The Pentagon has delayed a report on the sexual assault crisis within the military after an outcry from Congress. But on Monday, the surgeon general of the United States said it was time to act more urgently.
“The situation is deteriorating. When I talk to military medical officers, if you speak to those captains, majors, captains of cadets at a major military academy, they’re not feeling safe,” Dr. Vivek Murthy said in a speech at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado.
It is unclear whether the report, called COVID-19, will be released on time, but Dr. Murthy offered a message to military chiefs that their staff were not doing enough to contain the issue.
“I think now is the time for strong leadership in our military, and that leadership has to communicate to our commanders the level of force strength that the United States military has,” he said. “And I think their responsibility is to empower our commanders.”
Dr. Murthy spoke of a “brutal epidemic” of sexual assault within the military, after speaking with military officials who reported “a crisis of victimization” to him in recent months.
“I’ve spent time with commanders, and I’ve been able to see firsthand what I’ve just described, that a robust and comprehensive sexual assault prevention and response plan, one that delivers for the survivors of sexual assault, is actually essential. And I think they have to be re-trained,” he said.
That includes commanders who have looked the other way, survivors of sexual assault have complained, saying it has hampered attempts to resolve an issue that has put so many military members at risk of being victimized.
Sexual assault in the military has been a major concern for a long time, and Congress has sponsored legislation to criminalize it, but it has not yet passed.
Dr. Murthy said he was “grateful” for the involvement of military leaders, including the Pentagon’s top brass, in drafting a preventive strategy. “I’m hopeful that you can get through it,” he said.
When he was a presidential candidate in 2014, Dr. Murthy received some support from the Clinton campaign, which took the position that he lacked the necessary background and experience to be surgeon general. He has since taken no position on President Trump’s nominee, Boris Epshteyn, who appears to have no experience in public health issues other than his oversight of the Trump hotel in Washington, D.C.