Senate Begins Consideration of Defense Authorization Bill

This week, the Senate began its deliberation of the FY2014 National Defense Authorization Act (S. 1197). The Senate Armed Services Committee approved the bill on June 13; the House passed its version of the bill (H.R. 1960) on June 14 (see The Source, 6/14/13).

According to the committee report, the measure would authorize $625.1 billion in discretionary spending for FY2014. The Department of Defense would receive $526.6 billion and overseas contingency operations would receive $80.7 billion, as was requested by President Obama. Defense-related programs at the Department of Energy would receive $17.8 billion, slightly less than the amount requested by the administration. The legislation also would authorize $33.27 billion for the Defense Health program; $136.807 billion for military personnel; and $9.662 billion for military construction, family housing, and base realignment and closure.

The legislation contains several provisions relating to sexual assault in the military (see pages 107-114 of the report for a complete review of the provisions). S. 1197 would:

• Prohibit individuals convicted of rape, sexual assault, forcible sodomy, incest, or an attempt of these offenses from being commissioned or enlisted;
• Authorize service secretaries to provide guidance to commanders regarding the temporary reassignment or removal from a position of authority of an individual alleged to have committed sexual offenses, “not as a punitive measure, but solely for the purpose of maintaining good order and discipline within the unit”;
• Require that substantiated complaints of sexual misconduct resulting in a court martial, non-judicial punishment, or administrative action be noted in the service record of the service member, regardless of the member’s grade;
• Provide sexual assault response coordinators to members of the National Guard and Reserves;
• Require service secretaries to establish a special victims counsel for victims of sexual assault committed by members of the armed forces;
• Require commanding officers to immediately refer to the appropriate military criminal investigation organization reports of sexual-related offenses involving service members in the commander’s chain of command;
• Require the inspector general to review and investigate allegations of retaliatory personnel actions for making a protected communication regarding violations of law or regulation that prohibit rape, sexual assault, or other sexual misconduct;
• Eliminate the five-year statute of limitations on trial by court-martial for sexual assault and sexual assault of a child; and
• Require review of decisions not to refer charges of rape or sexual assault, forcible sodomy, or attempts to commit these offenses to trial by court-martial.

The secretary of Defense would be required to report to Congress on the “(1) retention rates and career progression opportunities for female service members; (2) causes of voluntary mid-career separations, especially those related to childbirth, to include disparities in service policies on postpartum leave, deferral from deployment, and service member accommodation for infant nursing; and (3) how the department might better accommodate service members in a manner consistent with military necessity and without degrading unit readiness, to include consideration of wider use of temporary assignments to the reserve components or other career intermission programs as a way to allow service members to pursue personal or family goals while maintaining a commitment to a full military career” (p. 122).

The measure would require a report within 180 days of enactment on DOD’s efforts to comply with the law prohibiting the sale of sexually explicit materials on DOD property (p. 121).

The bill also would authorize $25 million to continue DOD assistance to local education agencies (LEAs) impacted by the enrollment of military-dependent children; $5 million in impact aid would be authorized for children with disabilities (p. 115).

The Senate is expected to continue its consideration of the bill when it returns on December 9.