Reuters reports that “Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Thursday the Pentagon had made ‘real progress’ in combating sexual assault in the U.S. military but needed to take further action to ensure victims were not subjected to retaliation when they reported the crime.”  

“Releasing preliminary findings from the Defense Department’s annual report on military sexual assault, Hagel said the Pentagon’s three-year crackdown on sex crimes was ‘beginning to have an impact.'”  

“An anonymous biennial survey released with the department’s report to President Barack Obama showed a drop of more than 25 percent in total cases of unwanted sexual contact over the past two years, to 19,000 cases in 2014 compared with 26,000 in 2012.”