Remarks by the President After Meeting on Sexual Assault in the Military

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

Cabinet Room

4:53 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  I appreciate all of you coming in just for a second.  We have gathered here all the top people in not just our military but our entire national security operation.  And I want to start off by thanking all the people sitting around this table and in this room for the extraordinary service that they’ve rendered this country. 

And I want to also remind everybody that we have folks active in theater right now -- men and women in uniform -- who are making heroic sacrifices on behalf of our security.  And our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families because they are dealing with a whole lot to make sure that we are safe.

We have focused this conversation, though, on something that is at the core of our effectiveness as a military.  I told all these people that one of the great honors of my life is serving as Commander-in-Chief to what I consider to be the best military in the history of the world.  And I am in awe of the work that the vast majority of our men and women in uniform do. 

But the reason we are so good is not because of the fancy equipment.  It’s not because of our incredible weapon systems and technology.  It’s because of our people.  And the capacity for our men and women in uniform to work as a team, a disciplined unit looking out for each other in the most severe of circumstances, is premised, as Ray Odierno said, on trust.  It comes down to do people trust each other and do they understand that they’re all part of a single system that has to operate under whatever circumstances effectively.

The issue of sexual assault in our armed forces undermines that trust.  So not only is it a crime, not only is it shameful and disgraceful, but it also is going to make and has made the military less effective than it can be.  And as such, it is dangerous to our national security.  So this is not a sideshow.  This is not sort of a second-order problem that we’re experiencing.  This goes to the heart and the core of who we are and how effective we’re going to be.

Now, the good news is I am absolutely confident that everybody in this room and our leadership, starting with Chuck Hagel and Marty Dempsey and the Joint Chiefs, as well as our top enlisted men and women, they care about this.  And they’re angry about it.  And I heard directly from all of them that they’re ashamed by some of what’s happened.

But it’s not fixed yet, and that’s clear.  So even though I think there’s a level of concern and interest that is appropriate, we haven’t actually been able to ensure that our men and women in uniform are not experiencing this, and if they do experience it, that there’s serious accountability.

So what I’ve done is I’ve asked Secretary of Defense Hagel and Marty Dempsey to help lead a process to continue to get at this.  That starts with accountability, and that means at every level.  And that includes accountability not just for enforcing the law, but also training our personnel effectively, putting our best people on this challenge.

I think Secretary of the Army McHugh made a very good point, which is I’m not sure we’ve incentivized some of our top people to understand this is as core to our mission as anything else.  And we’ve got to reward them, not think of this as a sideline for anything else that they do, but incentivize ambitious folks in the ranks to make sure that they understand this is important.  So that’s part of accountability. 

Empowering victims.  We’ve got to create an environment in which victims feel that they’re comfortable coming forward and they know people have their backs, and that they will work through this process in a way that keeps the focus on justice and make right what’s been wrong as opposed to suddenly they’re on trial, it may weaken their position, it make compromise their ability to advance.  That’s going to be important.  They’ve got to know that they should have no fear of retaliation, no fear of stigma, no damage to their careers, and certainly no protection for criminals. 

Third thing is justice for the victims.  When victims do come forward, they deserve justice.  Perpetrators have to experience consequences.  And I’m pleased that Secretary Hagel has proposed reforms that would restrict the ability of commanders to overturn convictions after trial.  Those reforms have my full support. 

There are a range of ideas that are being proposed on Capitol Hill, and I know that Chuck and Marty are both engaged with those members of Congress.  But what I’ve said to them is I want to leave no stone unturned and I want us to explore every good idea that’s out there in order to fix this problem.  And I’m pleased to say that Secretary Hagel is not only consulting with Congress but is also looking at militaries around the world -- the Canadians or the Israelis or others -- that may have design systems that get at this to see if there are any lessons learned in terms of best practices. 

And Vice President Biden, who has been a champion for issues -- around issues of domestic violence for 20 years or more, he made an important point, which is that we’ve got to make sure that advocates and professionals who are in the civilian system and have been working on this problem for a long time, that we’re listening to them as well; that we don’t assume that the military has to completely recreate the wheel.  And I think that’s a very important point.

So I want to thank all the work that Congress is doing, especially our friends in the Senate.  All of us here are committed to working with them.

The last point I’m going to make, and that is that there is no silver bullet to solving this problem.  This is going to require a sustained effort over a long period of time.  And that’s why I’m very pleased to know that Secretary Hagel is going to be having weekly meetings on this.  And I want us to make sure that we’ve got effective metrics and feedback loops, so that we are continually evaluating how well we’re doing.

