Undersecretary for personnel and reiness testifies on recommendations of the independent review commission to prevent military Sexual Assaults and provide care and support for victims. [inaudible conversations] good afternoon, everyone. Welcome. Will callhe committee of military personnel submmittee to ord, and thi hearing today isbout an update on the implemention of recommendations of the independent review commission on Sexual Assault in the mitary and establishment of the office of special trialounsel. We are delhted that you a all here. This is a very impornt hearing because, in fact,e a doing a benchmarkeviewf the work of the dod as it implements the particular recommendations. Asou all of indendent review commission released the report and july 2021, so it is important that we closely monitor implementation of those recommendations. Also, last Years National fense authorization act included historic military justic reforms, so we need to ensure the implementation of ose pvisions is clely aligne with the ircs recommendations. The implementation of the 82 irc recommendations is urgently needed, because the suation is creasingly dire. The crisis of military xual assault and harassmencontinues unabated. The fy2021 department of defense annual report on Sexual Assault in the military delivered catastrophic news, over 8 of activeduty women and about. 5 of aiveduty men indicated experiencing some form of unwanted sexua contact. Foromen this is the highest prevalence rate reported sin the annual studyas instituted. And the news doestet better. In 2021, survey resultslso found that 29 pcent of servicewomen expienced Sexual Harassment. 29 . A 5 increase, and men and women ike experienced greater workplace hostility compared with findings from 2018. There have bn plenty of studies that have indicated that Sexual Harassment begets Sexual Assault. Servicemembers Sexual Assault reports increased by 13 in 2021 compared to 2020, yet the overall rate of those who experienced Sexual Assault and came forward to report has decreased. So its really the perfect storm, the worst of the worst because you have numbers going up and jeff reporting going down. Finally, and alarmingly, the data also shows that trust in the military to protect privacy of ctims, ensure safety, and treat victims with dignity and respect is going down. It is vital for the department and services to implement and execute the ircs recommendationexpeditiously for the readiness of our force and the safety and wellbeing of our Service Members. It is essential for our military leaders to address a culture of harassment and mistrust. To teach our Service Members they can not only trust their leaders enough to follow them into harms way, but to also protect them from danger within the ranks. Sexual assault and harassmentn our military is a readiness issue. It makes our force less lethal; it makes recruiting a challenge. It makes young men and women scared to serve; and it often damages or cuts short the military career of the victim. A july 2022 memo from the army showed that the propensity to serve has gone down 9 , and the reasons include 34 do not like the lifestyle, and 28 fear the issue of Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault. We cannot protect and defend the United States when were protting and defending our own servicemembers from the enemy. We cannot ask our children to serve, when their parentsant be sure their commands wont protect them from abuse. I have spent the last ten years battling this cancer and with this most recent report, i know we still have a long way to go. But i also know the department is working hard to implement new Prevention Strategies and a completely new and independent military Justice System to eradicate this scourge. I feel confident that if the department of defense keeps their foot on the pedal and congress doesnt turn a blind eye, this is the beginning of the end for those who wish to harm their brothers and sisters in arms. I will not be sitting as chair of the military personnel subcommittee come next year, but i implore like colleagues to regularly provide oversight on the implementation of the iocs recommendation. I will still be watching and i will still be speaking out. I will mak sure the voices of our servicemembers are heard and heard loudly. I would like to hear from the first panel the status of the ircs recommendations and implementation. What has been completed so far . What is going well . What challenges are you facing . What are your timelines for full implementation . What resources do need to get this right for our Service Members . From the second panel i would like to hear how your military Department Plans to execute dods irc implementation plan, and what progress your services have made in implementing military Justice Reform . What are your timelines . What resources do you need . Additionally, how are you going to increase trust in your military leaders . What cultural changes do you intend to make so that the military really is a place that treats all members with dignity and respect . Before introduce our first panel i would like to offer the ranking member, mr. Mr. Gal, an opportunity to make opening remarks. I think the chawoman and i share your conces about, lets say the sense of urgency or lk thereof at times a addressing these challenges facing servicemembers, their lders and our military. The irc was created by the Biden Administration 2000 with the handling of Sexual Assault, harassment and victim support of the military. Some of the commissions recommendations are worthwhile but others i find problematic. The department is use the irc to legitimize a wave of new regulation with minimal inlvement from the legislative branch, dods on press releases highlight recommendations quote have are beg implemented wherever possible. Unfortunately that has come with minimal plan, arbitrary goals a little regard to staffing requirements. I was troubled about the department has pla are nearly 2000 socalled prevention workforce staffers over seven ars while there still no coherent plan for a new convention program. The impetus behind these new hires is as was explained to us concerning you Sexual Assault prevalence data. Indeed it isery concerning. Recent survey data show the prevalence of unwanted sexual ntact has increased from 6. 