November 18, 2015

Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter
1400 Defense Pentagon

Washington, DC 20301-1400

​

Dear Secretary Carter:

​

I hope that you are doing well. My name is Catherine Livingston, and I am a student of psychology at The University of Michigan. I am writing in regards to the issue of military sexual assault.

​

On April 2, 2015 you addressed the epidemic of military sexual assault in a message released on the Department of Defense’s website. You wrote, “It is the responsibility of every servicemember to help make our military the last place a sexual offender wants to be. Together, we must assure an environment where sexual assault is neither condoned nor ignored; we must reinforce a culture of prevention, accountability, dignity, and respect throughout our ranks; and we must advocate for and staunchly support all who courageously report this crime[1].”

To be clear, I agree wholeheartedly with every word of your statement. It is the responsibility of every servicemember to safeguard the military from sexual assault. We must create a culture of prevention, accountability, and respect. And most importantly, we must advocate for and support the victims of rape in the military. However, where we disagree is how exactly to achieve these goals.

​

Attached you will find an NPR podcast I scripted and recorded. The podcast, as a part of NPR’s All Things Considered program, details how and why the current investigational system deprives military sexual assault survivors of their constitutional rights. In a system where the commander is the sole decision maker over whether a case moves forward, victims are denied their rights to procedural due process. They are denied both their rights to equal protection and their basic first amendment rights to freedom of speech.

​

In the attached podcast I evidence the blatant culture of tolerance for military sexual assault by providing statistics and personal anecdotes. Towards the end of the podcast I make an argument for the support of Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s proposed legislation, the Military Justice Improvement Act. Sen. Gillibrand’s legislature, as I’m sure you are familiar with, moves to take the decision-making authority of whether to prosecute crimes from biased hands and give it to independent, trained, professional military prosecutors.

​

The goal of my podcast is threefold. One, is to simply raise awareness. I want to penetrate the general American public with the all too commonplace story of rape and injustice in the military. Sexual assault survivors suffer in the shadow of the pedestal on which our armed forces stand; it is time to shed light on this suffering. Two, to galvanize my listeners into political action. At the end of the podcast I encourage the American public to visit www.NotInvisble.org and sign the petition in support of Sen. Gillibrand’s proposal. I also offer the option of donating to Artemis Recovery Program, a program created to aid military sexual trauma survivors. And three, I want my podcast to serve as a humble gesture of solidarity for survivors of military sexual assault. If only one survivor hears my voice and feels a little less alone in her struggle, then I know my efforts were not in vain.

​

However, the comfort of one survivor is not enough. We must support every survivor in his or her tragedy. The only way to do that is to enact a change in procedure or infrastructure. And that change in procedure needs to reduce the occurrence of sexual assaults, encourage victims to come forward and ensure justice when they do.  

​

The simple fact of the matter is, survivors of military sexual assault lack confidence and trust in military jurisprudence. This lack of confidence dissuades them from coming forth with reports. If these victims do decide to come forth with their reports, they face the inevitability of professional backlash. They must either sacrifice their careers they had worked so hard to earn, or their basic human dignity.  This sacrifice has serious long-term mental, emotional and physical consequences.

​

As the Secretary of Defense, it is your duty to ensure that the protectors of our nation receive protection themselves. I want you to meet with Senator Gillibrand before the end of the calendar year to discuss the Military Justice Improvement Act. I want you to keep an open mind and engage in a productive discourse with Sen. Gillibrand. If after this discussion you still staunchly oppose transferring the decision power to prosecute crimes over to independent, trained prosecutors then I want you to draft an alternative change to the procedure of reporting assault.

 

Because Secretary Carter, while well-intentioned, your efforts heretofore have been directionless and utterly unproductive. The victims of sexual assault need real change. And they need it now because 52 unwanted sexual contacts occur every day on average across the military[2]. Ideally, you will come to see that Sen. Gillibrand’s bill is the best method of pushing back against military sexual assault. Ideally, you will draft a speech in support of MJIA and deliver it to a senate hearing in January of 2016. Your support is imperative in loosening the filibuster that has been blocking this important piece of legislation from being passed. And finally, ideally MJIA will pass into law and this culture of sexual assault, fear and helplessness will fade slowly into the past. Thank you for your time.

​

, Sincerely

​

Catherine Livingston, Student, The University of Michigan, 500 S. State St, Ann Arbor, MI 48109

​

Enclosures: 1

 

​

​

 

[1] United States Department of Defense. (02 Apr 2015). Message on Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention

Month. [Press release]. Retrieved from http://archive.defense.gov/Speeches/Speech.aspx?SpeechID=1928

[2] Gillibrand, Kirsten. "Comprehensive Resource Center for the Military Justice Improvement Act.” Gillibrand

Senate. Web. 14 November 2015  <http://www.gillibrand.senate.gov/mjia>