m. i always say i am a the dull weather person. they bring it to me and i say let me bring it to my colleagues. i don't believe it is working like senator bird told me it did. but i am not going to stop fighting. i think it is well worth the fight we have in it to make this fight work. we have had a lot of greater challenges than this and we have overcome them all. i think we can overcome this, too. i guess we will have questions now. thank you. [applause]

>> senator manchin and senator bird were on my mind. we have been talking to senator manchin's staff for some months now about the interesting and valuable perspective that former governors bring to the united states senate. one of our ad ppvisors is a former governor mayor and senator and when he left the senate we lost the champion for sensible government reform in the senate.

i must say i am impressed with the reform agenda he has outlined. from agendas like returning to bipartisan lunches and the governor's caucus itself to the groups. we have talked about this in the think tank world. it needs to be something we are grappling with the return of the office technology assistance. one of the few valuable small i think the whole thing had 90 people in it. small pieces of government that was well worth its weight and somehow has got chopped. i would like to open senator by asking a sort of general question. why is it so hard to get the united states congress interested in these common

sense, non-partisan reform issues? >> well as i said in the speech, they are not sexy or something that make you want to go out and vote or write a check and help somebody. right now they are chasing to end the vote. there is a never ending cycle. everyone is in cycle. it is a six year cycle in the senate, four year for president, everyone seems to be in an election cycle. if you notice when people say outrageous things and people of responsibility you would think that doesn't make any sense at all the country is so divided with the 24/7 news cycle we are on overload. paranoia is ramped and people are fired up and say they you are talking about stuff and the

last thing i heard about was special forces taking over texas. i could not believe it. they said we have them coming in and being trained. if you are that worried i said.

>> let's go to tack reform for a minute. this whole notion of tax expenditures and many in the room know that over the last several decades as the discreationary part of the budget has declined we legislatured the tax expendi expenditures. we didn't increase government spending. so they are very seductive to politicians.

do you think we can break that habit? put is on the path of, i think

solvency. if we stayed under the clinton tax rates we would have been totally tax -- debt-free as a nation by 2012. by 2012. we had two tax cuts that came. we had two wars unfunded, and it started tumbling from there i tell democrats if you want to blame republicans go right ahead, they're at fault. i tell republicans you want to blame the democrats? we're at fault. we're all to blame for this. so when you can't agree on revenue, when you get a tax code -- bowles-simpson took the approach revenue expenditure and reform and everybody has to take a little haircut but no one is willing to sacrifice a vote for that, or a bad ad on tv against you and i think what we ought to do is gate bunch of senators who are thinking about retiring who can cure less

about getting re-elected and say, we'll sacrifice ourselves and be the ones that will fix this thing for the next generation. we have done tax reform in 17 years. we haven't had reform since 1986. so i tell my republican friends who took the no-new tax pledge, i ask them how are we going to pay it down without revenue? if i reduce the tax, 39 to 33, corporate from 35 to 25, 26, 27, i get rid 0 of a lot of the credits, a lot of the offsets another of the goodies you have written in, and those good away and the end of the day we spin off a trim dollars yours'll have dynamic growth, it happens when you have confidence there's fair system. when you know the system is fair and you're treated fair, sky is the limit because you have confidence, and you'll do things. so with that being said, how do

you spend a flint i asked my republican friends take this position. we have a global competitive rate and permanent and corporations. they can't go offshore. got to pay here. so we do that. and then we got money coming in. even though we reduced the rate. you'll have a few friend saying, my rate was 39-6 but i had a lot of offsets and i'm paying nor now at 33 than i was at 39.6. that could be true. with that being said, let me tell you how i made the democrats spend if you're a republican. 60 coached every new dollar went to debt reduction until we get to 65% of debt to gdp which is manageable which is what all of the economiststle you is manageable. the other 40 crepts of every dollar goes to infrastructure. only can be used for infrastructure in the united states of america. no where else. that's it. so you build america got a cash flow into a bank, and it's an

80-20 match and 60-cents of every new dollar goes into debt reduction, so the republicans have held the democrats' feet to the fire, can't expand entitlement programs, and the democrats out a fair system in and were dedicated towards getting rid of the debt. you can have a balanced budget in 10-15 years. that's why dish talked to him. you go home and defend yourself. i think i can. i said, let's try it, then. let do something. >> that's great. it remind -- when you talk about retiring senators reminds me of the famous movie of abe lincoln just out where when he was counting up votes to pass the 13th amendment was the first thing he did? he found everybody who is guessing read -- getting ready to retire. >> a lot more courage then. >> that's right. we have a great audience here. a couple of questions. we have time before the senator