2 to 8. 4 . It indicates over 60 the Sexual Assault go unreported. The same data show servicemember trust in military Justice System has plummeted in the last two years after being stable for dedes, as a chairwoman pointed out those nearly 30 drop in key metric senator gillibrand privacy, trust in military justice. Thats a big alarm bell i think for all of us. Im concerned, however, we have torn down rather than build up the role of leaders at t ground level in supporting and embracing victims, or being leaders at all any meaningful sense. We need policies they give victims and leaders clarity but funneling victims in of trauma into bureaucratic program that is divorced from leadership may not always be the best answer. Its my belief leaders on the ground a best positioned to rebuild the sense of trust, security and privacy. In person victim services, hopefully some of that pressure will use now that the pandemic restrictions have been lifted, dod is pressing ahead with a massive military justice and prevention workforce hiring plan and again, i opinion we dont have a clear plan delivered by dod forhat these new hires intend to accomplish how the rules of uniformed personnel will change and how they will impact military carr paths, the standard response that weve heard from the administration is more bodies, my powerpoint, were offices and i hope to learn toy thathe department has a coherent plan to respondo these trds, i thank you, madam chairwoman, i yield back. In creating special trial counsels as to whether or not action should move forward for a courtmartial. And the other thing important to point out, the reason whye have professionals now were going to be focused on prevention it wasnt taken seriously,hey were necessarily professionals, they were even interested doing the job somewhere even found guilty of Sexual Assault, professionalizing the universe is very important, with that i welcome our first panel in the personnel and readiness of the department of defense, no stranger to us since he used to sit with us, we welcome here today. Chairwoman spear, banking number gaagher and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss the status of dods implementation of recommendations approved by secretary austin from the 2021 independent review commission on Sexual Assault in the military also known as irc, madam chair as a departing congress at the end of this term i want to begin by ting the opportunity to thank you for your your Extraordinary Public Service and your dedication to armed services. Your legislative accomplishments, passion and constant dedication to work with the department has mad us better and improve lives of countless Service Members. Thank you. Most imptant you have stood up for those who have often in most need of allies in support, your exceptional advocacy will be forever appreciated by Service Members, now in many years into the future indeed t historic and unprecedented nature of the reforms we are discussing today which lay a foundation for progress that will outlast each of us in no smart part because of your leadership. Secretary austin has made addressing sexual aault of top priority. In 2021 he signed apple mentation roadmap, memorandum a comprehensive approach and recommendation across four tiers. And to implement necessary enhancement to infrastructure, apply best practice strategies, expand r d programs and practices and expand programs and policies outside of the dods purview. To ensure expedia implementation on the isu reforms works closely with the services to provide guidance and oversight mechanisms to ensure implementation stays on track. These mechanisms include the irc outcome of metrics evaluation that provides a framework for apple mentation ineffectiveness and regular progress reviews to enter through Senior Leadership and membership from across ost and the services, the love of oversight is a pressure from previous reforms efforts in this area and not only are we making progress were Building Infrastructure needed to make real lasting change in a brandnew dedicated prevention workforce which apple operating capacity will include over 2000 personnel stationed around the world, the department has worked to create a targeted recruitment plan to support the services in their hiring efforts and i establish a dedicated direct hiring authority which assigned last week to more quickly identify and onboard prevention workforce professionals. We are also working closely with the military services to professionalize the departments victim response workforce which includes ensuring we have the capacity to focus on victims ensuring independence of our response workforce by placing it in the chain of command and standing up a Training Center of excellence to standardize skills across the services. Another significant entertaining undertaking is military Justice Reform through the implementation of the office of special trial counsel which i know you will hear about in greater detail from the next panel. This effort will ensure independent expertise and prosecutorial decisions and essential to the restoring trust and the perpetrators of Sexual Assault accountable. The fy 21 annual report on Sexual Assault shows what our prior activities in the irc on Sexual Assault in the military have already documented Sexual AssaultSexual Harassment remain persistent and corrosive problems in our force. While the numbers are deeply disappointing, they largely reflect before the department began implementation of this historic reform, the