And one point that was made around the table is that a sign that we’re actually getting at this problem may initially be increased reporting rather than less reporting.  We may see more reporting of incidents, in part because even outside of our military, traditionally, these problems of sexual assault are vastly underreported.  And so over the next several months and years, if I start seeing data that shows that in fact we are seeing more reports, that may actually indicate to me that people are becoming more confident about moving forward.

On the other hand, I then want those trend lines to start going down because that indicates that we’re also starting to fix the problem and we’ve highlighted it, and people who are engaged in despicable behavior, they get fully punished for it.

So, again, I want to emphasize -- everybody in this room has heard from me directly.  They’ve heard from Secretary Hagel, and they’ve heard from Marty Dempsey.  They all understand this is a priority and we will not stop until we’ve seen this scourge, from what is the greatest military in the world, eliminated. 

Thank you very much, everybody.

END
5:03 P.M. EDT

Here’s a quick glimpse at what happened this week on WhiteHouse.gov.

The President and the Department of Defense are taking unprecedented steps to protect our environment, achieve significant cost savings, and give our military better energy options.

Today at the White House, we convened the 10th annual meeting of the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

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Hagel is not reneging on military benefits

By Lawrence J. Korb, senior fellow, Center for American Progress - 04/25/13 01:16 PM ET

As a life member of the Military Officers Association (MOAA), I am chagrined at the efforts of its leaders to prevent the Congress from restoring benefits for active duty and retired military personnel to their rightful level.  In presenting incorrect and misleading information to Congress and the general public, these individuals are stooping to the level of many special interest groups and are not putting the interests of the country first. This unacceptable behavior can be demonstrated by analyzing the full page ads they took out in Capitol Hill newspapers, including The Hill, on April 17, 2003.

In their ad, MOAA’s leaders claim that the changes that Secretary Hagel has recommended that the Congress make to the current compensation system are unfair and unnecessary. They claim that they are unfair because they renege on promises made to service members and their families. This is not true.

Hagel is proposing that working age military retirees pay no more than 14 percent of the costs of their Tricare healthcare plan. When Tricare was instituted in 1996, the executive and legislative branches agreed that the share would be 27 percent. But because of a dereliction of duty on the part of several military leaders for over a decade, the share dropped to less than 11 percent and the costs to the Pentagon and the taxpayers skyrocketed.  Having working age retirees pay only 14 percent is actually reneging on a promise to the American taxpayers, not to military retirees.

The new secretary is also proposing that retirees over 65 who are eligible for Tricare for Life pay a small enrollment fee based on a percentage of their retired pay. Since Tricare for Life did not come into existence until 2001, there is no retiree over 65 who made his or her career decisions based on getting Tricare for Life benefits. Those who assumed Tricare for Life would always be free cannot retire before 2021. Under Hagel’s plan, when they retire, they would pay between $613 and $818 a year depending on their rank.

Finally, like all of his predecessors, Hagel is proposing that raises in military basic pay be indexed to inflation as stipulated by law and policy. Since basic pay is 20 percent above that mark now, it would mean that for the next few years the raises would be slightly less than the rate of inflation. In effect, this would be keeping a promise to the military and the taxpayers, not reneging on any promises.

The MOAA ad also claims that changes are unnecessary, presenting a chart which purports to show that military personnel and health care costs now account for the same percentage of the defense budget as they have since 1980. Even if this were true, it would be irrelevant because these benefits are indexed to specific standards, not a percentage of the budget.  But the chart is not accurate, for two reasons.

First, these costs support a much smaller force than 1980. In that year, there were 2.3 million people on active duty. Today that number is 1.4 million. Moreover, the defense budget in 2010 was twice as large, in real terms, than it was in 1980.

Second, their chart ignores the fact that since 1986 almost $100 billion in personnel costs have been transferred out of the defense budget. In 1980, the DOD budget was charged for the full cost of military retired pay. Today, DOD pays only a small accrual for those on active duty who will probably retire. In 2012, that amounted to about $20 billion. However, military retirees received over $50 billion from the US treasury, which was not charged to the DOD budget.

In addition, the Treasury had to pay the interest on the unfunded liability of the military retired system which is about $1 trillion. This amounted to another $20 billion.

Military men and women should be fairly compensated for their service. And today they are. For example, the regular military compensation (base pay, tax free housing, and food allowances) are $44,000 for an E-4. For an O-3, it is $95,000. Over the past decade, the average cost of pay and benefits per active duty service member increased by more than 50 percent in real terms. In addition, they can receive number of special pays (flight pay, family separation pay, etc.). This is far more than what people comparable education receive in the private sector.