leaves. let's see. right there. say who you are please. >> i am gray women if at the policy news web site. no last week, mayor bill be blastow came to washington and outlined a different policy agenda than yours he called for $15 minimum wage, paid sick leave, closing the carried interest loophole. why are he and senators like elizabeth warren wrong to advocate a more progressive or liberal agenda and what is the future of the democratic party if it goes down that path. >> there's knock long. the there's not a hedge fund for benefits. even today we'll defend it. so it should be done away with. with agree on that. the $15 you know, minimum wage -- i'm for raising minimum wage. i think it should be indexed. i think a lot of things should

be indexed. but minimum wage from the extend is not going to raise the middle class. we're not going to be able to. we're ready to pass on the largest trade deal, a one of the largest trade deals in the country, if we do that without understanding what happened to us and hindsight is 2020. go back to 1992 when nafta came in my state of west virginia lost 31,000 jobs since and a half tamp it's hard for me to say this is going to be different so much better. i if you look at where our jobs were lost was in the inner city. where a lot of the textile -- a lot of things going on. we lost all that. now it's rampant with crime high unemployment. how are we better off? we need to look at that. minimum wage is what they think we can raise any type of quality life we're in trouble. the other thing is that no one good- -- you haven't heard anybody talk about drug abuse.

not sexy. not one of this is is in room doesn't know someone in our immediate family or extended family hasn't had a prescription drug problem. it is rampan, epidemic proportion. we can't find people that are clean enough to work. our education is not pushing them to get skill set's so they can complete globally. there's lot going on there i'm fine. i can look at a progressive i can look at it conservative. if it's somewhere in between you have to -- i said this. i'm not right on every issue but eye not wrong on every issue. i have something to contribute, and when mayor de blasio came, god bless him. we want their all his ideas and elizabethway is a good friend of mine and we've teamed up on a lot of amendments together and trying to put some balance into this thing. but on the other hand you can't chastise everybody out there investing and trying to get a return on investment, out there willing to take a risk, and we

just got to make sure that we can continue for this system of ours this unbelievable system of ours. the economy we have is $18 trillion. the closest i one is china 10 trillion. everything else falls off from there nobody rise above 5 trillion. so we are the big people. we are the super power. we have a super economy. people want in this marketplace but we should protect jobs we have here and grow some jobs. that's the problem. a lot of things i agree on or disagree bit i'm always trying to find the balance because i've been able to talk to the people from the far left and far right and tell them, sound goods but doesn't make sense. i can't sell it back home. >> let's see. right here. yes. that's okay. we'll get somebody. >> i'm john, just here by

myself. i was wondering how you see the trend of your state over the long term? i've noticed in previous election cycles it's gone very hard to the right and i know lots of that is probably in reaction to obama and i was wondering do you see things improving maybe after obama and then also i would like to hear your thoughts on mr. justice who is going to run for -- >> first of all my state had -- since bill clinton was the last presidential candidate to win as a democrat in west virginiaful we have gone progressively republican since then, even though we still have 62% of adult citizens registered democrat. you would thick -- but i tell them we're a little different democrats in west virginia. it's a -- i try to describe myself itch tell people, i'm

fiscally responsible and socially comp passionate. that's most people. whether you're a democrat or republican, kind of a lot of people in that arena. with that being said, our social agenda is much more conservative than the national democratic agenda, and with that, we have to be able to articulate that a little bit clearer. jim justice was a republican, just turned democrat to run for governor but jim has been a republican democrat, jim is one of those guys that crosses over. a great person, created a lot of jobs. and he'll be a job creator. he thinks outside the box. so that would be good. the democratic voters need to be looking more to candidates -- president obama brought in a climate agenda that we differ with, and it's not because we don't want to -- we want clean

climate. we want clean air and clean water and all that. but there's a balance between environment and economy and only thing i've said, if it's not obtainable, it's not reasonable. he put some things in play here we don't have technology in place. the federal government wants to invest and find the technology that does a certain thing and you decide you're not growing to do it because it costs too much? i'm sorry. you're out of business. if the technology has not been developed and you're doing the best we shouldn't push you out because we don't like what you're doing. and that is what is happening so when a coal miner and family loses an $80,000 job and all they got is a service job for 20 25,000, this is personal and it's got deep seats. there's just deep animosity towards the president and his policy and all the democrats are suffering from it. >> let me ask the senator something i've been thinking about since you brought up this revenue positive job -- offices.