findings of this report reinforce the urgent need to continue this unprecedented action, the department is undertaking to address Sexual Assault in our military. The department has clearly heard from her Service Members the action and change are desperately needed and the department is answering that call. Getting this right requires we move our expeditiously as possible to implement change while also ensuring we do not rush to failure and if we rationale to pieces and establish trust with her Service Members again. Progress is far has been made possible with constructive leadership emphasis in your continued engagement on the issue, deliver problematic and procedural changes chairwoman spear we all recognize and solve the problem of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment we have the result to effectively positively and lasting change as secretary of defense austin has stated on more than one occasion we have a true opportunity to lead in we will. Again i want to express my gratitude to you in this committee for the leadership and support as we partner together on this cortical issue, thank you and i look forward to your questions. Take you secretary i will recognize myself for five minutes to ask questions. Let me start with the independent investigation of Sexual Harassment. Can you provide us an update of the departments efforts in this regard . Thank you for that question, the independent investigation is something that was part of the fy 2022, without being there we are making progress on that we are providing guidance to the services we expect to have a mantra policy in place very soon, we are on track to meet the timeline that was sent out in the fy 22 to me that process. There will be independent investigations, it will not be done under the chain of command by someone assigned within the unit to provide that investigation who is not skilled to do so. Yes, maam. What we did we took it a step further, the higher see recommendation that we provide an independent investigator, what we have done we stated we will provide an independent trained investigator to do the independent investigations but right now we are laying out the guidance for the services, you can ask the services they are making progress as well, what we will do we are in place to meet the timelines set forth in the 22 nda. I noticed she is in the audience today will remember her sister was Sexual Harassment subsequently murdered and dismembered, what progress has been made in adding sexualharassment reports to the serial Offender Program . Thank you, maam that was a recommendation of the irc as well and something that we are working on, in regard to that we run across Privacy Policy concerns of implementation and that, what were going to do we are going to study this, commission has study to look at this and how we can implement this to the catch data frame untrained database at the same time trying to take care of the privacy and policy concerns that are out there. It is something that we are working on working to implement. May be for the record you could clarify what the privacy concerns, it already exists for Sexual Assault victims so they do so voluntarily. And it is kept private except for those able to look at it. Ab can do that later. You could be training 2000 conventional specialist as the new workforce is trained where are you going to assign them first. Thank you for that question the prevention workforce is an integral part of what were going to do what we need to do in order to gain trust with her Service Members and to have a professional workforce that is going to be dedicated to training not only our Service Members but working with the chain of command. One of the things that we continually hear from the chain of command they want to do the right thing but they dont have the tools this is going to provide them with the tools in order to do that, our emphasis is what weve been able to do we know the high risk installations are a First Priority those are the ones we build the workforce we want to make sure they have the workforce in place first but as we continue to build the workforce we need to make sure he gets throughout the military and the prevention workforce throughout our global force. You already identified the highrisk facility . Can you make that available to the community as well. We can provide it. Let me just in with the issue we spend a lot of money, a lot of time on command Climate Survey they provide a wealth of information about whats going right and was going wrong i want to do what progress is being made in implementing the recommendation in terms of creating polls surveys which are short and can be rolled out very quickly what corrective action plans and how were going to measure the climate at the unit level, youre right on the demand Climate Surveys are very important, it is a tool that we are we working right now, the pulse surveys are going to be part of that survey as well and we built us. Our plan Going Forward is to use the command Climate Surveys in the polls surveys and have the prevention workforce use the data to implement plans at the local level, its not that were doing everything at a National General way to do everything but they can construct and really build the curriculum and how their training personnel based on the local research and data that theyre getting from the command Climate Surveys. When will they be operational, when will you roll them out. Were in the process of building this right now i think right now its something that were building were working on it, we hope to have it again, the construction policy this fall as to how to go forward with that and carried out. Policy but not the actual survey. Were doing command Climate Surveys right now weve always done those but to restructure them and rebuild them and make them so we can use them in the prevention were in the process of changing those right