Veterans for Common Sense

A message from Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton

May 17, 2005

Mr. Seth Pollack
Chairman of the Board
Veterans for Common Sense
1101 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE
Washington, D.C.  20003

Dear Mr. Pollack:

I am pleased to announce that the Senate Armed Services Committee approved a
provision to make sure that wounded soldiers – including active duty,
National Guard members and Reservists – do not lose their combat pay
allowance while they are in hospital.

It is unacceptable that our service members can lose their combat pay while
they are recovering. They have put their lives on the line for us. The last
thing we should be doing is placing an intolerable burden on their families
in return for their sacrifice.

This provision is especially important to our Guard members and Reservists
who have often sacrificed their steady income as private citizens to serve
in the military.  I am pleased that the Senate Armed Services has passed
this provision so that we can stop this practice and give our service
members and their families the support they deserve. I hope the full Senate
follows suit. 

Under current law, when a soldier is sent to a military hospital in the
United States, they lose their combat pay allowance after 90 days. The new
provision, approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee as part of the FY
2006 Department of Defense (DOD) Authorization bill, allows wounded
servicemembers to continue to receive combat pay as long as they are
hospitalized.

I have made the treatment of wounded soldiers one of my top priorities.  I
raised the issue at a hearing of the Armed Services Committee last month
where I won agreement from the Secretaries of the Armed Services to address
the issue of wounded troops’ pay and obtained a pledge from each of them to
make sure that wounded Guard members and reservists would not lose their
combat pay allowance while they are in a military hospital.

I have also co-sponsored legislation with Senator Jay Rockefeller requiring
that a member of the uniformed services who is wounded or otherwise injured
while serving in a combat zone continue to be paid monthly military pay and
allowances while injured.  The bill would also continue the combat zone tax
exclusion for the servicemember during their recovery period.

Sincerely yours,
Hillary Rodham Clinton
http://clinton.senate.gov

Heated criticism was growing last night over ‘double standards’ by Washington over human rights, democracy and ‘freedom’ as fresh evidence emerged of just how brutally Uzbekistan, a US ally in the ‘war on terror’, put down Friday’s unrest in the east of the country.

Outrage among human rights groups followed claims by the White House on Friday that appeared designed to justify the violence of the regime of President Islam Karimov, claiming – as Karimov has – that ‘terrorist groups’ may have been involved in the uprising.

Critics said the US was prepared to support pro-democracy unrest in some states, but condemn it in others where such policies were inconvenient.

Witnesses and analysts familiar with the region said most protesters were complaining about government corruption and poverty, not espousing Islamic extremism.

The US comments were seized on by Karimov, who said yesterday that the protests were organised by Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamic group often accused by Tashkent of seditious extremism. Yet Washington, which has expressed concern over the group’s often hardline message, has yet to designate it a terrorist group.

Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, tried to deflect accusations of the contradictory stance when he said it was clear the ‘people of Uzbekistan want to see a more representative and democratic government. But that should come through peaceful means, not through violence.’

Washington has often been accused of being involved in a conspiracy of silence over Uzbekistan’s human rights record since that country was declared an ally in the ‘war on terror’ in 2001.

Uzbekistan is believed to be one of the destination countries for the highly secretive ‘renditions programme’, whereby the CIA ships terrorist suspects to third-party countries where torture is used that cannot be employed in the US. Newspaper reports in America say dozens of suspects have been transferred to Uzbek jails.

The CIA has never officially commented on the programme. But flight logs obtained by the New York Times earlier this month show CIA-linked planes landing in Tashkent with the same serial numbers as jets used to transfer prisoners around the world. The logs show at least seven flights from 2002 to late 2003, originating from destinations in the Middle East and Europe.

Other countries used in the programme include Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Morocco. A handful of prisoners’ accounts – including that of Canadian Maher Arar – that emerged after release show they were tortured and abused in custody.

Critics say the US double standards are evident on the State Department website, which accuses Uzbek police and security services of using ‘torture as a routine investigation technique’ while giving the same law enforcement services $79 million in aid in 2002. The department says officers who receive training are vetted to ensure they have not tortured anyone.

The aid paradox was highlighted by the former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, who criticised coalition support for Uzbekistan when they were planning invading Iraq, using similar abuses as justification.

