Biden backs changes in military sexual assault prosecution

President Joe Biden on Friday put his stamp of approval on a long-debated change to the military justice system that would remove decisions on prosecuting sexual assault cases from military commanders.

Biden, however, is stopping short of backing a congressional effort to strip commanders of oversight of all major crimes.

The president formally approved more than two dozen recommendations made by an independent review commission on sexual assault in the military. The changes include a call to shift prosecution decisions on sexual assault cases to special victims’ prosecutors outside of the chain of command and to remove the military’s sexual assault response coordinators and victims advocates from the command structure system.

“I look forward to working with Congress to implement these necessary reforms and promote a work environment that is free from sexual assault and harassment for every one of our brave service members,” Biden said in a statement endorsing the recommendations by the commission.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., had the support of 66 senators for a bill that would have independent prosecutors handle felonies that call for more than a year in prison. But other key lawmakers and leaders of the military services have balked at including all major crimes. There are concerns that stripping control of all crimes from commanders could hurt military readiness, erode command authority and require far more time and resources.

Biden hailed Gillibrand’s work on the issue. But Biden asked the commission to focus only on addressing the problems of sexual assault and harassment in the military, said a senior administration official who was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The president’s embrace of removing military commanders from oversight of sexual assault had been widely expected.

Last month, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, for the first time, voiced support for taking those sexual assault and related crimes away from the chain of command and letting independent military lawyers handle them.

He issued a memo to Pentagon leadership Friday directing they immediately move on the commissions recommendation on removing the prosecution of sexual assault and related crimes from the chain of command and also adding sexual harassment as an offense under military law.

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