it's very interesting. i wonder how your republican colleagues will feel about this. if you do in fact go identify these, the argument then is made that for every say medicaid or medicare fraud investigator, we ought to hire more. it actually would be an argument for increasing the federal work force, which of course the republicans seem to be completely allergic to. so you think that enough fact you could prove that there were in fact revenue positive offices you would get some momentum for helping them bring in more money? >> i would like to think they would look at it that way. i would sure try and sure really think they would accept it. but makes sense that if we can show you that rather than changing the whole makeup of social security and medicare and medicaid reform it. president clinton reformed medicaid which helped send a

positive manning. five years and you're out. you have to find a job. we're not rehabilitating anybody. the culture of america is, we don't want to seem to hold you responsible for accountable. we give you something and if it doesn't work we'll give you twice as much. why didn't it work? what did you not do? why didn't grew to the doctor? when i was doctor skid waiver because i cooperate keep up with the cost of method okayed and i had a lot of people that needed help. i told the federal government you should not make me take care of a healthy poor person the way i thick have a moral responsibility to take care of a sick poor person. that sick poor person has very little option. the healthy person, if i can get them back in the workstream can get back on their feet and do something. we call mountain choices rewards. i roar warded you. pain and suffering for dental and eye care, and i said if you

went to your doctor's visits and no go to the emergency room, if you join the healthy choice, healthy lifestyle eat properly and exercise, i'd have you ready to go back into the work force. federal government fought me tooth and nail against that type of responsible reasonable approach. just makes sense. if we can't hold people accountable and responsible would tell my republican friend, let us try. i said before you want to privatize this or that, you can't privatize social security and medicare. i'm 65, 70 years old. you want me to make my best school in my negotiating days are probably over by then. i'm not as good a negotiator as maybe i was a little while ago. so don't put me in that position because i'm going to get hurt. that's just a humanistic approach to some of these things. doesn't even wring true. we keep -- doesn't ring true. we keep looking for fraud social security.

we have more people sin upping for total disability than ever before. and there's people that know -- i go anywhere in the country you know somebody that is receiving a government check that shouldn't? everybody is raising their hands. i know somebody. why aren't we checking? make them come back to re-evaluate if they're still totally disabled. given lifetime award. that's the jackpot. you done hit the lottery. and those types of things. we need look at that. and tell me why on social security we've capped it at 112 -- all we have to do is get that up to where the average of 250,000 and index it from there and we have cash flow that will keep us going for quite some time. that's not offensive. the senator and congressmen we make 174. so at 174,000 we're -- you can

see our pay changes.seven eight months into it. seven or eight months, i've already learned how to live off what i was getting for the six or seven months so it wouldn't hurt me to keep taking that out. that just makes sense. and we talk about these things, and people just have a hard time understanding it. and i've talk about social security. talked about cola, cost of living increase. there's some people that have to have coase of livingen crease because it's all they've got. and there's other people that might not. my parents didn't need the cost of living increase. my parents would have been fine with no cola. my aunt wouldn't have been fine without a coal la. -- cola. so in real world how do you make this work? do you say anybody that has income of greater than 250 or even 300% of the poverty

guidelines, might be 60, 70,000, should they be exempt from getting the cola? no one is going to get exempt from getting their social security you'll get your social security check. but if you're ball certain level you get the cola. if you're not your might. we have all the fights and arguments going on with the colas and no one is having the real hard discussions on this stuff. >> right there. >> yes ma'am. >> hi. i'm sharon. last wednesday ross rowland had a coincidental meeting with me. the train legend that did the american freedom train and buy send tenaille. reagan reside appointment and he basically said our meeting was god's way of acting anonymously, because there are republicans that want to fund amtrak infrastructure, and they're scared. they're actually nervous, and

people that are experts in both parties that want to help provide information to the senate and the congress, but what avenue would they go to? there's a list of politicians open to hearing from a bipartisan coalition that would like -- >> well, what we'll do on that, anytime you have somebody that wants to get a point across and has something, three-quarter committees that it would -- look at the commitees that's probably commerce. get a senator myself, i'm on commerce anybody ask them if they can present at a public hearing. they can come to a public hearing or 0 come to a subcommittee hearing they can get their point across much better that way and see if it's worthwhile than trying to run the hauls and fine somebody sympathetic simple recommend they go to somebody and ask to be an 0 subcommittee panel.

>> thank you so much, senator. you have lid out a pretty amazing reform agenda here today. i'm hoping that the former governors caucus is going to become a real force in the united states senate, and remember it is a bipartisan caucus because some republican former governors as well as democrats, and therefore those at brookings are at your disposal to help you make a government as good as it can possibly be. >> let me just say we have used you extensively and i think all of democrats and republicans looking to find that common sense and the middle of the road. it's going to have to be people speaking out before we hit the proverbial wall, and the financial wall is the one i'm concerned about. wall street can't be doing this tremendous when everyone else is not feeling -- getting the bump they should be getting out of it and before long people will lose confidence.