Hagel is not trying to cut their pay or renege on promises. MOAA knows this, but like any other special interest group, it is cooking the books to get a larger share of the pie for its members. But its members and the country deserve better.

Korb, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, served as an assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration.

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Finally, Rape Survivors In The Military No Longer Have To Disclose That They Sought Counseling

Before Friday, sexual assault victims in high-level military or intelligence positions were required to disclose if they sought counseling when applying for a higher intelligence clearance. But in a widely celebrated move on Friday, the Office of Director of National Intelligence announced that these individuals will now be allowed to keep their counseling history private.

The “infamous Question 21“, as former Defense Secretary Robert Gates called it, asks if the applicant has received mental health treatment in the last seven years, in order to determine any psychological concerns. While seeking mental health treatment does not officially disqualify someone from receiving security clearance, it can delay it and expose the applicant to invasive questioning. By multiple reports, sexual assault victims often forego counseling for fear it will affect their ability to rise through the ranks. One woman profiled by NPR chose to quit rather than disclose her rape:

Jennifer Norris was a devoted member of the Maine National Guard.

“I was ecstatic. I absolutely loved serving in the military,” she says.

Norris still wanted a career in the Guard even after she was sexually assaulted by other members of the military. After she was raped, she says she got psychological counseling. But then it came time to renew the security clearance she needed for her job as a satellite communications technician. One question on the form — Question 21 — asked whether she’d sought help from a mental health professional over the past seven years.

“I just could not bear sharing that information with all those people when my husband didn’t even know,” she says.

Norris says the prospect of divulging that information was too much. Instead, she decided to leave the National Guard.

Seeking counseling for sexual assault will now join the list of exemptions currently in place for family, grief and marital counseling, and for post-combat stress. Those exemptions were only added in 2008, as part of the Defense Department’s campaign to encourage soldiers to seek counseling and dispel entrenched hostility to mental health care.

Even though roughly one-third of all female troops have experienced sexual assault in the military, victims continue to bear significant stigma and often stay silent about the assault. One study found that women who were sexually assaulted while serving are nine times more likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder.

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National Security Brief: Former Top Obama Military Aide Questions Benefits Of Drone Program

The former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Thursday that the costs of the Obama administration’s counter-terror drone program may be outweighing its benefits.

“We’re seeing that blowback,” said retired General James Cartwright at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. “If you’re trying to kill your way to a solution, no matter how precise you are, you’re going to upset people even if they’re not targeted.”

The CIA will reportedly be moving its armed drone program under the auspices of the Defense Department and because of that, according to the New York Times, Cartwright is also worried about “blurring the line” between soldiers and spies if DOD is running armed drones “outside a declared area of hostility.”

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that the new U.S. drone base in Niger is starting to take shape. “We welcome the drones,” Niger’s President Issoufou Mahamadou said. “Our countries are like the blind leading the blind,” he said. “We rely on countries like France and the United States. We need cooperation to ensure our security.”

In other news:

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei suggested in a lengthy speech on Thursday that he is open to nuclear talks with the United States, if not optimistic about their outcome.

The Washington Post reports: The U.N. secretary general said Thursday that he will launch an investigation into whether chemical weapons were used in Syria, seeking to address accusations that, if proven, could alter the trajectory of the two-year-old civil war in the country.

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Military Leaders: Sequester Cuts Will Prevent Veterans From Accessing Mental Health Services

During a hearing before the House Military Personnel Subcommittee Wednesday, American civilian and military leaders issued lawmakers a stark warning: federal budget cutbacks under the so-called “sequester” will leave veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other mental illnesses without access to the health care that they desperately need.

The sequester cuts will force multiple governmental departments to cut back on programs or eliminate them entirely. Charged with taking care of the staggering percentage of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans with PTSD, the Defense Department has had to increasingly rely on civilian mental health specialists to address the backlog. In fact, out of the 2,118 psychologists, 809 psychiatrists, and 2,533 social workers now employed by the military — a substantial increase over past years — over half are civilians. But under sequestration, the Department has been bracing for massive cuts to this civilian workforce, and is preparing to send notices to “more than 800,000 Defense Department civilian workers telling them that once-a-week unpaid furloughs will begin in April and continue for 22 weeks.”