Murray said yesterday: ‘The US will claim that they are teaching the Uzbeks less repressive interrogation techniques, but that is basically not true. They help fund the budget of the Uzbek security services and give tens of millions of dollars in military support. It is a sweetener in the agreement over which they get their air base.’

Murray said that during a series of suicide bombings in Tashkent in March 2004, before he was sacked as UK ambassador, he was shown transcripts of telephone intercepts in which known al-Qaeda representatives were asking each other ‘what the hell was going on. But then Colin Powell came out and said that al-Qaeda were behind the blasts. I don’t think the US even believe their own propaganda.’

The support continues, seen by many as a ‘pay-off’ for the Khanabad base. The US Embassy website says Uzbekistan got $10m for ‘security and law enforcement support’ in 2004.

Last year Human Rights Watch released a 319-page report detailing the use of torture by Uzbekistan’s security services. It said the government was carrying out a campaign of torture and intimidation against Muslims that had seen 7,000 people imprisoned, and documented at least 10 deaths, including Muzafar Avozov, who was boiled to death in 2002.

‘Torture is rampant,’ the reported concluded. Human Rights Watch called for the US and its allies to condemn Uzbekistan’s tactics.

Allegations of Kidnap in Controversial Army Recruiting Incident

May 5, 2005

Re: Army Recruitment Malfeasance

Dear Congressman Howard Berman,

We are writing on behalf of our friend Maria Iris and her son, Ever Jandres. We have known this family for over 10 years. Ms. Iris does not speak English. Ms. Iris is extremely distressed over what she describes as the dishonest and completely aggressive behavior by army recruiter Jesus Lopez in his effort to enlist her son against her wishes. She reports that both she and her son were directly lied to by army recruiter Jesus Lopez. Thus far, she has been completely stonewalled by the recruitment office in her many efforts to get information regarding her son and his current whereabouts.

What we know:

1) Both Ms. Iris and her son Ever Jandres are from El Salvador. Both have green cards as reported in the enclosed Case Work application.

2) Ms. Iris lost one son in a traffic accident several years ago.

3) Ever Jandres is an affable, eager to please 24 year old who is learning disabled and probably has a borderline low IQ. His mother reports that he suffered from epileptic seizures from toddler hood to the onset of adolescence. He and his mother are extremely close and depend on each other.

4) For the last several weeks, Ever has been frequently solicited both at home and at his work (a Chevron gas station) by army recruiter Staff Sergeant Jesus Lopez Febo. Ms. Iris thinks that they went together to the bank, and also for a medical examination.

5) Ever kept referring to the recruiter as his “friend”.

6) Ms. Iris clearly tried to discourage the recruiter, the recruiter continued to go to Ever’s work place.

7) Last week, according to Ms. Iris, The recruiter invited Ever to go to Arizonafor 3 days to observe basic training. The recruiter promised directly to both Ms. Iris and Ever that he would be home by Friday, April 22, so that he could go to work that evening. Mrs. Iris still did not agree.

8) The recruiter came to pick up Ever at 4:00am, and told him not to wake up his mother. He did sign a paper at that time – but he thought that he was giving permission to go to Arizonafor 3 days.

9) Ever did not show up on Friday. He called home on Sunday, April 24 in a hysterical state, saying that he was not in Arizona, but was sent to South Carolina, and that they would not let him leave, nor speak on the phone for more than a minute.

10) All efforts to contactthe recruiter were fruitless. Several family members tried to speak to the recruitment office and were told that they could not be given any information. I (Allan Phillips) also called and was told the head of the recruiting office would call me back. He never did.

11) Finally, Ms. Iris herself went in person to the office. She also was told that they could not give her any information. She forced her way into the office of the Station Commander, Sergeant First Class Todd A. Pooler. He finally told her that Ever was enlisted properly, never lied to (her word against theirs) and that the recruiter, Jesus Lopez would not be allowed to speak with her, and had gone back to school.

12) This Sunday, May 1, Ever was able to make another 30 second phone call. He was finally able to tell his parents that had been sent to Fort Jackson in South Carolina. He continues to sound very agitated and terrified, does not understand why he is in this predicament, and continues to state that he was lied to. The family related that they understood him to be under some form of punishment at the army facility.

Needless to say, as U.S.citizens both my wife and I are alarmed and upset at the actions of this Army recruitment office. We are also at a loss as to how to rectify and assist this poor family in their current situation. They and their son have been victimized by the Army recruiter and the U.S. Army seems to have colluded in this.