when they lose confidence you'll see a big switch. when the switch happens you see a lot of people that are very reluctant and very scared. and when that happens then you have serious problems on your hands as we did in 2007. so we're watch it very closely and will be outfield and i encourage all of you keep involved in our offices, up of us have web pages and your comments, web pains are another way to get to us. our staff monitors that and gets it right -- any concerns you might have and some great ideas that we get from you. still government of the people, by the people, and for the people and last thyme checked it was all of you all not just news congress. so stay involved. thank you. >> thank you senator. [applause] [inaudible question] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] >> we can get started. thank you for coming today for the release of our report, and battles, retaliation against sexual assault survivors in the u.s. military. we appreciate your coming today. i thought i'd give you a short overview what to expect over the next hour. we'll start with a video which will be five minutes and then megan rhoads will summarize our findings and then miranda peterson, program and policy director from protecter defenders, will give a few remarks. after that, vicki phipps, who recently last week, left the army we'll get her perspective from someone who was a commandser and witnessed retaliation and experienced retaliation herself, and then at the end we have sayre a bridges whoa will do most speaking in

the video but will also be available to answer questions about her experience in the air force, and i'm sarah senior counsel in the u.s. program and human rights watch. >> reporting sexual assault in the military is not easy. you hear these stories. they all have the same ending. never ends well for the victim. i've been in the military -- i joint in the milner 2008 before all of this happened, my initial goal was to outrank my father, who served for 33 years. >> we interviewed 150 service members and veterans across all branch's the military who experienced retaliation after reporting sexual assault. >> administrative punishment and all that. >> we're talking about serious threats, harassment, loss of job

opportunities, and promotions, disciplinary actions criminal charges being brought against them. essentially for many people they found reporting was the beginning of end of their career. >> often times in the military when you report sexual assault the person who committed the crime against you is somebody who also you work with and also you live with, and so you have to share the same friends same acquaintances, same employers, same managers, and so there's no escape. >> rumors going around within my squad dan i was a troublemaker, liar and i was isolated from my squadron. i didn't feel comfort aable going to squadron functions. i could hear the whispers. she said so and so touched her. i don't believe that. >> once the air force really realized that sierra whereas not

going to give one, she was going to continue to pursue this, i feel that our daughter was retaliated against. one of the particular supervisors had sent out an e-mail to all the other workers win her area, and they were telling those individuals not to even communicate with her. >> we had this concept of team, and they view the person who made the complaint somebody who is not a team player, versus the person who committed the crime. >> in some cases retaliation can mean even more sexual harassment. >> escalates to the point where i felt they were purposely putting me on shifts with the individuals that were assaulting me. there was an incident where fortunately i had to go over to the gentleman's office to retrieve some keys, and he forced me on top of his desk, and he just started masturbating

until he was finished. >> a number of survivors toll us after they reported it, they felt like their supervisor started actively looking for things they had done wrong and were writing. the up for poor performance evaluations, which then can be used to create a record to discharge you from the military. >> she got an award for being an outstanding worker wind her section, but now -- within her section but now all of a sudden she was not the good airman they said she had been and these infractions were hard to disprove because she was late for work but she had permission. she did leave her stuff but this was stuff that was commonly done within her work station. >> i was relieved to finally be leaving what i considered to be my hell, but i was also sad. i felt like a failure. i had a lot of goals and very ambitious, and it just hurt to

see all that kind of go down the drain. >> we know that 62% of our survivors who report are retaliated against. yet there is nobody prosecuted. nobody punished for retaliation last year, or the year before. the year before that. and when in one is held accountable for retaliation sends out a horrible message. the message is, keep going keep doing it. >> the military needs to demonstrate it takes retaliation seriously north by words bibi actions. they need to show the people who retaliate against survivors will be to hold account for people people retall racing is far worse than the sexual assault itself because they had faith the military would support. the and then to have their peers and their supervisors whom they would give their life for treat them this way was devastating. >> good morning. last month defense secretary

ashton carter addressed officers and training about the estimated 18,900 sexual assaults that occurred within the military last year. the described sexual assault as a disgrace in any form, and a particular tall change and a particular disgrace to the u.s. military. wore here to talk about the soldier on the point line of the challenge, those who come forward and report they have experienced sexual assault and harassment. without question, reporting sexual assault in the u.s. military is an act of valor that is, an act of tremendous courage, in the face of danger. reporting is an act that entails service members putting their careers on the line, exposing. thes to their scrutiny of peers and leadership, and laying there in profound and personal trauma. it is an act of valor for many is motivated bay deep devotion