As Military.com reports, that is particularly problematic for the military when it comes to these civilian mental health specialists because “they have options to seek employment elsewhere” and might be tempted to do so seeing as they are not exempt from the furloughs:

Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho, the Army’s surgeon general, has lobbied to exempt the mental health specialists from furloughs to retain them for treating PTSD. The Pentagon has said that 20 percent of the civilian workforce will be exempt from furloughs. However, it did not look like the mental health specialists would receive that exemption, said Col. Rebecca Porter, the chief of Behavioral Health in Horoho’s office.

“We value these individuals greatly,” Porter said of the mental health workers. “If they start to go out the door, it’s going to take a lot longer for us to rebuild that” mental health workforce, Porter told a defense writers breakfast Tuesday.

“We have in the past offered retention bonuses, but that’s not specifically on the table now,” said Porter, a former military police officer and now a clinical psychologist whose main task is treating PTSD in the Army.

Her comments echoed those of Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army’s chief of staff, who told a Senate hearing last month that “before sequestration, we allocated the dollars and positions to increase military and civilian mental health providers.”

“The problem is there are not enough out there,” Odierno said. “Now what’s going to happen is we’re going to have to reduce the number we already have.”

The officials’ testimony is a clear-cut demonstration of the real world consequences brought on by budget cuts that lawmakers and the media tend to discuss in rather shallow terms. Budget cuts to military health care programs are also particularly cruel considering the already-massive backlog of over 900,000 veterans’ benefit claims — a problem that will be exacerbated as more military personnel return home from the waning Afghan war. Those veterans will already be plagued by poverty and a bleak economic outlook when they return home — and under sequestration, their mental health care outlook is even worse.

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Dem Senator Pushes For Change In Military Response To Sexual Assault

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) is bringing the ongoing crisis of sexual assault in the military into the spotlight, hoping to use a recent outrageous case as a springboard to change.

The Senate Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Personnel, chaired by Gillibrand, met on Wednesday to begin the process of reforming the military justice’s handling of sexual assault cases, speaking to panels of both survivors of sexual assault in the military and top military law experts.

Gillibrand appeared on MSNBC on Thursday to present the hearing’s findings, leaving host Andrea Mitchell stunned. Over 19,000 allegations of Military Sexual Trauma (MST) were made in 2011 alone, but as Gillibrand informed Mitchell there were only 2,400 cases where action was taken. The disparity, according to Gillibrand, comes from fear of retaliation and “not being able to stay in the military and having no ability to be promoted.”

Both women shared their disbelief that the military justice system could take such a lax approach to a clear problem:

MITCHELL: I don’t understand the Military Code of Justice, in that it was a reason for dismissal for expulsion from the military until last year, if you violated Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Yet, if you were found guilty in a military court of a criminal assault, of rape, you could go back to your unit. How is that possible?

GILLIBRAND: It’s outrageous and it’s something that should outrage every American. When we look at our best and bravest, our strongest, our most courageous. When you enter the military, you may expect to lose a limb. You may expect to lose your life. But no one should be expecting to be assaulted or raped by one of their colleagues.

Watch their exchange here:

The permissive culture towards sexual violence Gillibrand described was underscored by the testimony of former Sgt. Rebekkah Havrilla. Havrilla told the subcommittee of the U.S. Army’s failure to provide proper assistance following several instances of alleged sexual assault and rape. At one point, an Army chaplain told Havrilla “that the rape was God’s will and that God was trying to get my attention so that I would go back to church.”

“Rape and assault are violent, traumatic crimes, not mistakes, leadership failures or oversights in character,” Anu Bhagwati, Co-Founder of the Service Women’s Action Network told the panel. Bhagwati offered a series of possible reforms to the military criminal justice system to the senators, including opening civil courts to military sexual assault victims.

Currently, the Uniform Military Code of Justice features an article that allows a commanding officer through his or her “convening authority” to overturn the conviction of a jury in courts-martial. Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin used that ability last week to overturn Lt. Col. James Wilkerson’s conviction of sexual assault, waive the one-year prison sentence, and reinstate Wilkerson in the Air Force. Under the law as written, Franklin’s decision can’t be overturned by the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of the Air Force.

Wilkerson’s reinstatement has sparked outrage from both houses of Congress and prompted a review of the statute in question by the Department of Defense’s top lawyers. A bill has already been introduced in the House of Representatives related to the Wilkerson case. Reps. Jackie Spiers (D-CA), Bruce Braley (D-IA), and Patrick Meehan (R-PA) put forward the bill on Tuesday to strip commanders of their ability to overrule juries and lessen sentences.