now and, with the new format. Ranking gallagher you are reckless. The most recent report shows the alarming decline in trust in dod systems and leadership, i guess the most general level i love your thoughts on what we can do to the decline in particular how you empower our uniformed leaders at the ground level to rebuild this trust. Take you for that question mr. Gallagher, we need to build services and is something we need to do to work to rebuild it is going to start with leadership at the top and the first come into office and we implement all to 8080 recommendations and weve been in was Service Secretaries and the chief of the services and the chairman of the joint chief are all on board with this and they agree we need to do this to take care of her Service Members and is the chairwoman set as well as the readiness issue that we need to make sure we are implementing, i also stated as i traveled around and other members of our leadership in the commanders on the ground they want to do the right thing but they always have had the tools to do that, the irc in the prevention workforce is the tool thats going to enable them to do that and is so important is good work with her Service Members and also work with the commanders on the ground that are leading the troops to ensure that they have the tools necessary to create a positive environment and every Service Members treated with dignity on the ground. I mentioned burnout among those that care for victims and increase during the pandemic, the data to prove it. What do you think we can do to address the looming retention issues in these positions. I think the burnout issue is definitely a lot of our Service Members the collateral duties in the chairwoman has said this is the duty that somebody is tasked with to do and are given whether carrying out the regular duties as well and we see the tool to fix this is the prevention workforce by professionalizing and creating professional workforce thats going to work on this problem thats good to be dedicated doing prevention and later on we can establish the response workforce by having the dedicated workforce is there, thats good relief the burnout and people are going to be doing multiple tasks and theyre not going to do this as well as a collateral duty as well and inexistent that is fair to do the training to work with victims and itll be in place that should help relieve some of the burnout we have to go out and find them. The services are working to hire them right now do we have any timeline. We dont have an exact timeline were hoping to make an impact coming up, were hiring some tissue and to build the professional workforce that we need that will help us achieve the goal and we will get it done sooner. That is for prevention. The response workforce will come later, again the resources to build infrastructure and build the workforce that we need and to get those on time that will enable us to kinda continue our work and get this done sooner. What i been wrestling with for taking a lot of this out in the local units out of the chain of command in the bureaucracy and they have a responsibility to create a healthy culture and environment every single day we dont want them to be able to put on autopilot or say that someone elses rispones ability, thats what my comments were intended to convey. I agree the officer is always responsible for the climate in the chain of command and responsible for the climate of their command that is not going to change. Were talking to commanders and what were hearing, they need tools that will help them better provide the training that is necessary to make sure they know what is needed and created the prevention workforce and work with her Service Members thats what were giving through the implementation. The gentleman yields back the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for five minutes,. Think you chairwoman good to see you mr. Secretary, i want to get a deeper sense of the architecture of what youre talking about for instance you talk about the prevention workforce, the chairwoman was asking about in the curriculum and i just tried to figure out how to explain to folks, how to explain to them im trying to get a sense of what they should be expecting, im having a hard time understanding with the prevention workforce and building that up in the idea that you have people embedded at the different establishments that they can turn to to engage with can you explain a little bit more greater detail. Thank you for that question congressman and hopefully my statement will help me clarify to answer the questions of your constituents and we assign people in order to do this and you will be the victims advocate if somebody has and where they need to see somebody. Our goal is to professionalize the workforce, should be a civilian workforce, the prevention workforce to do the training and is not just Sexual Assault, Sexual Harassment begin a cover child abuse and other subjects as well and they will be there to do the training to work with the Service Members to help guide them there going to use the data from the surveys that were doing, whether be the pulse survey or the command Climate Survey to create based on the information and data and to conform the instruction that theyre going to do based on the research that they have and individuals to work and take care of individuals and victims when they needed and creating the professional workforce, it is going to enable them to be dedicated to the task that they have the job that they have unlike today a collateral duty for a lot of individuals that they have to do this outside of their main core job that they have. The idea your team at joint base will be working with the training curriculum and the entirety of the Service Members in the community there at the base, is that right . Itll be a team of individuals, we are going to have people there at the installation level, the