to the military, its values, and the safety of their brothers and sisters in arms. however, our research shows that its an act of val already that not rewarded but punished. our analysis finds military service members who restaurant sexual assault are 12 time as likely to suffer retaliation for doing so than to see their offender, if also a service member, convicted for a sex offense. in the research human rights watch conducted over 250 interviews including 150 with survivors. in order to focus on the current context and count for recent reforms the report we released today is based primarily on the accounts of 75 survivors who are currently serving or let of left service since 2012. the picture of retaliation in these accounts is stark. threats and bullying by peers and supervisors including threats, vandalism attack

series ya social media. the physical and verbal abuse would be intolerable in any context, and the all-encompassing military environment it is also inescapable. military retaliation is not limited to a nine to five work day and can note escaped with two weeks notice. service members are not mere coworker with their perpetrators and their friends. they live together. especially for junior enlist evidence service members the military controls every minute of their time and aspect of their lives. many service men's are found by contract to the military for fixed terms. the retaliation was not limited to service men peer. survivors were label troublemakers by superiors targeted to disciplinary action that was undeserved outer line with common practice. super propers moved victims to poor work assignments removed them to from their career traumatic and cause them to miss out on train examination deployments. survivors who had been on the

career fast tract and received recognition for outstandings performance, suddenly found they were denied medals or given poor performance reviews. this made it more likely they other would not have their enlimits renewed or be administratively discharged. in interview after interview service members told us that reporting sexual assault marked the beginning of the end of their careers. in addition, some survivors faced court-martial or discipline for mine nor misconduct like underage dirk organize adultery that only came to the military's attention as a result of their coming forward to report sexual assault. this is not how a military that wants to end sexual assault treats the soldiers who are coming forward to put a stop to a problem that is plaguing the institution. to be sure, congress and the defense department have made numerous retomorrows to to the military justice system to protect victims rights. over 200 provisions of law secretarial initiatives and independent recommendations have

been undertaken within the last three years. the defense department cites increased rates of reporting of sexual assault as evidence of the progress made. while reporting rape have improved dramatically in recent years, in surveys service members consistently cite fear of row tallation from the perpetrator or the perpetrator's friend or concern about their careers as reasons for not reporting. alarmingly our research indicates that those fears are well grounded. the positive trend in reporting will not continue as victims see that those who report their sexual assault experience retaliation and that no action is taken to address the problem. in other words ending retaliation is critical to effectively addressing sexual snail u.s. military. -- sexual assault in the u.s. military. >> good morning. my name is mr. rap da peterson this be policy directorror protecter defender i recognize

the incredible work of human rights watch in shining thelight on the issue. we have been honored to work with them on this report. i'd also like to acknowledge automatic of the survivors both here today and who contributed to the report for september mon straighting so much strength -- demonstrating so much strange and sharing stories of retaliation and reprical. this report exposes the grave reality for the majority of survivors of rape and sexual assault in the military. retaliation this the norm and is often severe. superiors either look the other way or they're engaging in retaliation as well. this report affirms what we see daily through our network which is that service members members who face retaliation have nowhere within the system to turn and know that most likely no one is going to be held accountable. this leaves survive yours with two practical options either suffer in silence or leave the military that you love. last year, as you heard according to the pentagon's own numbers, 62% of victims who

reported their assaults experienced retaliation and that is a number that has gone unchanged over the past two years. you would think that these numbers would be raising alarms and would result in effective action from military leaders but inset the pentagon seems intent on downplaying the severity of the problem and discrediting victims. by labeling reports of retaliation as perceptions or perceived retaliation the pentagon is insin waiting victims are too sensitive to aclu accurately interpret their environment and what is reported as retaliation is exaggerated responses to harmless behavior such as not been invited to parties or being unfriended on facebook. this approach is shameful, it's offensive and it minimizes the extreme harris ragment and abuse that so many survivors are facing every day. contrary to the pentagon's portrayal, this is not about hurt feelings. as a human rights watch report shows this about survivors

facing relentless harassment and isolation from peers and superiors and going uncheck. about being assigned menial task biz supervisors like picking up garbage after you report your assault. it's like suddenly receiving a downtown graded performance report and ending a promising career. it's about being charged with minor offenses that were only revealed as a result of reporting your rape or being misdiagnosissed with a personality disorder as a way of getting rid of you. this is what retaliation really looks like and it's life-destroying. in refusing to acknowledge the true nature of this problem and failing to hold bad actors conditionable, the pentagon is tacitly sanctioning the ongoing harassment and abuse of survivors who have already suffered so much from their assault. survivors frequently tell us that while the actual saul was devastating, the betrayal of a corrupt system and retaliation by both coworkers and commanders is even more traumatic.

