Victims’ advocates cite one of the biggest victories as the act’s creation of a civilian review board with members knowledgeable in both military and civilian law. The board will meet twice a year to review and provide feedback on (1) how the DoD investigates and prosecutes these cases and (2) whether military laws and procedures should be updated to better reflect current legal thought.
Other NDAA provisions include:
- requiring each military branch to have special victims’ units;
- barring the recruitment of anyone convicted of felony sexual assault;
- discharging or dismissing convicted sex offenders from the military (about 36 percent of them remained in the military in FFY 2011, according to this 2012 report);
- requiring military leaders to address why 47% of service members told DoD that they were afraid to report sexual assaults due to fear of retaliation and more than half stated that they did not believe their confidentiality would be protected if they came forward; and
- requiring all branches to (a) review sexual assault reports to determine if, and why, those making the reports were separated from the military and (b) inform those who left because of retaliatory personnel actions how to correct their service records.