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New Pope Spotlights Questions About Church’s Relationship With Military Dictatorship

Pope Francis I

The election of Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio as Pope Francis I has sparked new interest in the atrocities performed during Argentina’s period of military rule from 1976-1983.

Francis is the first pope to have been elected from the Americas, which will more accurately reflect the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church in Latin America. That primacy, however, during the Cold War led to many dioceses throughout the region turning a blind eye to the atrocities of military governments. These right-wing governments, often taking power via coup, were supported by the United States and the church alike for their stand against Communism.

Particularly devastating was the period known in Argentina as as “The Dirty War.” Beginning as a crackdown on armed left-wing guerrilla groups following a military coup in 1976, the regime soon expanded its focus, imprisoning and torturing anyone thought to hold leftist views or criticize the government. Women who were pregnant at the time of their incarceration were allowed to bring their children to term, before being “transferred” — a euphemism used by the junta for execution — drugged and tossed from airplanes into the ocean. All-told, an estimated 30,000 civilians were “disappeared” by the government.

Years later, one priest told a panel of judges that the church at the time was “scandalously close to the dictatorship” in turning a blind eye, “to such an extent that I would say it was of a sinful degree.” Former Argentine dictator Jorge Videla claimed in an interview years removed from power that the Church was definitely “consulted” throughout the crackdown. That included offering their good offices and discouraging families from searching for relatives who had “disappeared.” That link was much stronger in Argentina than in neighboring dictatorships in Brazil and Chile:

“Patriotism came to be associated with Catholicism,” said Kenneth P. Serbin, a history professor at the University of San Diego who has written about the Roman Catholic Church in South America. “So it was almost natural for the Argentine clergy to come to the defense of the authoritarian regime.”

That tie has been a stain on Catholicism in Argentina ever since. The Argentine Catholic Church issued a document in 1996 admitting they had made “insufficient efforts” to prevent atrocities. When Pope John Paul II issued a blanket apology for church abuses throughout the ages in 2000, Bergoglio — by then the archbishop of Buenos Aires — insisted that Argentine Catholic officials wear garments symbolizing penance for sins committed by the clergy during the military dictatorship.

Bergoglio’s precise role during the Dirty War is still clouded. In 2005, when he was first considered as a possible replacement for John Paul II, a human rights activist accused Bergoglio of aiding in the military’s kidnapping of two Jesuits, filing criminal charges in a Buenos Aires court. That case has since not moved forward, though claims exist that he actively prevented human rights groups from finding political prisoners. However, at least one woman, former Buenos Aires Ombudsman Alicia de Olivia, has come forward to say that Bergoglio hid her from the military government during the crackdown.

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Fair 'treatment' for the military

By Susan E. Foster and Jim McDonough - 03/04/13 04:10 PM ET

America claims to revere its veterans and has demonstrated an admirable commitment to those returning from our wars with visible wounds. Public and private organizations, as well as countless individuals, have extended their generosity and compassion to those heroic men and women who have served our country. But sadly, we seem to turn a blind eye toward the very real and often debilitating effects of extended combat exposure and the invisible wounds it causes. Marked less by physical scars and missing limbs, many soldiers returning from war face serious diseases of addiction and mental illness as they struggle to readjust to civilian life.

Unsurprisingly, the effects of recent war for many of our hundreds of thousands of service men and women have not been dissimilar to those of past wars, including high rates of alcohol, illicit and prescription drugs use, addiction, depression, post-traumatic stress, brain injuries and other mental health problems. Untreated, these conditions too often result in high rates of suicide, unstable lifestyles and criminal activity that can lead to incarceration.
One recent step toward addressing these problems was the introduction of the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Act by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Rep. Richard Nugent (R-Fla.). If passed, this bipartisan initiative will help improve treatment for veterans and the mentally ill in our criminal justice systems. The bill extends for five years the authorization for mental health courts and crisis intervention teams and expands veterans’ treatment courts, all important and proven tools to divert non-violent offenders from unnecessary incarceration. While these steps are an important part of the solution to the myriad addiction and mental health related issues affecting veterans, by themselves they will not solve the larger problem of keeping our military personnel from landing in the criminal justice system in the first place.
The correlation of substance use and mental illness with incarceration is well established. CASAColumbia researchers have found that substance use is implicated in the crimes and incarceration of 85 percent of inmates in the U.S. Almost two-thirds of all inmates meet medical criteria for addiction involving alcohol and other drugs and one third have a mental health disorder. Furthermore, a quarter of all inmates suffer from both addiction and mental illness. Left untreated, these inmates are more likely to engage in repeat offenses. But, many of them would never have entered the criminal justice system if their substance use, addiction and mental health problems had been prevented or treated effectively. To neglect these health problems until they result in complications with the law is tragic, costly and largely avoidable.