command levels and people working at the unit levels that will go and everybody understands was expected of them, our Service Members, we expect to be treated with dignity and they are basically going to teach them right from wrong and what needs to be done and how we can treat the child or and how we take care of her team members. What feedback are you getting from the different enter Different Services and the implementation and im curious will be hearing from them as well but im just curious from your position in your perch the major challenge that you been hearing and how this will be implement in. Also the services have been on board with this, will be put out the polling requirements they met those requirements there working hard to make sure that we get this plan implement and, i meet with the secretary on a regular basis and this is the topic that we discussed and i mentioned with the Service Secretaries as well as the Service Chiefs on this, is receiving all the attention from the top level down and there working hard to implement. Again if it services have concerns and you would be better addressing that question to them. You reading challenges when it comes to manpower for instance to have personnel and im sure their funding challenge, what are the main challenges. Mr. Kim i think youre right on their, i think its right to say i dont want to speak for them but what im hearing from them that we have the resources and we have the funding to implement the plan and build the infrastructure and higher the workforce that we need and theyre expected to do and for them to have it done on a timely manner, last year last physical year we did not get appropriations for this until six month into the fiscal year, thats going to happen again thats going to set us back general woman from texas ms. Escobar is recognized for five minute. Thank you, madam chair so wonderful to see you mr. Steve meadows, thanks for the time that youre taking today and thanks for the ongoing dialogue that we are having on a number of issues, i want to raise something and i been in conversation with chairwoman about in the subcommittee is, i want to make sure the subcommittee also is aware but for the subcommittee purposes, i wanted to share a story from fort bliss, there was a servicemember, christian and Army Private First class who was accused of Sexual Assault and during questioning he acknowledged that he had sex with another servicemember when she was severely intoxicated and could not obviously that was Sexual Assault, despite that admission he was not detained on pretrial confinement and he then went on to sexually assault another person. And pretrial confinement is obviously in the military different from the way it exists in civilian life and under other circumstances in civilian life, someone would have access to bail and they will be able to postpone and get out and even though they were under pretrial detention, in the military it is essentially taking away somebodys liberty completely without access to bonds. It is a serious decision to make however, it does seem to me that this is something that we need to explore a little bit further, i personally would like to do a deep dive on what happened at fort bliss and why he was not placed in pretrial confinement. I would like for leaders at the pentagon to take a deep dive on that as well and to take a look whether we need to change policy and whether this needs to be part of a larger or an additional package of reform that we might have to legislate on, as you and i have talked about this, im wondering if you have any thoughts that you can share with me or the committee on this. Congresswoman, you know one of my goals and what are the things im striving for is to ensure were taking care of her Service Members and were taking care of our families, its very important to me as i know it is to you and the other members of this committee to ensure that they treated with dignity and respect, those that are serving the country should be able to serve without the risk of Sexual Harassment or Sexual Assault or any type of harassment. We want to ensure that we are taking care of that, our Service Members and we are doing right by them and protecting them and i guarantee you i will be working on that to make sure that we do that. Two regards to how we can change and make differences those are questions that are answered by the judge advocate general for the services as to what we can do pertaining to the case that you mentioned to why the individual was in the pretrial confinement that we could take them for the record and bring that up to the judge advocate and see what they can do and what options they may have to address this issue Going Forward, i guarantee you taking care of our Service Members and their families is a top priority of the department of defense and we want to ensure that we can do what we can to make sure that happens. I appreciate that and i really would love to further engage on whether what reform could and should look like Going Forward. Thank you so much madam chair i yield back. The gentlewoman yields back, the gentlewoman from pennsylvania is recognized for five minutes. This may be your last hearing, i hope we will do this again in december. If we for whatever reason i would just wanted to express my appreciation and gratitude for the work that youve done in the past you have blaze for all of us, you will definitely be missed and i hope that we will continue on in your model of leadership and i appreciate the chance to see you on the other side and you guys are effectively doing that across the services. In 32 of women and 31 even do not report to lack of trust in that i am onto magnitude of the size of the problem were talking about and you also mentioned that these folks will be doing, how did you scale the size of the workforce, however, various points pressure points and checkpoints to test if the