Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Tuesday evening ordered
the armed services to immediately “re-train, re-credential and re-screen” tens
of thousands of military recruiters and sexual-assault prevention officers as
the revelation of another sex-crime scandal rocked the Pentagon.
Hagel’s
order came in response to the Army’s disclosure Tuesday that a sergeant first
class responsible for handling sexual-assault cases at Fort Hood, Tex., had been
placed under criminal investigation over allegations of abusive sexual contact
and other related matters.
Investigators
are also scrutinizing allegations that the sergeant may have forced a
subordinate into prostitution, according to a U.S. official familiar with the
case.
The
Army investigation comes just 10 days after a lieutenant colonel who led the Air
Force’s sexual-assault prevention programswas arrested in Arlington County on charges that he groped
and battered a woman in a parking lot. That incident, along with fresh
statistics showing that sex crimes have become endemic in the military, sparked
a furious response from lawmakers on Capitol Hill and President Obama.
Hagel
warned last week that the military’s ability to recruit and perform its missions
was becoming endangered by deepening public perceptions that the armed forces
are unable or unwilling to cope with a sexual-assault crisis in the ranks. The
latest embarrassment only made him more angry, Pentagon officials said.
“I
cannot convey strongly enough his frustration, anger and disappointment over
these troubling allegations and the breakdown in discipline and standards they
imply,” said George Little, the Pentagon press secretary.
Defense
officials said Hagel learned of the Army investigation Tuesday morning from Army
Secretary John McHugh. But the Pentagon did not publicly disclose the case until
Tuesday evening, several hours after Hagel appeared at a town hall meeting for
Defense Department employees at the Mark Center in Alexandria.
Neither
the Pentagon nor the Army identified the sergeant because no charges have been
filed. Special agents from the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command are probing
allegations that the sergeant first class mistreated subordinates, committed
assault and abusive sexual contact, and engaged in pandering, the Pentagon said
in a statement.
Officials
said the noncommissioned officer had been suspended from duties as an
“equal-opportunity adviser” and sexual-harassment and assault prevention officer
at Fort Hood, one of the Army’s biggest installations. The Pentagon did not
disclose when the allegations first came to light or how many victims may have
been involved.
Reaction
from lawmakers was swift and livid.
“Tragically,
the depth of the sexual-assault problem in our military was already
overwhelmingly clear before this latest highly disturbing report,” said Sen.
Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He
said lawmakers would push ahead with a number of measures to address sexual
assault in the armed forces, including changes to military
law.
