Pentagon seeks to crack down on sex assaults in military
(Reuters) The military will ramp up efforts to combat sexual assault in the ranks, a crime the secretary of defense decried as a stain on the honor of troops and one the Pentagon suspects is vastly underreported.
Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said the military received 3,191 reports of sexual assault in fiscal 2011, up slightly from 3,158 the year before. But this is a very underreported crime, he said, and officials estimate the true number is closer to 19,000 assaults.
Sexual assault has no place in the military, Panetta said, according to a Pentagon transcript of the briefing.
It is an affront to the basic American values we defend, and it is a stain on the good honor of the great majority of our troops and their and our families, Panetta said.
More at: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/18/pentagon-seeks-to-crack-down-on-sex-assaults-in-military/