Legislation now pending before the Senate that would remove commanders from oversight in sexual assault cases has garnered support from the margins of the bipartisan spectrum – and significant resistance from Pentagon leadership. The Military Justice Improvement Act (S. 967) would move the decision to prosecute crimes that carry punishments of one year in prison or more to independent military prosecutors, away from the chain of command. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., sponsored the bill and has the support of 47 of her colleagues, including conservative Republican Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas, the Associated Press reported. It since has been incorporated into the pending 2014 defense-spending bill. At the Pentagon, however, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno told a panel of reporters that passage of Gillibrand’s bill would be a "big mistake" and cost roughly $113 annually. Meanwhile, former Deputy Defense Secretary Lawrence J. Korb co-wrote a white paper that essentially supported the call for independent oversight in sexual-assault cases. "A critical step to increase accountability for perpetrators is to remove dispositional authority from the chain of command," Korb, a senior fellow with the Center for American Progress, wrote with colleague Lindsay Rosenthal.
