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A newly formed Department of Defense Joint Task Force for Sexual Assault Prevention and Response was set up after a report was released last April from the Department of Defense’s Task Force on Care for Victims of Sexual Assault that called for the military to do more to help sexual assault victims.
The commander of the Task Force is Brig. Gen K.C. McClain who, along with a multi-Service eight-member team with representatives from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines, will try to address the recommendations the report made for improving DoD’s handling of sexual assault.
McClain said among its first priorities is to define what constitutes sexual assault so that a consistent definition in simple terms is understood. Federal law directs DoD to have a sexual assault policy in place by early next year, and formulating and disseminating it will be a top priority for the Task Force, in addition to addressing the nine recommendations of the report.
The report released last April said the Services reported a total of 1,001 alleged sexual assaults in 2002 and 1,113 in 2003. One of the recommendations the report highlighted is a call for an integrated strategy for sexual assault data collection and the assurance that the needed financial and manpower resources are given to execute sexual assault policies.
McClain said the Task Force is committed to being responsible for establishing the single point of accountability for sexual assault issues and that the “support from [DoD] Secretary [Donald] Rumsfeld all the way through all the senior leadership in all the Services” is available to make progress in stopping sexual assault and providing better support to sexual assault victims.