Attached please find a recent article from the New York Times, which has documented many other similar cases. Clearly this is an insidious activity which has received “tacit” approval by the U.S. Army.

Congressman Berman, we appreciate any help you or your office can provide. Obviously time is of the essence.

Sincerely,

Allan and Abbie Phillips

abbiephillips@adelphia.net

VA chief is asked to review hospital

The request comes after a paralyzed Marine is injured at the James Haley VA Medical Center in Tampa.

TAMPA – A week after a paralyzed Marine was injured at the James A. Haley VA Medical Center, Rep. C.W. Bill Young has asked the head of Veterans Affairs to review the quality of medical care at the hospital.

A quick look at the HIPPA compliance check list, The use of electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI) requires strict compliance with HIPAA standards and regulations. Companies that work closely with medical records such as law offices and insurance companies need to be especially aware of how they handle sensitive information. In 2012, the CDC reported invasive Staphylococcus aureus infections among patients in an Arizona Pain Management clinic and an Orthopedic Clinic in Delaware.

Young, a member of the Subcommittee on Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs, has asked Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson to visit Haley.

Nicholson was receptive to the invitation, Young said, but no date has been set.

This is not the first time the quality of care at Haley has raised questions. Last December, then-VA Secretary Anthony Principi asked the VA inspector general to investigate the mysterious death of a 21-year-old Marine at Haley.

The most recent case involves Cpl. Visnu “Gonzo” Gonzalez, 22, of the Dominican Republic, who must use a lightweight folding electric wheelchair and is a patient at the hospital’s Spinal Cord Injury Center. Most people who use wheelchairs face the difficulty of climbing stairs since they are seated on the wheel chairs. They also find it difficult to go over a platform due to the upward slope that they will have to drive over. Wheelchair users also experience problems when getting down or stepping inside a car or when they go to a building that does not have a ramp. It is for such difficult situations that Portable wheelchair ramps were devised and are found to be most useful for the people who use wheelchairs. These portable rampe pmr are designed in such a way that the wheelchair can be suitably adjusted by the users to use the steps up and down while being seated on the wheelchair.

When you go on to choose a portable ramp for yourself or for someone who necessitates it, you must consider a number of important factors that will help the user to effectively use the portable wheelchair. The weight of the person would be one of the most important factors. The wheelchair must be chosen such that the weight of the person can be withheld by the wheelchair ramp without leading to any deformation. Another important factor is the durability offered by the material used in making the wheelchair. Priority can also be given in choosing a portable wheelchair ramp made of particularly strong materials for a safer use. Of the many materials used for making portable wheelchairs ramps, the ones that are most commonly used are steel, wood and aluminum. Hospital portable wheelchair ramp are to be bought with care keeping in mind the weight capacity that keeps varying depending on the patients and the width requirements in certain cases. The best portable wheelchair ramps are the ones which are designed to have the capacity to help serve all types of wheelchairs, regardless of the size. It must also bear all types of weights of the wheelchair and have a reliable and smooth platform.

He was injured last week after he was left alone to use the bathroom, his mother, Maria Baez, said Thursday. Gonzalez, who is paralyzed from the waist down, was knocked unconscious after he fell to the floor and hit his face, his mother said.

Baez said doctors told her Gonzalez was out for 20 minutes before hospital staff discovered him.

Gonzalez, who was injured by a sniper with a shot to the neck in Iraq, was admitted to the hospital in late March with a bedsore, Baez said.

She said that before the accident, he had been feeling well and had been in good spirits. After the accident, she said he could not talk, did not recognize anybody and could not follow instructions. He was admitted into the intensive care unit.

“I was crying. I was upset. I was shocked,” Baez said. “I was scared.”

Gonzalez has since regained his faculties, and is back in a private room at the Spinal Cord Injury Center for treatment of the bedsore, his mother said.

The VA issued a statement Thursday that it specifically has tailored for the St. Petersburg Times on any subject that deals with veterans.

“We welcome any opportunity to discuss the quality of care provided by our VA medical centers,” said John Pickens, VA regional spokesman. “We will not, however, continue to work with a journalist or news outlet whose agenda precludes fair and balanced reporting.”

Baez said that overall the quality of care at Haley has been good, and she praised her son’s doctors. Some injuries need physical therapy to recover early and well, refer to this site for additional information about physical therapy.

