Defense Secretary Ash Carter “said that today’s challenges make it even more urgent that the military do better at preventing and responding to sexual assault,” reports Defense One .  

“Over the last several years, he noted, the Pentagon has implemented more than 100 provisions mandated by Congress, along with its own directives, and that the estimated number of assaults has decreased as reporting of the assaults has increased. But in 2014, at least 18,900 service members — 10,400 men and 8,500 women — experienced ‘unwanted sexual contact.'”  

“As Carter acknowledged, the Pentagon has struggled to reverse the damage military sexual assault has done to its reputation—the same that prompted the student to ask him whether it was safe for her to join.”