WASHINGTON — The Air Force has put a female two-star general in charge of a beefed-up office responsible for sexual assault prevention and response, elevating its status at a time of increasing political pressure to crack down on sexual abuses.
Maj. Gen. Margaret H. Woodward, who ran the U.S. portion of the allied air campaign over Libya in 2011, is running the reorganized office. She will report to the vice chief of the Air Force. The move won praise from the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., who called Woodward a “breath of fresh air.”
The office previously was run by a lieutenant colonel, Jeffrey Krusinski, who was arrested in May and charged with sexual battery. That incident escalated public debate over whether the military was taking seriously the problem of sexual abuse.
“I welcome her voice to this fight,” McKeon said.
The Pentagon estimated in a recent report that as many as 26,000 military members may have been sexually assaulted last year, up from an estimated 19,000 assaults in 2011, based on an anonymous survey of military personnel.
An Air Force spokesman, Lt. Col. John Dorrian, said the office will be given additional resources.
