“A furor is brewing over suggestions that the Pentagon may have misled Congress in its drive to stymie a bill that would substantially alter the way the military handles sexual misconduct allegations,” the Christian Science Monitor reports.  

“At the heart of the debate is Senate legislation introduced in 2013 by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D) of New York, which seeks to strip senior officers of their responsibilities to determine whether sexual assault cases should be investigated, transferring that power instead to veteran military trial lawyers.”  

“In their opposition to the proposals, Pentagon representatives insisted that statistics showed military officers to be more willing to prosecute than civilian law enforcement, undermining the rationale behind the bill. But investigations by the Associated Press and Protect our Defenders, an advocacy group that seeks to curb rape and sexual assault in the military, paint a different picture.”