the pentagon must take the energy currently being spent opposing reforms and dismissing retaliation and begin taking steps to prevent assault and to protect and respect survivors of sexual assault. it's time for the military implement a transparent ask professional justice stem and hold those who make the environment a hostile place for victims of rape and sexual assault to account and we hope the president will take action to support this. thank you. >> good morning. i am vicky phipps, retired army captain. my father was in the army and i knew i also wanted to serve as a leader. i was an rot dr. college and joined the army full-time in 2004. after four years i was on track to reach the highest levels of command and i had exceptional reviews. from the moment in rotc, when i learned about the duties and responsibilities that a command position required, awaying that position was my goal.

in 2008 i took my first command position in oklahoma. and we later moved the unit to korea. throughout my military career, receiving and hearing of inappropriate comments were commandplace and continued into this position as well. one of my senior ranking officers began brushing against me and touching me inappropriately. i reported this to my commander and he told me that it had two choices in the situation. he toll me kyrie move you for cause and end your career right now, or you can find a way to deal with it. the perpetrator was the officer that was responsible for the entire battalion's training and mission readiness evaluation. after reporting this situation this officer began to push all of my units schedule evaluations dates further and further into the future. for instance, during a field training exercise, my unit stayed on the field for an extra

five days to complete training. this affected me directly by making me miss the training and readiness goal my commander set for me. these metrics are used at a bulk of an officer's evaluation review. i'm not sure if the secondary retaliatory effects were intentional but the they that's corrected me much more than knowing my own evaluation was in jeopardy. these secondary retaliatory effects were that because my unit missed these trainings and readiness goals my soldiered missed out on recognition for the accomplishments. the lack of visual wreck nix and the recognition of awards and certificates of achievement actually equated to my soldiers missing out on promotion points. this retaliation did not just affect me. it affected over 100 other people. their careers and their future earnings. while in the same unit, over the course of one year, i was

assaulted a total of three times. and absolutely i do think that the climate facilitated these crimes. i chose not to report two of them because i knew that if i reported at that point my career was gone. id a has witnessed what happened to knees unit who reported sexual assault. i saw several cases handled badly. each victim was blamed. information about cases was not kept confidential and victims were branded as liars. i took a chance and reported one of the three assaults that happened that year. i thought that i would be able to change that attitude towards sexual assault victim biz reporting. i thought reporting would stop northwestern traitor from continuing to hard's me or others. when i reports evidence it to my hander his response was the sage when report erred to senior officer earlier deal with and it do your job.

army criminal investigations division cid eventually substantiated my case and the perpetrator confessed to the conduct. that person was golfing buddies with my commander. and he only received a local letter of reprimand so when he went to the next duty station his slate was completely clean not to mention that he didn't even have to register as a sex offender. from that point on my commander method it clear that he wanted me out of his unit and he set me up to fail. an example of a retaliatory action that happened in this unit was my change of command ceremony. as i was leaving two years of command time with my unit. the entire battalion and some member's of he brigade attend this event when my commander gave me a date, i began to plan the event and send out invitations. a day or two later the brigade commander issued a mandatory training event for the entire

brigade. i asked if i should change my date and the commander told know get it done. my ceremony was bare bones only my own unit attended and a few outside guests. despite my outstand egg valuation reviews i did not receive an award. at all. which sent a negative signal to the promotion board. i knew that was the beginning of the end of my career. during my last command position, which was my last two years in the army, a whole new set of problems arose. about six months into the duty position, i was assaulted for the fourth time in my career. i reported it to my commander and my commander had the noncommissioned officer issue an apology. was labeled troublemaker from that day forward. later during the command my first sergeant made an inappropriate sexual remark to me at a training conference.

i councilled him some referred tim the to battalion commander for action. i could not bare the thought of him saying something like there is to my soldiers. my first sergeant and i were counseled in writing way. counseled foe failure to maintain better control over my first sergeant. my battalion commander broke protocol and asked me to step out of the room into he could issue my first sergeant a reprimand. once i stepped out of the the room and closed the door, heard a roaring laughter from my battalion commander music battalion command sergeant major and my first sergeant. i immediately complained about happening of this incident to the inspector general who then referred me to the military equal opportunity office, who then instructed me to address my brigade commander. i met with my brigade commander and he spent 30 minutes intimidating me, trying to get know drop it. from this point i felt that my

entire chain of command was on a mission to undermine my credibility and fire me. i began to receiving metive counseling statements for things like not returning a call or an e-mail immediately. i was subject to several nonstandard unannounced inspections that none of my peers received. and i was given extra paperwork to complete that was not required of any of my peers. after my chain of command and the ig both failed to resolve the ongoing retaliation i wrote to my senator. my brigade and battalion commanders the subjects of my complaints led the congressional inquiry. as a result, my chain of command began an investigation that was supposed to be a look into my battalion commander's behaviors toward me and the retaliation i was receiving. during this investigation my deputy brig grade commander interrogated me for over two hours, asking me, there are any unusual circumstances about your

