Air Force officials have agreed to expand their investigation into sexual assaults at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas after another 69 cases were discovered in military records – cases that did not lead to prosecution.
The broader examination was ordered following pressure from U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, who criticized the initial investigation and findings of an Air Force task force as incomplete and inadequate.
Revelations of the additional cases – disclosed in the last page of a task force report released late last week – bring to 114 the number of assault cases handled by Sheppard officials since 1993.
Sheppard officials told The Denver Post in early February that they could find only 45 cases for roughly the same time period. They declined late last week to explain the discrepancy.
The task force, which took less than two weeks to conduct its investigation, also reported that “many students” stationed at the Air Force’s largest training base are reluctant to report assaults for fear they would be disciplined for drinking or other issues occurring at the time of the incidents. But the report, released Thursday by Gen. Donald G. Cook, commander of the Air Education and Training Command, did not divulge specific statistics.
In a statement, Hutchison criticized the internal investigation as inadequate, saying task force members interviewed only recent transfers to the facility and not women who have served there in the past several years.
The senator also said she is concerned that hundreds of students reported that they lack confidence in the base’s handling of sexual assault allegations.
“The findings released are far from complete,” Hutchison said. “In fact, they raise additional questions.”
Air Force officials told Hutchison that they would deepen their inquiry and seek interviews with every woman who has been stationed at Sheppard during the past five years, a Pentagon spokeswoman confirmed.
The task force’s findings were released a day after Gen. T. Michael Moseley, Air Force vice chief of staff, emphasized in testimony before members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday that large percentages of Sheppard women expressed a vote of confidence in how the base handles sexual assault allegations.
In that hearing, lawmakers scolded Pentagon leaders, saying they must act to reform their approach to the handling of cases throughout the military, or Congress will.
Sheppard is the latest installation to come under scrutiny following a Denver Post report that more than two dozen Sheppard servicewomen sought sexual trauma counseling at First Step Inc., a civilian rape-crisis center in the adjacent city of Wichita Falls, between 2002 and 2003, saying they had been attacked by other service members. Five cases involved gang rapes.
Many women told victim advocates at the center that they feared repercussions if they reported the crimes.
Within days of the report, Air Force Secretary James Roche ordered an internal review, sending a 22-member panel to Sheppard. According to an Air Force statement, the panel interviewed more than 1,000 people and surveyed another 5,000.
“Based on the extensive interviews and survey results, the review found that students at Sheppard AFB believe they are in a safe working, living and training environment,” the report said. “A majority of students (90 percent) think wing leadership effectively handles sexual assault allegations when reported and encourages reporting. The great majority of female students (95 percent) indicated they feel safe on base.”
But near the end of the report, officials acknowledged that dozens of new cases were discovered that “did not result in either courts-martial or Article 15 nonjudicial punishment. The command is reviewing these to confirm the disposition of each was appropriate. Additionally, there are 10 allegations currently under investigation at Sheppard AFB.”
Hutchison criticized those characterizations, stressing that the numbers could be portrayed differently.
“I’m concerned that there are 10 reported cases of abuse currently under investigation and many more that have produced inconclusive results,” Hutchison said. “It also appears that some 10 percent of students – that’s hundreds of respondents – apparently lack confidence in base leadership’s handling of sexual assault allegations. That number should be close to zero. And I’m concerned when survey results indicate that a number of women continue to believe the base is not a safe place.”
Todd Ensign, director of New York-based Citizen Soldier, questioned whether Sheppard has tried to hide the true picture of the problem, saying officials were putting a positive spin on the problem and rushing a crucial investigation.
“This looks like part of a pattern of coverup,” said Ensign, an advocate for military veterans.
“At the very least they are trying to minimize the scope of the problem, which is what they continue to do,” he said. “Generally, the response within the military has been to undercount these things and make things go away.”
Miles Moffeit can be reached at 303-820-1415.