We must focus on both preventing the addiction and mental health ills that plague so many of our military personnel and on intervening early to keep these conditions from worsening. To do this, we must put in place coordinated outreach to engage those who require assistance and connect them with needed care. This process should begin during active duty and continue after retirement, and it should include the National Guard and Reserves. We must incorporate comprehensive screening and early intervention for both addiction and mental illness into routine medical care for all military personnel. We need to ensure that our service men and women receive effective, evidence-based treatment and disease management services as they do for other medical conditions. We must stop simply referring people to support groups or requiring they “get over” their addiction before other services will be provided. There is plenty of evidence available on how to effectively treat addiction and mental illness.  Failure to do so is not only inhumane, it borders on medical malpractice.

Creating an accountable, effective outreach, prevention and treatment infrastructure will allow us to mobilize the quality care we owe our military personnel and their families, including both the younger cohort of military in Iraq and Afghanistan and the aging Vietnam era population.

So while we endorse a quick passage of the Franken-Nugent bill, we advocate also for a more comprehensive system of addiction and mental illness prevention and treatment, one that will help our military personnel long before they run afoul of the criminal justice system – or worse.
Foster is vice president and director of policy research at the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASAColumbia)
McDonough, a retired colonel, is the author of the Vietnam memoir, Platoon Leader, a leader in drug control policy nationally and in Florida, and former secretary of the Florida Department of Corrections.

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Republicans Once Again Try To Ban Same-Sex Weddings On Military Bases

Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS)

For the past two years, House Republicans have attempted to use the National Defense Authorization Act to solidify some anti-gay principles into military codes, including a ban on same-sex weddings on military bases, a “license to bully” that encouraged anti-gay harassment, and redundant conscience protections for military chaplains. Some of these conscience protections advanced in the final version of the bill this past fall, and Obama criticized them in a signing statement, calling them “unnecessary” and “ill-advised.” Now, Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) is once again trying to enshrine discrimination into the nation’s military.

His new bill, H.R. 914, the “Military Religious Freedom Protection Act,” contains more redundant protections for military chaplains, ensuring — as is already the case — that they cannot be penalized if their religious beliefs are not pro-gay. What seems evident is that those redundancies are simply a guise for the last little provision in the bill: a ban on same-sex marriages on military bases:

A military installation or other property owned, rented, or otherwise under the jurisdiction or control of the Department of Defense shall not be used to officiate, solemnize, or perform a marriage or marriage-like ceremony involving anything other than the union of one man with one woman.

Furthermore, if there is any concern that chaplains’ consciences are not already protected, it seems that these reiterated provisions could only serve to protect outright anti-LGBT harassment.

In the year after Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was repealed, only two individuals — both chaplains — left the military in protest. Nothing about this bill supports the military or its members.

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GOP Senator Would Take Away Health Coverage From 30 Million Americans To Avoid Military Cuts

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Sunday the government should protect the Defense Department from automatic spending cuts by slashing $1.2 trillion from the Affordable Care Act.

During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Graham suggested that the sequester’s across-the-board cuts to federal spending, including about a roughly 7.5 percent reduction in military spending, would be “destroying the military.” But rather than agree to President Obama’s proposed alternatives to the sequester, the South Carolina Republican said we should save money by eliminating health care for the 30 million people covered by the Affordable Care Act:

CHRIS WALLACE: Let me just ask you one more question about the sequestration before we let you go, Senator. You know if we go into the sequester, the president is going to hammer Republicans, the White House already put out a list of all the things, terrible things that will happen if a sequester kicks in, 70,000 children losing Head Start. 2100 fewer food inspectors and small business will lose $900 million in loan guarantees and you know, Senator, the president will say your party is forcing this to protect tax cuts for the wealthy.

GRAHAM: Well, all i can say is the commander-in-chief thought — came up with the idea of sequestration, destroying the military and putting a lot of good programs at risk. It is my belief — take Obamacare and put it on the table. You can make $86,000 a year in income and still get a government subsidy under Obamacare. Obamacare is destroying health care in this country and people are leaving the private sector, because their companies cannot afford to offer Obamacare and if you want to look at ways to find $1.2 trillion in savings over the next decade, look at Obamacare, don’t destroy the military and cut blindly across the board. There are many ways to do it but the president is the commander-in-chief and on his watch we’ll begin to unravel the finest military in the history of the world, at a time when we need it most. The Iranians are watching us, we are allowing people to be destroyed in Syria, and i’m disappointed in our commander-in-chief.