enlistment? my soldiers and coworkers informed the they were questioned about my mood. after issue ago a command climate survey, my sergeant major met with me ncos and said ma'am tell me everything she does wrong. after neating one of my ncos told me, ma'am, down know what you did hut he is gunning for you. and in 2013, my annual military medical exam triggered the initiation of a medical evaluation board. i became eligible for medical retirement. the retaliation continued. my chain of command threatened to stop the emed process and look further into my medical records themselves. my commander read through any medical records and including some records about my previous sexual assault, and in training meetings he referenced specific issues in my medical reports as examples of what medical issues

soldiers could have within the battalion and to ensure that we pay special attention to these soldiers. two months before the end of my med process i was told i would be send to a u.s. army reserve unit. as an active duty soldier. but i was also able to fight that. however i was once again penalized and i was denied a retirement award. despite how overwhelming these prolonged situations were for me my multiple years as a commander, and a survivor, provided a knowledge base for know anticipate what was coming, and from whom. as well as navigate the field of questions and interrogations, and the bout of probing questions and threats that i knew that i should challenge. i can only imagine how difficult this has to be for the young enlisted personnel who don't know what they don't know.

whistleblower retaliation and reprisal has now outlast mid military career and i wonder when i'll get to move on with my life. on a personal side note, of all the many great leadership lessons that the army has taught me the ability to present and brief the bottom line up front is helpful to me in offering you my point of view. the bottom line, is a have learned, becomes more impactful when dollar figures accompany that issue at hand. so when i look back at my nine years of service i considered all the money the army inved in me as a resource and an asset to the organization, between the multiple clearances, a a did levels civilian schooling both undergraduate and graduate, special military training and schooling, rotc and associated

training temporary duty in various locations and my salary, the arm invested well over $1 million in me. due to the conditions that i was subjected to, i was medically retired from the army. i cannot currently place a dollar amount on what the department of the army will spend on paying for my retirement because that is a life-long payment. the impact of this issue now also begs begs the question, how much will the va system have to contribute to improving my quality of life? because the current systems in the military cannot appropriately address whistleblower reef tallation. disseems to be the very definition of fraud waste and abuse. >> what was striking to us,

basically victims have no recourse. service members unlike civilians, can't quit and they can't sue the military. their exclusive legal protection for retaliation in the professional context is the military whistle blower protection art. our research found that the act has protected zero survivors of sexual assault who experience retaliation after reporting their assault. dod surveys indicate that 32% of people who report a sexual assault experience professional retaliation. using that figure, between 2000 and 2013 we would have expected to see about 5,700 people who may have had professional retaliation that could have been the subject of complaints with the inspector general which oversees the isle blower protection investigations. over that same time period, the department of defense inspector general has a report of 38

complaints. of which five were investigated and none of which resulted in any relief for the victim who reported the sexual assault. so the legal protections for service members as they exist right now are a dead end. service members could also go to the boards of correction of military records and seek relief for an injustice to their record directly. the board are the administrative bodies designated within each of the branches to correct any injustices to service member records. we an lied 18 years of recordses that are available and we found only 51 sexual assault survivors who had even gotten partial relief from the boards of correction what was also surprising is that over the same time period, 98 perpetrators had received correction to their

military record. we found that four time as many perpetrator as victims go to the board have to their records corrected, and this is the case even though victims are actually far more likely to experience administrative actions that could require corrections than perpetrators are. the other important piece of this is holding the people who retaliate to account and despite numerous requests to many sources we were unable to uncover information that indicates they people who retaliate against survivors are held account enable anyway way. we found only four instances of any action being taken at all two investigations which had been opened into retaliation neither of which resulted in punishment for the person doing the retaliation and two cases in which people who harassed and abused a victim were given extra

physical training or extra duty and one of those instances was 15 years ago. the military has the tools to discipline people who are behaving improperly. and we believe they need to be utilizing them against the people who are committing retaliation instead of against the victims. we in -- the reality is unfortunately very few people -- that very few people see justice for these kinds of crimes in general, but in the military, this retaliation is a problem that affects most people who come forward and without addressing that as megan and others have said, the overreaching problem of sexual assault can't be effectively addressed. at a minimum going forward what we would like to see is the military whistleblower protection act strengthened to be a meaningful legal protection for survivors to at least provide them the same level of

protection as civilians get who are designated as whistle-blowers and so it can recommend -- both the inspector general can recommend disciplinary action and the victims can request disciplinary action as part of their rear life and the legal justice for service members act of 2015 is an act we believe will encompass many of the suggestions we would like to see going forward to improve the legal protections for victims. we'd also like to see collateral charges for minor misconduct that come's to the attention of the military as a result of someone reporting a sexual assault, taken off the table as a potential source of punishment for victims who come forward to report. one of the thing wes found is that many people are afraid to report because at the time of the assault they might have been engaging in conduct that is illegal in the military, such as

