Ernst Secures Victory to Prevent Sexual Assault in the Military
DoD has appointed an official to oversee sexual assault prevention and has already begun updating Senator Ernst.
WASHINGTON – After years of her work, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), a combat veteran, secured a key victory to prevent sexual assault in the military. She discussed with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth how the Department of Defense (DoD) has appointed Steve Erickson to oversee its Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO). Erickson has already begun updating Senator Ernst, so they can work together to end sexual assault in the military.
During the hearing, Ernst also pointed out how Iran has American blood on its hands, including how it backed the October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks that took the lives of 43 Americans. Ernst continued her calls for DoD to pass a clean audit by 2028.
Watch Senator Ernst’s full remarks here.
“Secretary Hegseth, I do want to thank you because we've had many discussions about this. You have appointed Steve Erickson as the Executor of Director of Force Resiliency, and he will oversee the Department's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office…and he will directly report to you on the issue of sexual assault within our military. You've been very responsive on this issue, and I commend you for that. I have already received my first briefing by Mr. Erickson. To continue building on this progress, I'm going to hold quarterly meetings with the SAPRO, and we want to make sure that we continue the momentum that we are seeing within the Department on that,” said Senator Ernst.
“First of all, Senator, I want to thank you and other members of this committee for the work you've done on that issue. And I think in large part, and you'll see this in this budget, we continue to fund the programs, which have seen efficacy. And so I think a lot of these were newer programs, new initiatives, new emphasis put in place that we have simply sought to maintain and accelerate, and you see that in that in this budget. And thankfully, we've seen this year sexual assault numbers decrease. One is too many, as we've said before, but a decrease is a good trend to see and we want to continue that,” said Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
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