The draconian cuts to vital programs Graham and other Republicans are demanding, including providing health insurance for the millions of Americans who otherwise would not have it, will hurt the economy and hurt real people.

But Graham’s “solution” also misses a key reality: Obamacare actually reduced the deficit. His proposal to put its elimination on the table would mean increasing the budget deficit by an estimated $109 billion over the same 10-year period, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.

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Defense Department Offers Limited Benefits To Military Same-Sex Partners

It took 17 months, but the Defense Department has finally issued guidance about benefits that can be extended to the same-sex partners of military servicemembers now that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” no longer requires that they hide their identities. The list does not address some serious issues of concern, including health care, housing, and survivor benefits because of the Defense of Marriage Act, but does allow servicemembers to designate specific protections to their partners, including some through the recognition of a domestic partnership. Here are a few of the new benefits:

Service Members Group Life Insurance BeneficiaryVeterans’ Group Life Insurance BeneficiarySurvivor Benefit Plan Beneficiary for RetireesCasualty NotificationDesignation of Persons Having Interest in Status of a Missing MemberHospital Visitation PrivilegesDesignation of Persons Authorized to Direct Disposition of Remains of Members of the Armed ForcePresentation of the Flag of the United StatesDependent ID cardsCommissary PrivilegesExchange PrivilegesMorale, Welfare, and Recreation programsEmergency LeaveYouth ProgramsFamily Center ProgramsChild CareLegal AssistanceJoint Duty Assignments

The memo announcing the benefits notes that should the Defense of Marriage Act no longer apply to the department, policy will be to “construe the words ‘spouse’ and ‘marriage’ without regard to sexual orientation, and married couples, irrespective of sexual orientation, and their dependents, will be granted full military benefits.” It also contains a new process for same-sex couples to declare to the military that they are, in fact, domestic partners, which presumably even couples that are already married would have to fulfill to receive the benefits.

OutServe-SLDN praised outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta for “getting us a few steps closer to full equality.”

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Former Top Military Officials Back Hagel’s Defense Secretary Bid

Chuck Hagel received two new high profile endorsements on Sunday for his bid to be the next Secretary of Defense. Retired Air Force General Michael Hayden and retired Army General Stanley McChrystal said on CNN’s State of the Union that Hagel is a good choice to take over for outgoing Pentagon chief Leon Panetta.

Hayden, former National Security Agency head during the Bush administration and CIA Director in both the Bush and Obama administrations, said Hagel is someone “you could talk to” and “have an honest dialogue” with. When host Candy Crowley asked the former generals if they see “any red flags” that would disqualify Hagel, McChrystal, most recently the top allied commander in Afghanistan, said “no” while Hayden said, “not at all.”

CROWLEY: From what you know of Chuck Hagel…what sort of reception would he get from the military.

HAYDEN: I think he will be fine. I know Senator Hagel. He was on my oversight committee when I was in the intelligence community. He was a member, and this is not a universal condition, he was a member that you could talk to, have an honest dialogue, not necessarily disagree but on a personal basis, have a candid exchange of views. You could always speak with him and frankly given my time in uniform, that’s a tremendous attribute. So I actually think this will work out well.

Watch the clip:

The “neocon smear machine” and other well-financed right-wing groups are trying to derail Hagel’s Defense Secretary bid but the former Republican senator from Nebraska has received widespread, bipartisan support from former top foreign affairs and defense officials in recent weeks and key senators have said they would vote to confirm Hagel.

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Lesbian Military Spouse Rejects ‘Offensive’ Guest Membership To Spouses Group

This morning came news that the Association of Bragg Officers Spouses (ABOS) at Ft. Bragg had extended a “guest membership” to Ashley Broadway, the lesbian spouse of Lt. Col. Heather Mack. This concession was to serve as a temporary solution until the group reconsidered its membership policies, which it arbitrarily changed to exclude her. This afternoon, the L.A. Times is reporting that Broadway has rejected the offer, calling it ”not only offensive, but just plain hurtful”:

BROADWAY: My wife wears the same uniform as the spouses of [the club] and she’s just as prepared to give her life for our country. I wake up each and every day to the reality that I’m not equal, that my 15 years of love and faithfulness to my wife and country does not mean I’ll receive support as a military spouse.