At the same time, she said she fears some hospital staff resent her relationship with Young and his wife, Beverly. The Youngs have gained national prominence as advocates of quality medical care for veterans, especially troops injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Young has said he requested assignment to the Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs Subcommittee to better monitor the quality of care of veterans.

In an interview earlier in the week, Young said he extended an invitation to Nicholson, the VA secretary, to visit Haley. “I told him to get to Tampa because I told him about the Gonzo situation,” he said.

Last December, Principi asked the VA inspector general to investigate the mysterious death of Lance Cpl. Jonathan E. Gadsden, 21.

The Hillsborough County Medical Examiner said the cause of death was bacterial meningitis due to an open-skull fracture. His family said Gadsden had not been diagnosed with meningitis at Haley before his death.

The CIA has so far refused to hand over control of Iraq’s intelligence service to the newly elected Iraqi government in a turf war that exposes serious doubts the Bush administration has over the ability of Iraqi leaders to fight the insurgency and worries about the new government’s close ties to Iran.

The director of Iraq’s secret police, a general who took part in a failed coup attempt against Saddam Hussein, was handpicked and funded by the U.S. government, and he still reports directly to the CIA, Iraqi politicians and intelligence officials in Baghdad said last week. Immediately after the elections in January, several Iraqi officials said, U.S. forces stashed the sensitive national intelligence archives of the past year inside American headquarters in Baghdad in order to keep them off-limits to the new government.

Iraqi leaders complain that the arrangement violates their sovereignty, freezes them out of the war on insurgents and could lead to the formation of a rival, Iraqi-led spy agency. American officials counter that the new leaders’ connections to Iran have forced them to take measures that protect Iraq’s secrets from the neighboring Tehran regime.

The dispute also highlights the failure of the Bush administration to establish a Western-leaning, secular government in Baghdad following the 2003 invasion.

The Iraqi intelligence service “is not working for the Iraqi government – it’s working for the CIA,” said Hadi al Ameri, an Iraqi lawmaker and commander of the Badr Brigade, formerly the armed wing of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. SCIRI is the driving force behind the powerful Shiite coalition that swept the parliamentary elections.

“I prefer to call it the American Intelligence of Iraq, not the Iraqi Intelligence Service,” al Ameri continued during an interview last week at his heavily guarded home in Baghdad. “If they insist on keeping it to themselves, we’ll have to form another one.”

Many of the Shiite Muslims now in power seem beholden to Iran for the neighboring regime’s gifts of refuge and funding for their opposition parties during Saddam’s reign. Handing the files to an Iran-friendly Baghdad administration would be tantamount to passing the intelligence to Tehran, said three U.S. officials in Washington, who all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss sensitive intelligence matters.

The CIA declined to comment on the record about the Iraqi intelligence agency or its files.

While the CIA hasn’t ruled out handing over the agency, an administration official involved in Iraq policy confirmed that the U.S. government has strong concerns about releasing the classified archives to the new government. The main worry is that Iran could score an intelligence coup by learning what the United States knows about Tehran’s covert operations in Iraq. The official said the United States has evidence of aggressive Iranian attempts to penetrate Iraqi intelligence via the two strongest Shiite parties: SCIRI and Dawa, the party led by Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.

Senior members of those parties, however, suspect the real reason behind U.S. reluctance to hand over the archives is that Americans don’t want them to know the extent of U.S.-led spying on the Shiite politicians Iraqis risked their lives to vote into office.

Laith Kubba, Jaafari’s adviser and spokesman, said the prime minister wants to take on a bigger role in anti-terrorism efforts, but he’s impaired by the lack of a reliable, skilled Iraqi police force and military. Kubba said it would take time for al-Jaafari to decide what he wants to do with the national intelligence service, but it’s evident he doesn’t want it to remain in American hands.

“The prime minister is very clear in his philosophy on governmental sovereignty and the will of the Iraqi people,” Kubba said. “He knows all these institutions must be brought under Iraqi law and the Iraqi parliament … But he’s a realist and he is also aware that Iraq today faces a huge challenge with these attacks … In the interim period, he has to make do with whatever he has at his disposal.”

Right after Saddam’s ouster, the U.S.-led coalition took the top intelligence agents from each of the main opposition parties and trained them in how to turn raw intelligence into targets that could be used in operations, said an Iraqi intelligence expert who participated in the program. He consented to an hour-long interview about the inner workings of Iraqi intelligence on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation from Iraqi and U.S. forces for discussing classified information.

