'Profoundly chilling message': Pentagon eyes scrapping programs for sex assault victims

The Pentagon, under Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, is reportedly planning to scrap regulations meant to help victims of sexual assault in the military, according to reporting in The Intercept.

The action is in response to President Donald Trump's executive order slashing diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in government agencies.

According to The Intercept, Deputy Secretary of Defense Stephen Feinberg called on top officials and "ordered them to comb through their organizations’ regulations — identified in a spreadsheet attached to the memo — and specify whether any rules flagged in the executive order apply to them and indicate whether they should be altered or rescinded."

According to a memorandum obtained by The Intercept, the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response program that "tracks sexual violence in the military" was one of the programs being considered for elimination.

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Reporters Nick Turse and Jessica Washington wrote that "SAPR provides military survivors of sexual assault with mental and physical heath care services, advocacy services, and legal assistance." The program also "provides trainings on how to prevent sexual assault and collects data on sexual violence within the military."

Victims' advocates feared "that removing these rules would not only potentially violate federal law, it would also have a 'chilling effect' on survivors," the reporters wrote.

Erin Kirk-Cuomo, co-founder of a group that works to end sexual violence in the military, said that "without SAPR, armed forces culture would revert to the days of the 'Tailhook' scandal: an infamous incident of mass sexual violence in the military that sparked national outrage and action. She fears a return to a time when 'sexual assault survivors are ignored, inappropriately discharged to silence them, and at worst, pushed into self-harm.'”

Josh Connolly, with human rights organization Protect Our Defenders, said that the regulation "requires the military to track incidents of sexual violence, a vital part of taking this issue seriously."

"They would truly be sweeping this issue under the rug and it would send a profoundly chilling message to survivors of sexual assault, harassment without question," Connolly said.

Read The Intercept article here.