Washington, DC (RI) — Iowa Senator Joni Ernst is proposing that the Pentagon provide quarterly reports to Congress about sexual assaults and prevention efforts in all branches of the military. The requirement is in the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, which recently cleared the US Senate Armed Services Committee.
Ernst released an autobiography five years ago and wrote about being a survivor of sexual assault in college and domestic violence in her marriage. Ernst, who served in the Iowa National Guard for 23 years, has pressed the military to address cases of sexual assault within its ranks.
The quarterly report Ernst proposes would require the military to provide Congress with a tally of all reported sexual assault cases, how many were still being investigated, and the outcomes of the rest. A Pentagon report released last year indicated that for the first time in 10 years, there had been a decline in reported cases of sexual assault among active duty soldiers. Still, nearly seven percent of active duty female soldiers and over one percent of male soldiers said they’d been subjected to unwanted sexual contact between 2021 and 2023.