The Iraqi official said the CIA recruited agents from SCIRI, Dawa, the two main Kurdish factions, and two secular Arab parties: the Iraqi National Congress led by Ahmad Chalabi and the Iraqi National Accord led by Ayad Allawi, who later became the interim prime minister. This group, the prototype for an Iraqi intelligence group that represented Iraq’s diversity, became CMAD: the Collection, Management and Analysis Directorate.

When the U.S.-led occupation authority ceded power to the semi-sovereign interim government last June, the official said, CMAD was split, with roughly half the agents going to the new interior ministry and the rest to work on military intelligence in the defense ministry. Both ministries’ intelligence departments are led by Kurds, the most consistently U.S.-friendly group in Iraq, and report to the Iraqi prime minister.

But an elite corps of CMAD operatives was recruited into the third and most important Iraqi intelligence agency, the secret police force known by its Arabic name: the Mukhabarat. Its Iraqi director is Mohammed Abdullah Shahwani, a Sunni general whose three sons were executed by Saddam in retaliation for his involvement in a botched, CIA-backed coup attempt in the mid-1990s. Shahwani’s top deputy in charge of daily operations is said to be a Kurd; Shiites are believed to comprise just 12 percent of the force.

Unlike the defense and interior ministries, there is no provision in the Iraqi government’s budget for the secret police. The Mukhabarat’s money comes straight from the CIA.

Several Shiite politicians in the new government want Shahwani out, saying the Mukhabarat’s ranks are filled with Saddam’s former officers seeking revenge against the Shiite militias they fought in the 1980s. The Iraqi intelligence official said agents have complained the ex-Baathists use the word “resistance” instead of “terrorists” when describing Sunni insurgents in internal memos, raising serious doubts about the agents’ loyalties.

U.S. intelligence officers in Baghdad refused to comment on Iraq’s secret police. Through his aides, Shahwani declined several written and phone requests for comment. The aides privately said Shahwani is firmly in place and that al-Jaafari doesn’t have the power to remove him.

Even if the nascent Shiite government takes over national intelligence and removes Shahwani, there remains the problem of the missing archives. Without a history of joint U.S.-Iraqi intelligence efforts of the past year, the Iraqi intelligence expert said, al-Jaafari’s government would be “starting from zero.”

“It’s not about the guy. It’s about the set-up,” the Iraqi official said. “It’s about a whole department. If (the CIA has) conditions, OK, let’s discuss conditions, what you’re afraid of and we won’t allow it to happen. You help us, we’ll help you.”

Al Ameri, the Badr Brigade commander, said the Bush administration’s Iran “phobia” is unreasonable. Like it or not, he said, it’s time for the Bush administration to accept the fact that Iraq’s first democratically elected government comes with a longstanding friendship with the anti-American mullahs next door.

“We are now in the streets. We are the reality, the real thing,” al Ameri said. “The Americans must realize this and get over their fears.”

One of the Washington officials said Iraqi demands for complete sovereignty over its own government is a powerful argument, particularly since Washington has repeatedly promised such independence in the past. Turning over the intelligence portfolio is a risky – but seemingly inevitable – prospect.

“There’s not an awful lot of strong arguments we can make” to exempt intelligence, the official said.

Allam reported from Baghdad, Strobel from Washington. Knight Ridder correspondent John Walcott contributed to this report.

With hundreds of thousands of soldiers having served in Iraq, conservative estimates indicate that 1 in 6 are returning from combat suffering from major depression, generalized anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can be as crippling as any physical wound. Is the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) equipped to treat these soldiers who have risked their lives for their nation? On Friday, May 13, 2005 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings), NOW investigates how the VA is planning to deal with this influx of new cases while meeting the needs of current veterans. The report profiles one Iraq veteran who says he’s waiting months for treatment and that without it his future hangs in the balance. Also on the program, photographer Nina Berman shares the unseen images and the untold stories of America’s wounded.

The Marine Corps issued to nearly 10,000 troops body armor that military ballistic experts had urged the Marines to reject after tests revealed life-threatening flaws in the vests, an eight-month investigation by Marine Corps Times has found.

