air National Guard, he requested the National Guard Bureau’s Office of Complex Investigations to conduct a command climate assessment in August of 2016. On June 9, 2017 he received the results of that report, which indicated, “…the 143rd Airlift Wing was at or above the service average. Most members had a high degree of morale and had a high level of confidence in their leadership.”

Callahan stressed that the Rhode Island National Guard’s response policy was “victim centric” and that they are unable to provide details of specific statistics and cases regarding sexual misconduct because it could compromise their ability to protect victims and investigate the claims.

According to the testimony, the Rhode Island National Guard employs two full-time Sexual Assault Response Coordinators (SARCs) “whose primary role is prevention through education and rapid response,” and who oversee 17 trained “Victim Advocates, who provide first-response support to victims by guiding them to immediately available resources.”

“I want to emphasize that the key strength of our Sexual Assault Prevention and Response program is the confidentially that potential victims expect will be provided; and hope that this committee understands that a breach of that confidence can undermine a model program that prioritizes the needs of the victim,” he said.

Vella-Wilkinson admitted in an interview on Tuesday that she was only “hearing one side of the story” in reports she had received, and that the panel was strictly intended to be a “fresh set of eyes” to investigate sexual harassment claims within the National Guard.

The panel would have taken testimony and provided analysis of sexual harassment claims. After deliberating, they would then provide recommendations to the House Oversight Committee and to the National Guard on how to improve their policies. The panel would not have been involved in investigating sexual trauma cases (which include violent crimes such as sexual assault), as those investigations are conducted by local law enforcement.

Vella-Wilkinson said that sexual harassment in the military has been an area of concern of hers since she helped craft training programs while in the Navy to help officers identify and prevent such behavior within their ranks. She claimed to have heard “at least a dozen” different complaints regarding the Rhode Island National Guard during her time as a city councilor in Warwick, and more since becoming a representative.

She gave examples of a woman who had been deployed in Iraq who was repeatedly harassed and assaulted by her superior officer, who would leave violent bite marks on her and would say that “he was the one keeping her alive and out of combat,” and force her to tell him that she enjoyed the interactions. Vella-Wilkinson said the woman wound up with severe health complications as a result.

Another incident allegedly happened within a bathroom at a state National Guard facility, when a civilian woman stopped to visit a family member. She was using the restroom when a man allegedly entered the women’s room and began to urinate in the stall next to her, which alarmed the woman.

“It sets a tone. You’re being dismissive of the women there,” said Vella-Wilkinson. “It is someone who feels they have the right to do and go whatever they want to, with no consideration for women whatsoever. It’s a prevailing attitude unfortunately.”

When she was approached by victims inquiring what they should do about their plight, Vella-Wilkinson said that she always recommended trying to report the incidents through the normal chain of command. However, as the Department of Defense’s own report shows, the chain of command is not an infallible safeguard against such behavior.

“I believe in the system, I absolutely do,” she said. “But if somebody has lost faith in the chain of command, if they feel that it’s only going to be addressed at a certain level and, depending upon who the bad actor is, if it’s going to be suppressed, that’s not good for anyone.”