Broadway and Mack married in November, but have been together for 15 years. The Pentagon has been supposedly reviewing military benefits for same-sex couples since the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” took effect in September 2011, but has yet to take action.

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National Security Brief: Number Of Military Suicides Hit Record High

The Washington Post reports that “the U.S. military lost more service members to suicide than combat last year as the number of troops who took their lives rose to a record high.” Nearly 350 active duty servicemembers committed suicide last year while 229 troops were killed in combat in Afghanistan, according to the Post. The AP reported last June that military deaths from suicide outnumbered combat deaths by a 2-to-1 ratio. A month after the AP report, a Pentagon-funded study reported for the first time, scientific data pointing to “intense psychological suffering and pain” as the main cause of military suicides.

In other news:

The New York Times reports: Nearly three years ago, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood delivered a speech urging Egyptians to “nurse our children and our grandchildren on hatred” for Jews and Zionists. In a television interview around that time, the same leader described Zionists as “these bloodsuckers who attack the Palestinians, these warmongers, the descendants of apes and pigs. That leader, Mohamed Morsi, is now president of Egypt — and his comments may be coming back to haunt him.”

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Monday pledged American assistance to the French in its campaign to root out extremist militants in Mali.

The Pentagon says that it has improved its most lethal bunker busting bomb, which is now capable of “effectively prosecuting selected hardened, deeply buried targets.”

The Washington Post reports: “Rape has become a “significant and disturbing feature” of the war in Syria, one that many refugees cite as their leading reason for fleeing the country, according to a report released Monday by a New York-based humanitarian organization.” Meanwhile, Syrian warplanes have killed dozens of civilians, including 20 children, in the last few days of bombing Damascus suburbs.

A Washington think tank reported this week that Iran is on track to produce enough material for at least one nuclear bomb by the middle of 2014.

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VIDEO: How The Military Treats A Fallen Soldier’s Same-Sex Widow

NEWS FLASH

VIDEO: How The Military Treats A Fallen Soldier’s Same-Sex Widow | Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Donna Johnson was one of three soldiers killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan on October 1, but she was the only one of the three whose spouse was not taken care of by the military after her death. Johnson’s wife, Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Tracy Dice, was not eligible to have her travel expenses to Dover Air Force Base covered, nor can she benefit from Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, the Survivor Benefit Plan, VA education benefits, or Tricare health coverage. The repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell allowed Johnson and Rice to be open about their marriage, but the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act still prevents the military from legally recognizing their relationship. Watch an interview with Dice about losing Johnson and the mistreatment she has experienced as a same-sex spouse (HT: Towleroad):

By Zack Ford on Jan 8, 2013 at 4:10 pm

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Rolling Out the Welcome Mat for our Military Families at National Parks and Public Lands

Posted by Dr. Jill Biden and Ken Salazar on May 15, 2012 at 06:41 PM EDT

As we celebrate Armed Forces Week, this is a particularly important time to pay tribute to the men and women who serve our country and safeguard our freedom.  

Today, just one percent of Americans are fighting our wars, but we need 100% of Americans to be supporting our troops and their families –not just during Armed Forces Week, but all year long. That’s why we launched the Joining Forces Initiative last year to encourage all Americans to find ways to honor, recognize and support our veterans and military families.  

Today, we are pleased to announce that we have a new way to thank those who serve their country in the military. 

Starting on Armed Forces Day, this Saturday, May 19, we will be offering all active duty military a free annual pass that will grant access to service members and their dependents, to more than 2,000 sites across the country, including National Parks. 

The annual pass will be accepted at all public land sites that charge entrance or standard amenity fees, including those managed by the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Army Corps. 

Vice President Joe Biden, with son Hunter Biden, and granddaughters Naomi, Finnegan, and Maisy Biden, on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, July 27, 2010. (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)

From Yosemite to Acadia to the Grand Canyon, we are putting out a welcome mat for our military families at America’s most beautiful and storied sites.  

Service men and women from all five branches of the military – the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard, including the Reserves and National Guard – are eligible just by showing a current, valid military identification card.  The pass is also available for the family members of active duty military, which is critical because we know that military spouses and children make sacrifices for our country every day too. 

Earlier today, the very first of these passes were distributed in a ceremony at Colonial National Historical Park in Yorktown, Virginia to members of the military – a small down payment on the debt of gratitude our nation owes our service men and women.

Learn more about the Annual Pass for Active Duty Military and their Dependents

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