The New York Times reports that “the Senate’s leading Democrat on military issues released two letters from the Pentagon on Wednesday to argue that allowing military commanders to retain their authority over sexual assault cases will protect victims and battle what has been described as a ‘scourge’ of sexual assault across the armed forces.”

“The senator, Carl Levin of Michigan, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said Pentagon statistics show that military commanders have investigated and prosecuted 93 sexual assault cases over the past two years after the civilian authorities did not investigate or did not prosecute.”

“And he said foreign militaries that have removed commanders from authority over sexual assault cases made the decisions to protect the rights of the accused, not the victims.”