workforce is right size, oversize or undersized so we might realize that we have over clubbed under club and what kind of metrics are we using to understand the efficacy of these groups or is this something were building on the fly, i know that is a lot of questions, my next and last question this is a unique issue with Large Organizations mostly for profit organizations in this country and in the globe that are doing this in adjustment as well are we tapping into our civilian counterparts to understand what best practices are there. Thank you for that question taking care of her Service Members and making sure they treated with respect to dignity is our top priority in helping us get left with the problem so we can gain back trust, we must lead at this in the department of defense and the secretary has done this since day one Going Forward in implementing the isu this is not something we thought it going to the recommendations, we are working using research to inform the decisions that we make and how rebuilding the workforce, both looking at information that is provided the center for disease, cdc also looking at and how we can do this, how we decided at this number, we told the services that they need to go out and they need to do manpower studies of what would be the right member and every installation and that we never done before we included the National Guard its a big part of this and ensuring they get have a prevention workforce which is never been done before. And certain places you going to start with, and have a runway early on in checkbox that are ongoing, i would assume so, we are building this but not everything is set in stone. It wouldnt be right by us were done the right way to say this is the way its done and this is the way were going to do it we need to take back and see whats working and how we plan to move forward to ensure correcting ourselves as we move along, we do need a higher number and this doesnt need to be as high. I hope to have the conversations later on and see the success later on to assess same questions again i know labor is going to be a huge issue in the civilian economy is low unappointed rate, what are you doing i guess ive run out of time largely, and for the record in a similar responsible job i yield back. The gentleman can answer the question. Thank you madame chairwoman were doing several things as i stated the direct authority to go out and allow the services to hire just now into these fields, working with colleges and universities, Georgia State has been a university that we worked with and to build a pipeline to see how we can bring people them from colleges into this workforce, there are challenges in with academy doing as well as it is with unemployment been as low as it is, we have to get out there we want to show people the department of defense can be an employer of choice, that something were working for and this is a totally different issue but it is something we are working to strive to show we can be the employee of choice are individuals that want to come and serve their country, that doesnt always have to be in uniform and theres other ways to do that, thank you, the gentlewoman yields back, the gentlewoman from california executives for five minutes. Thank you madame chairwoman for all of your leadership on this important issue we were told we will have one more hearing and i could get my final goodbyes just yet. But good to seal, one of the recommendations is to allow flexibility to take nonchargeable time off for seeking services or time for recovery from Sexual Assault, will the dod allows Service Members a critical time off to help recover . Definitely i think any time again Sexual Assault it is behavior that is unacceptable under u. S. Military and the victims have to suffer through this is not something that we want and we need to change his behavior and that is the big focus that we are doing but in these instances where any individuals assaulted or they need time off we want them to go to the mts and be treated and be seen by a physician so they can get that time off and ensure that theyre getting treated properly and have the proper time off in order for them to recover. Thank you. I represent san diego we have a lot of family members and folks that serve in the marine corps and i have to answer to the parent other doing and unfortunately the marine corps has the were Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment rates in the dod with 13. 4 or 2204 women Service Members who reported their instant to dod. Is it a command, climate, culture, leadership and what you doing to fix it so i dont have to keep answering these questions from my constituents in the marine corps of the highest rates which is a new problem. Representative jacobs, we dont want you to keep having to answer those questions. As you know every individual to be expected that that child is going to be treated with respect and dignity that they will be taking care of, they will be safe, obviously there are risks to professional military career but Sexual Assault, Sexual Harassment should not be one of those. It is going to take leadership at the top and we have the leadership at the top its dedicated to making the changes. Enter all the services. And we need to institute a cultural change and let people know that this type of behavior is not acceptable and will be tolerated anymore, that is really what were working to do, we are creating this prevention workforce to give our commanders on the ground the tools that they need so they can work with her Service Members and let them know and give them a proper training that they need and give the commanders the proper training as well we are working towards that working to change a culture its a big part of what were doing and about protecting her Service Members and taking care of them and tried to visit different installations and trying to talk to different Service Members