underage drink ago fraternization or adultery. and that is one of the major barriers for people 0 to come forward. the military says that they actually rarely punish people for those infractions. and that is also the custom in the civilian world. they know it's more important to punish people for the more serious offense of sexual assault than to pun u-them for other -- punish them for other minor infractions but we found that people were actually punished for these -- for collateral misconduct that dime the attention of the military during a report of a sexual assault and ask even if pine-ment is minor letter of rep rye manned or slap on the wrist, that can be devastating to someone's career in the time the military is downsizing and a bad mark can be an excuse to not re-enlist someone. that's another area we like to see legislative action. otherwise dod has taken important steps in ill proving

how it handles sexual assault cases including special victims counsel and we load like to to expand those capacities to include the able to deal with retaliation in addition to the criminal justice system. so with that, we are happy to take any questions you might have. if not i wanted to say we have a number of survivors here in the room, and addition to on the panel, who -- some of whom are active duty and cannot be identified but are willing to share their stories with people and we have other two who are also willing to speak even with their identity being revealed, and we have maria mcforland here in the front row who is available for spanish speaking questions and interviews, and i think we have -- do we have an attorney -- yes okay. right in front of me. sorry.

terry who are here for a different reason. they have put together a petition of 130,000 -- over 130,000. >> over 130,000 signatures with respect to the mjia and they're happy to speak to people if anybody has any questions after this. yes? >> with stars and stripes. i'm wondering if you guys take a position on the ability of commanders to overturn verdicts in these cases? >> well, article 60 was amended about two years ago to make it more difficult for commanders to overturn a verdict. but they still have control over the entire prosecutorial process. and i think -- protecter defenders, our position is that as long as commander have the authority to say who is going to

be -- which cases are going to trial and which cases will be prosecuted that contributes to the division of units and it undermines unit cohesion and couraging people to take sides and ultimately injects bias into the process where instead there should be a more objective and impartial system in place. >> i'm steve with military times. on the -- there's a lot of what has been described as stuff engrained in the culture. you spelled out ideas you had for how to stop retaliation but oh are how should the military change the culture that might have allowed this to happen? >> i mean, it's a difficult question and it will take time,

but i think the key is for them to demonstrate -- i think some of this is beginning to be done or will be done. it's to start by training at the lowest level what to expect and how to treat people. i think ultimately the key will be showing through actions that retaliatory behavior will not be tolerated...

and what are we looking toward having the people that allow these things to go on, when is it going to follow there record? how can we start making this follow there career? >> that is a good question. this is -- i mean, one of the things in the legal service to file legal justice for servicemembers act is to be able to hold accountable leaders who knew or should have known about retaliation and failed to take action. that is one of the expanded definitions of prohibited personnel practices in the proposed law that might be helpful in terms of putting responsibility on commanders for ensuring that this kind of behavior does not happen. also if there is disciplinary action and the move toward holding people accountable that is to be

done and transparent invisible way so that people can see across the branches that this is not being tolerated and that it will have an impact on the record going forward. it will be an important part of it. >> thank you. you heard that whistleblowers have a tough road ahead. is there anything that is going on that could go back and review their dismissal as opposed to honorary versus not honorary. hopefully we have made better strides. >> you have given us a good lead into our next. thank you. we have actually there is a discharge review process all problem although problem of people who were wrongfully discharged from particularly in the military mental health discharges. very common.

other kinds of discharges as well for misconduct related to trauma stemming from sexual assault the resulted in bad discharges and can be stigmatizing and inhibit people from getting the benefits that they need. and also certain types of jobs and it is a huge problem for people who have had that. and the remedy is to go to the boards of correction military records. we are actually doing because the whistleblowers for more protective of active service members who feel that they have experienced retaliation after reporting that is the focus of this report which also has relied on active service members were is our next report will look

further back and what happened to people who have bad discharges and how difficult it is for the remedy that. >> high. i think one of the things that we see a lot of is the people do not understand the military members do not understand what there dd 214 says. a think that is probably an area that needs to be addressed because there are codes on their. unless you know what they are you have no way to do anything about them. for example, there was an article not long ago it's about the secret codes. my husband and i were were scrambling to grab our 214's and take a look at what they are. so i. so i think that is something that probably needs to be addressed thank you.

>> and that is true. we found that in our research people do not understand what the discharge meant until after the fact and it was too late. that can be devastating. that is in one of our recommendations to have a special victims counsel's so that they are insured their rights are protected. people especially in the midst of trauma might be anxious to get out of the service that they agree to any kind of discharge. so without understanding the repercussions, that is an important issue.