In all, the Marines bought about 19,000 Interceptor outer tactical vests from Pompano Beach, Fla.-based Point Blank Body Armor. According to a government memo, the vests failed tests because of “multiple complete penetrations” of 9mm pistol rounds and other ballistics or quality-assurance tests.

After being questioned about the safety flaws for this story, the Marines ordered the recall of 5,277 Interceptor vests on Wednesday. Many of the vests were issued to Marines in Iraq.

The Marines have not said what they intend to do with more than 4,000 other vests still in use or about 10,000 in storage.

Government ballistics expert James MacKiewicz, in a memorandum rejecting two lots of vests on July 19, 2004, said his office “has little confidence in the performance” of the body armor.

The documents were obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

MacKiewicz, who works at the Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Mass., is responsible for verifying that the vests meets protective requirements.

Instead of heeding MacKiewicz’ warning, the Marine program manager for the vests, Lt. Col. Gabriel Patricio, and Point Blank’s chief operating officer, Sandra Hatfield, signed waivers that allowed the Marines to buy and distribute the vests.

The Marine Corps questioned the accuracy of the initial tests. It pulled samples from some of the challenged lots and had them tested at a private lab.

Patricio said the second tests showed that the vests meet safety standards and do not put Marines at increased risk of injury.

“We see no reason to be concerned that the quality has deteriorated or that the performance has deteriorated in any fashion,” Hatfield said last month.

Brig. Gen. William Catto, head of Marine Corps Systems Command, told USA TODAY on Sunday that there is no evidence to indicate problems with the vests in use. But Catto said the Marines have no choice but to recall them because the questions prompted by media coverage will “cause doubts in the minds of our guys” using the vests.

Contributing: Matthew Cox and Dave Moniz. Marine Corps Times is an independent newspaper owned by Gannett.

Military criminal investigators received 1,700 reports of sexual assault in 2004 involving at least one member of the military, the Pentagon said Friday.

This includes cases in which a service member was either an alleged assailant or a victim. It is the first year the military has tracked this particular statistic, a move resulting from sexual assault scandals at the Air Force Academy and among deployed troops overseas.

But one part of this number that has been tracked in the past – the number of military members claiming they were victims of assault – showed a marked increase over previous years.

In 2004, 1,275 cases involved at least one member of the military saying he or she was a victim of sexual assault. That’s up from 1,012 in 2003 and 901 in 2002.

This would suggest acts of sexual assault against military personnel are on the rise. But a military spokesman instead attributed the increase to increased awareness in the military about sexual assault issues, so service members feel more comfortable coming forward to report the crime.

“We have focused our efforts trying to encourage service members to come forward,” Lt. Col. Joe Richard said. “The environment has changed.”

Still, Richard noted that many sexual assaults go unreported in both the military and civilian world. This suggests the actual number of assaults is higher. These assaults took place in a population of 1.5 million active-duty and mobilized National Guard and reserve personnel.

The report shows “that there is an ongoing problem of sexual assault within the military,” said Anita Sanchez, spokeswoman for the Miles Foundation advocacy group for victims of military violence.

Some of the 1,700 cases involve more than one assailant or more than one victim. Of those cases:

– 880, slightly more than half, involved an alleged assault by at least one military person against another.

– 425 involved an alleged assault by at least one member of the military against a non-service member.

– 99 involved an alleged assault by at least one non-service member against a member of the military.

– 296 involved an unidentified assailant against a member of the military.

The military defines sexual assault in this context as attempted or actual rape, nonconsensual sodomy and indecent assault, a category which includes unwanted sexual touching.

Investigations and adjudication of the cases of 1,022 alleged assailants were completed. Other cases were still open at the end of 2004, the end of the period that the report covers.

Of those:

– 351 were not substantiated by investigation or closed due to insufficient evidence.

– 342 led to punitive action in the military justice system, including 113 court-martials. The remaining cases involved less serious adjudication.

– 51 were in civilian or foreign courts.

In the rest, the assailant was not identified and the case was closed. The vast majority of cases involved a man allegedly assaulting a woman.

Sanchez said the Miles Foundation is concerned that “the adjudication … continues to be predominantly nonjudicial punishment” even though sexual assault is a crime. She said this leads to a lack of responsibility for notifying either the military or civilian community of the presence of sex offenders.

This year, the military has pledged greater confidentiality to victims of sexual assault who come forward. It has also expanded training and standardized policies in dealing with an alleged assault.