out there, there is one individual that i remember, one case of Sexual Assault in a command can disrupt the whole command it is really coercive and what it can do and how interrupted in their readiness. These are things that were trained to overcome and were going to work towards that to ensure that we do it. I dont want you to have those conversations with parenting work. Thank you i look forward to working with you on that. One last question on the National Guard i know you talked about it briefly, last january we do the hearing on the jurisdiction investigation and prosecution of Sexual Assault on the National Guard and what are the recommendations that the National Guard army National Guard and enter National Guard prevention Strategy Plan reaction, what steps have you taken to carry out this recommendation. That is happening, the National Guard has been a big part of this in their hiring prevention workforce as well, they have challenges because it is different in every state and there is National Guard installation all over the place and things very state from state, they very much a part of that and be a part of and make sure we have a prevention workforce in the services and the various National Guard installations around the country. They have been very aggressive in excited about this and that they had the opportunity to going to address these issues. Thank you, i yield back, the gentlewoman yields back. In the specific states which have the ucmj and their state constitution or laws statute i guess and those that have not. We can take that back just moving forward. Finally ms. Garcia is reckoning for five minutes. Thank you, madam chair and secretary good to see you again i remember when we had lunch with the secretary of the army at the time and we together went to speak with them about it to my attention and later the national attention, i know you are concerned there and i know you still are and you dont want to have parents and my question today, will they be about specifically the ample mentation of the special counsel regulation. First of all are you handling the on the dod and i apologize on the opening remarks we have a markup in judiciary and hearing infancy in this year i am dividing my time this afternoon. What exactly indirection are you giving them, are you taking charge of the whole thing . Or are you expecting each individual service to do their own thing . Representative garcia good to see you again and thank you for all your hard work. I know you been an advocate even though you dont serve on this committee i know this is been an issue thats been very important to you in the jury beating with the secretary of the army and sitting there with you and hearing the things that needed to change back then and we need to go and how we need to make a difference and were working here to do that now and make sure that we can change it. Can you tell us specifically what you are doing. Is very troubling, people see and do what others do and were seeing the military Academy Campus problems i know i beginning to see it and we got a complaint or two from local high school rotc. So would gotta take care of the problem. It is trickling down. The leadership begins with you and the secretary of defense, what are you doing to make sure, what timeline are you following . The special trial counsel, my responsibility is to ensure and attract to make sure these changes are taking place, the office of general counsel is one working the services on implementation of the special trial counsel to implement that and make sure they are working to bring that up in the services or implement in these plans and what theyre going to do in their working to identify the individuals directing offices and they are working there. Each branch is doing their own thing, what is the deadline that is presented through you or through the secretary of defense. This is a tier one priority we are working to get it done now, there is not a specific deadline has to be done by this timeline, again ensuring that we have the resources in order to build this up so they can set up the infrastructure so they can set up the office and enable them to get it done sooner. Do you feel like you provided enough resources, people, power, money, facilities, training, education. I think thats all going to be a part of it and weve had a lot of the resources came late and put us behind the power curve, the sooner we can get the resources going into the next fiscal year enable us to stay on pace but again setting up the special trial counsel and ensuring that gets done is important to the department of defense, we know it is a big part of the irc recommendation. Im just concerned and are are moving fast enough. My calling, there was a minute i was encouraged that im beginning to lose the encouragement and im hearing more cases, i would strongly urge you to make sure all the branches have the resources and people, the power in the facilities to train the education and the skill set in to get it done and get it done as quickly as possible. That is our intention to provide them with the resources that they need that they can have to get set up where you can help us out in congress to ensure that we have those resources. I think you can help out by giving them a deadline Everybody Needs to know what the deadline is, thank you mr. Secretary, madam chair i know you recognize my constituent and let them know that were still pushing forward and working to get it done. Thank you, i yield back. The gentleman yields back if theres no further question, we will thank you for his participation today and thank you for his leadership and we look forward to working with you in the future. Thank you madame chairwoman, we appreciate it. We will take a short recess to switch our second panel. The second set of will be called at 345 and 415. Were hoping for 415 so we can hear from her second panel. Thank you we welcome her